Mildenhall DJS Fen Tigers’ team manager Jason Gardner reflected on a plucky showing from his charges on Friday evening (26th. May), going down to a 14 points defeat at the National Speedway Stadium in Manchester to the Belle Vue Colts – but confident they can bounce back next weekend to take the bonus point.
At the end of the match (a first defeat of the 2023 season for Mildenhall, proudly sponsored by Manchetts Rescue and Recovery) Gardner commented,
“It’s a tough place to come and get any kind of result, as has been shown the past two seasons and again this term and we have done considerably better than their other opponents here so far this season by holding them to a 14 points margin. A number of our lads were here for either the first time or just a second occasion – why, even our most experienced rider, skipper on the night Alfie [Bowtell) rode in the very first meeting here back in 2016 and not since. So with their riders very much dialled into the place, to achieve what we have tonight in restricting the Colts to just a 10 point lead after 14 heats has got to be seen as positive.
“The match really turned on the events of heat 8 where we were on a 5-1 which would have brought us just two points behind; but with Josh [Warren] an unlucky faller, the rerun was a 4-2 to them and that turnaround of six points to put us eight behind was hugely significant. But we really held our own from heat 11 onwards and stuck out to keep the aggregate victory for the bonus point a very realistic target when we welcome the Colts to West Row on Sunday week (4th. June)”.
It was indeed the middle part of the match which saw the homesters to victory: a more than satisfactory start for Gardner’s men holding it to 9-9 after three heats became 37-23 down after 10. 14 points behind and seemingly counting, with the most renowned homers in the division looking increasingly able to take the race points each heat and it looked very ominous indeed. But a regrouping at the interval by Mildenhall paid dividends and the points deficit from heats 11 through to 15 was zero – with heat wins for Bowtell (ending the season long run of 13 unbeaten heats on his home circuit by Belle Vue’s very impressive Aussie teenager James Pearson) and the Fen Tigers’ own Antipodean, the New Zealand Champion George Congreve - combining with double-figures scoring Arran Butcher for an exultant 5-1 in the penultimate heat.
The start of the match had also gone the visitors’ way. Butcher (unphased by the more wide open expanses of the large NSS circuit) won heat two and then the fans were treated to surely what will have to be the race of the season at the Manchester track in heat three. The two Belle Vue riders lining up at the tapes were both ex-Fen Tigers: Sam Hagon (in the form of his career for his new club) and Aussie, Matt Marson. It was the latter who made the start, pursued doggedly by birthday boy, Ben Trigger for the Fen men. For three and three quarter laps Trigger tried everything to get past his adversary, finally diving under him on the final bend and as Marson was forced wider suddenly Hagon was in the picture too as the line approached. The three riders raced past the chequered flag with barely the proverbial cigarette paper between them. The concept of dead heats has been lost to modern Speedway – the word has it that the software the refs use to record results can’t handle the 0.5 points a dead heat would necessitate; in this case the mind boggles as to what the official’s lap top would make of three 0.33s! But not to worry about that, it was the Fen Tigers’ Devonian Trigger (on the eve of his 17th. birthday) who’d got the verdict in the blanket finish.
That was that in terms of race wins for the visitors until the late rally. Kiwi George Congreve being the side’s third heat victor in heat 14 was happy with his first visit to the iconic Belle Vue club,
“Yep, the length of circuit was much like the tracks back home in NZ – though a bit wider and a lot less rough!! I enjoyed it out there, it’s an awesome place and I’m happy to have ended with a heat win. Their riders are really dialled into the place but we showed a lot of fight to stop them getting too far away from us”.
The last word goes to Gardner who knows the next few weeks are going to be vital to his team’s chances of making the top two in what is already looking a congested National Development League table,
“I said all along that tonight and our next five matches after are going to be vital in determining how our season goes. We’ve got another trip away to league newcomers Workington (so a track new to all our team) this coming Saturday and then it’s up to Berwick the following weekend. In between those away matches we have the return fixture with Belle Vue at our place on Sunday (4th. June). We’ve given ourselves a good chance of getting our first bonus point of the season in that one”.
Belle Vue Colts 52
Jack Smith 1, 3, 3, 2, 2' = 11+1
Luke Muff 3, 1, 1, M = 5
Sam Hagon 1', 3, 3, 3, 3 = 13+1
Matt Marson 2, 0, 1, 0 = 3
James Pearson 3, 3, 3, 1' = 10+1
Paul Bowen 0, 0, FX, 1 = 1
Freddy Hodder 2, 2', 3, 2', EF = 9+2
Mildenhall DJS Fen Tigers 38
Alfie Bowtell 2, 2, 2, 3, 1 = 10
Josh Warren 0, 1', FX , 1' = 2+2
Ben Trigger 3, 2, 0, 2, 0 = 7
George Congreve 0, 1', 1, 3 = 5+1
Sam McGurk [G] 1, 2, 2, 0 = 5
William Richardson 1, 0, 0 = 1
Arran Butcher 3, 0, 2, 1', 2' = 8+2
Heat details
1) Muff, Bowtell, Smith, Warren 62.77 [4-2]
2) Butcher, Hodder, Richardson, Bowen (fell rem.) 63.0 [6-6]
3) Trigger, Marson, Hagon, Congreve 62.82 [9-9]
4) Pearson, Hodder, McGurk, Butcher 62.63 [14-10]
5) Hagon, Bowtell, Warren, Marson (fell rem.) 63.33 [17-13]
6) Smith, McGurk, Muff, Richardson 62.81 [62.81]
7) Pearson, Trigger, Congreve, Bowen 62.77 [24-18]
8) (rerun) Hodder, Butcher, Muff, Warren (fell exc.) 63.86 [28-20]
9) Hagon, McGurk, Marson, Richardson 62.77 [32-22]
10) Smith, Hodder, Congreve, Trigger, Muff (exc. 2M) 62.51 [37-23]
11) (rerun) Pearson, Bowtell, Warren, Bowen (fell exc.) 63.62 [40-26]
12) Hagon, Trigger, Butcher, Hodder (EF) 63.18 [43-29]
13) Bowtell, Smith, Pearson, McGurk 63.06 [46-32]
14) Congreve, Butcher, Bowen, Marson 64.96 [47-37]
15) Hagon, Smith, Bowtell, Trigger 62.91 [52-38]
