Ben Hopwood celebrates a heat win against Bournemouth. Picture by David Valentine.
SPEEDWAY Wightlink Islanders 60, Bournemouth 32
ISLANDERS gave last year’s champions Bournemouth a lesson in speedway at Smallbrook Stadium on Tuesday.
Although the first heat went Bournemouth’s way, the Islanders slammed home three successive 5-1 heat wins to storm into an 18-6 lead.
Such was the shock for the visitors that Bournemouth’s manager decided to try a tactical ride in heat five, but this backfired as Danny Warwick raced to victory to make it 21-11.
Warwick went on to enjoy a 15-point maximum on the night and, despite Brendan Johnson and Tom Hill both having to withdraw from the meeting with illness, the Islanders romped home.
The final heat was the icing on the cake for the Islanders. At 55-31, the match was well and truly won, but it did not stop Warwick and Hopwood producing another blistering ride to produce the Islanders’ ninth 5-1 score.
The next match at Smallbrook is on Tuesday night when Islanders take on Dudley for National League points.
Weymouth 49, Wightlink Islanders 40
Islanders lost narrowly away last weekend, always chasing Weymouth to the points.
After conceding a 5-1 score in the opener, and losing Dean Felton from heat two, the task was always going to be tough. The next three heats were split 3- 3 before Ben Hopwood won heat six to make it 19-16. Despite the Islanders’ efforts, they could not narrow the deficit any more.
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Islanders’ star Brendan Johnson is the new British under-18 champions after a dramatic meeting at Somerset.
Johnson qualified for the semi finals scoring ten points from his qualifying races before beating off the challenge of Kyle Howarth, Joe Jacobs and Jason Garrity in the final.