Speedway Warriors Go Down To Heathens In Last Race Showdown

The Isle of Wight's Speedway Warriors saw their unbeaten start to the season come to a heartbreaking end with a final race showdown defeat.

The team was beaten at the death by Cradley Heathens, by a final score of 46 to 44 in a pulsating contest.

Injury and other absences forced the home side to deploy the rider replacement facility in the number two position with the five remaining Warriors able to take one extra ride.

This fixture was the first of two legs to decide the Vince Mapley Memorial Trophy.

From the first race it looked like Lady Luck had decided it wasn’t going to be the Warriors night as fast starting Kiwi Jake Turner made a dream get away for the home side only to fall at the end of lap two whilst leading.

This resulted in the race being stopped and re-run with only Chad Wirtzfeld eligible to take on the visitors who capitalised with a 1-5 advantage that proved to be a crucial as the evening unfolded.

Experienced campaigner Lee Complin, twenty-two years after his last visit to Smallbrook, found the pacy track very much to his liking as he took heat two for the Heathens with a well-timed charge from the back in a shared race before Warriors registered their first win of the night, Brayden McGuinness outpacing the Heathens Connor Coles in a close tussle with Wirtzfeld a useful third.

An absorbing match culminated with a last race showdown proved sufficient for the Heathens to secure the win by just two points.

After the meeting Warriors co-owner Barry Bishop said:

“Wow, what a cracking meeting — so near and yet so far for the Warriors.

"Congratulations to both sides for providing us with great racing, bags of excitement and a super night out for all the fans who were here.

"Our team manager Steve Piper has just said to me don’t worry it’s only half time in this Trophy event and we showed tonight that we are very capable of reversing a two-point deficit next time."