By Isle of Wight ObserverMost people enjoy a pleasant summer Sunday afternoon in the Derbyshire Dales and so it was for the Isle of Wight ‘Wightlink’ Warriors speedway team and their supporters.
The Warriors lowered the colours of the Buxton Hitmen to record their first away win since October 2016.
Travelling north without Scott Campos (at work) and Jamie Bursill (on holiday), the Warriors arrived at the home of the league’s basement club to find the home side without one of their younger riders Lewis Whitmore.
With former Warrior James Cockle also missing, the home side were permitted to introduce an experienced guest in the shape of Max Clegg and in doing so bolstered their line-up significantly.
Undeterred the Warriors launched into the fixture which stood even after three heats however, the visitors were never behind again as they pressed home the benefits of an all round team performance and the inability of the home reserves to get on the scorecard.
This truly was an all round team performance led by Ben Morley and Alfie Bowtell and enthusiastically backed up by Danno Verge, Shaun Tedham, Chris Widman and guest reserve Dale Lamb.
Warriors’ co-promoter Barry Bishop, was understandably a very happy man.
He said: “That was magnificent. When we saw the team changes to the Hitmen and knew we were missing Scott we thought we might be up against it, but all the boys were marvellous and I just couldn’t single one out above another.
“After Buxton won at our place last year and effectively handed us the wooden spoon, it’s only fair that we return the compliment this season and we will move on now to our September Spectacular on Thursday night (September 6) when we will be closing our season and presenting a meeting packed full of top quality racing, fun, games and seasonal good-byes – oh and I’ll be thrashing Tedham on the track in our special challenge!”
Hitmen: Ben Wilson 7, Rider Replacement for Lewis Whitmore, Connor Coles 9+1, Tom Woolley 10+2, Max Clegg 12, Sam Woolley 0, Corban Pavitt 3.
Warriors: Alfie Bowtell 13+1, Rider Replacement for Scott Campos, Chris Widman 3+3, Danno Verge 9, Ben Morley 14, Dale Lamb 5, Shaun Tedham 5+2.
Buxton 41 Isle of Wight 49
