Chris Johnson before his horror crash. Picture by David Valentine.
SPEEDWAYWightlink Islanders 35 Plymouth 36 (meeting abandoned)
AS if the injuries to Tom Brown and Brendan Johnson were not enough, Wightlink Islanders now have two more riders on the sidelines.
The Islanders began their match boosted by the news of Johnson’s recovery and the debut of new signing Matt Wright.
They got off to a fantastic start, Nick Simmons winning heat one in a new National League track record time of 67.7 seconds.
Things got even better as they collected 4-2 heat advantages in the next two races, Wright producing a superb debut ride by winning heat three, before another Islanders’ 4-2 in heat six from skipper Simmons and Tom Hill to move them into a 21-15 advantage.
However, things went drastically wrong when Chris Johnson crashed into the fence at high speed and was flung around 30ft into the air. After on-track attention he was take to St Mary’s for X-rays.
Racing resumed after a lengthy delay, and Tom Hill did well to split the two Plymouth riders in the re-run by finishing second. Then it was Ben Hopwood’s turn to get a close up view of the track surface, as he was brought down by Kyle Hughes at the first bend of heat eight. Hughes was excluded from the re-run but while Wright won that, Hopwood’s rear chain snapped within feet of the start line and his race was over.
Hill’s meeting was also over after he crashed spectacularly, losing control of his bike at speed entering the third bend of the second lap. He complained of neck pains and he, too, was taken to hospital as a precaution.
Islanders, having started the meeting with six riders, were now down to four, and it was no surprise then when Plymouth collected a 5-1 advantage over solitary Islander Dan Berwick, and moved into a 36-35 lead just as the meeting was abandoned due to the 10pm racing curfew.
The referee judged that, as 12 heats had taken place, the result should stand.