Warriors denied chance of revenge at Mildenhall Fen Tigers

Both sides were below strength for the fixture, and the Warriors needed a guest for Georgie Wood who was still troubled by back and neck pain.

They drafted in Leicester’s Danyon Hume as cover, while Danno Verge was also absent as he completed a mandatory concussion suspension.

The hosts were missing heat leader Jason Edwards, who was riding in the European Under-19 final, with both Henry Atkins and Aaron Butcher also unavailable.

Their places were taken up by Nathan Stoneman and James Chattin, with rider replacement for Edwards.

As early as heat one, both sides suffered more misfortune.

Hume was leading the race until the last two bends, when he spun to leave the Fen Tigers’ Danny Ayres nowhere to go.

The Warriors rider was rightly excluded and the Tigers awarded a 5-1 heat advantage.

However, Ayres was in need of hospital treatment for what has now been confirmed as a broken tibula.

His injury and absence clearly acted as a motivator for his remaining team-mates as Stoneman, Charlie Brooks and Matt Marson stepped up to the plate and rescued the Fen Tigers from a tricky situation.

The Warriors were no doubt hoping to capitalise on Ayres’ misfortune and, as usual, skipper Ben Morley took the fight to the home side, with his 15 points being just reward for a busy seven-ride stint.

Special mention also to Connor King who was riding at a track only 12 miles away from his home in Brandon.

Meanwhile, Scott Campos, Chad Wirtzfeld and Chris Widman fought hard with little to show for their efforts.

One really frustrated man, however, was Hume who worked hard for the few points he got, but suffered two falls that led to exclusions at the wrong time.

Barry Bishop, said: ’I thought we had a chance of getting something out of it, but the Mildenhall youngsters stepped up. It was not to be but we can celebrate more great work from Ben and a magnificent day for Connor.’