Thanks to Bryn for the latest news from the Isle of Wight’s sppedwat team, the Wightlink Islanders. Ed
The Wightlink Islanders go into tomorrow’s (Tuesday) second leg of their National League play off semi-final against Mildenhall at Smallbrook, facing the not insignificant task of having to overcome a 22 point deficit if they are to reach the final where they would meeting either the Stoke Potters or the Dudley Heathens.
They find themselves in that position after being defeated 58-36 in the first leg yesterday (Sunday) afternoon in Suffolk but, in defiant mood, joint team manager Chris Hunt said afterwards, “Yes it’s going to be very tough indeed for us to win on aggregate now, but we beat them by 16 points in the National Trophy competition at Smallbrook at the end of August so we all believe we can do it.”
Falls for teenager
To do so they will most certainly need to get off to a far better start tomorrow than they did yesterday which saw teenage reserve Adam Ellis suffer falls in the first two heats.
On his first ever appearance at the Suffolk venue he initially struggled to find the right racing line on the tiny 260 metre circuit and parted company with his bike in those first two races whilst in points scoring positions actually leading heat 2 when coming to grief!
Undeterred though, the 16 year old truly showed what a brilliant prospect he is by top scoring for us with 11 (paid 12) which included two heat wins.
All worked hard
All seven team members battled hard but ‘home advantage’ was certainly evident throughout a match that suffered many delays because of problems with the starting gate which resulted in referee Barbara Horley having to order no less than eleven re-runs over the course of the 15 heat match!
So now the question is CAN we overcome that 22 points deficit and reach the play off final that will decide this year’s National League champions? Well we are urging our fans to turn out in force at Smallbrook tomorrow night to cheer on the Wightlink Islanders as they attempt to do just that in a match that gets underway at the usual time of 7.30pm.
Final score
MILDENHALL 58 WIGHTLINK ISLANDERS 36
(National League semi-final, 1st leg)
Islanders scorers
Adam Ellis 11+1, Paul Starke 8+1, Danny Warwick 6, Danny Stoneman 4+1, Steve Jones 4, Ben Hopwood 3.
Slightly better second time around but beaten again
In the second 15 heat match between the two sides raced yesterday, this time in the National Trophy competition, the Wightlink Islanders fared slightly better but were soundly beaten 53-39 with skipper Danny Warwick suffering problems that left him recording just two third places in his four rides.
Adam Ellis once again top scored with 14 points from his full quota of seven rides and received excellent support from Ben Hopwood who won two races and may well have made it a hat-trick but for blowing his engine in the final race of the day.
Final score
MILDENHALL 53 WIGHTLINK ISLANDERS 39
(National Trophy)
Islanders scorers
Adam Ellis 14, Ben Hopwood 9, Steve Jones 6+1, Danny Stoneman 5+1, Paul Starke 3+2, Danny Warwick 2+1
No individual glory for our duo
There was no individual glory on Saturday night for either Ben Hopwood or skipper Danny Warwick in Saturday’s National League Riders Championship race at Rye House in Hertfordshire.
They scored five and three points respectively in the league’s big individual event which was won by Stoke’s Ashley Birks after a run off with Rye House Raider Jason Garrity after both had scored 14. Third on the night was Scunthorpe’s Gary Irving.
SMALLBROOK STADIUM TOMORROW AT 7.30PM -THE PLACE TO BE TO GET BEHIND THE WIGHTLINK ISLANDERS AS THEY BID TO REACH THE FINAL…
Image: Lee Jordan under CC BY 2.0
