A lovely spring afternoon, a good crowd and some exciting racing between two well balanced sides was the perfect recipe for the Mildenhall DJS Fen Tigers, proudly sponsored by Manchetts Rescue and Recovery as they raced to a fourth straight victory of the season!

A blistering gate in heat one from Alfie Bowtell laid down a marker for the Fen Tigers, but with the Bullets pairing filing in behind it was a drawn heat to start the meeting. The next four heats were also drawn but were full of action with first Arran Butcher passing Jamie Halder in heat two to take the victory, before Ben Trigger passed Mason Watson to secure third place in heat three and then Captain Lee Complin produced a storming ride to drive under Greg Blair on the third bend of lap one in heat four before racing away to victory. There was even better to come in heat five as Trigger and Coles swapped places on lap one before the Berwick number one asserted himself and the scores were tied at 15-15.

The Fen Tigers finally put their noses in front in heat six when Bowtell chased down Greg Blair before passing him at the start of lap two and with Josh Warren tucking in third the home side edged two points in front. Another 4-2 in heat seven saw the Fen Tigers move for points ahead before the Bullets bounced back with a 4-2 of their own in heat eight. It could have been worse but a never say die ride from Butcher to pass Danny Phillips kept the Fen Tigers just in front.

Another 4-2 from the Bowtell / Warren partnership in heat ten put the Fen Tigers back into a four point lead, before another drawn heat in heat eleven saw the scores close at 35-31. The action stepped up another notch in heat 12 with Arran Butcher chasing Halder hard for three laps before producing a stunning move around the outside of bends one and two to secure another 4-2 for the Fen Tigers to extend the lead to six. Heat thirteen was full of controversy with Captain Complin on the wrong end of the referees decision after a coming together with Coles on bend four of lap one. In the three rider re-run Coles led from the laps to end a run if seventeen straight race wins on the spin for Bowtell!

With George Congreve and Butcher following home Phillips in heat fourteen it was still all to play for in the final race as the Bullets could secure a draw with a 5-1. That never looked likely as Bowtell stormed from gate two to be joined by Complin round the outside and the two Fen Tigers rode off into the distance to the delight of the crowd and victory was secured 49-41.

Club Co-Owner Phil Kirk spoke after the meeting -

"This was a fantastic advert for National League speedway and we must give a lot of credit to the Berwick riders for their efforts today, they kept our boys honest all meeting and both sides produced some fantastic entertainment for the crowd. Greg and his team produced an excellent racetrack and their efforts were a major factor on what I felt was one of the best meetings at Mildenhall for a long time.

The meeting was a slick affair with few falls and plenty of passing and hard racing. Alfie and Lee are proving to be everything we hoped and more at the top of the team, but the highlight for me was Arran's ride in heat 12, he told me that he was putting everything into his speedway this year and the results are there to be seen as he is in the form of his career.

A big thank you as well to the crowd who came out agian in good numbers and cheered the lads on to victory, there is a real increase in the noise at the meetings this season to date and the riders love the involvement from the crowd"

Scorecard

Mildenhall DJS Fen Tigers 49
Bowtell 14, Complin 11+1, Butcher 9+1, Congreve 7+1, Trigger 5+2, Warren 2 and Richardson 1

Berwick Bullets 41 
Coles 11, Phillips 11, Halder 9+2, Blair 8, Embleton 2+2, Watson 0 and Freeman R/R