RYE HOUSE 53 MILDENHALL 40 Premier League, Saturday A late rallying finish leaves the bonus point in the balance as Mildenhall lost 53-40 in their first Premier League fixture to reigning champions Rye House. After trailing by 17 points with just three

RYE HOUSE 53 MILDENHALL 40

Premier League, Saturday

A late rallying finish leaves the bonus point in the balance as Mildenhall lost 53-40 in their first Premier League fixture to reigning champions Rye House.

After trailing by 17 points with just three heats left, the ASL Freight Fen Tigers produced two 4-2's (their only heat advantages all evening) in heats 13 and 15 thanks to the starring efforts of Jason Lyons and Daniel King to keep the bonus point alive in the return in September.

The Tigers took the chequered flag six times with Lyons showing his class by taking four of those in one of his top performances this season. The only time he was beaten was when nominated as a tactical ride in heat 11 as he was muscled out of the start.

Daniel King faired completely the reverse in his tac ride in heat 9, however. A blistering start and perfect four laps saw him not only collect 6 points and the fastest time of the night, but also record the fastest time of any visiting rider at Hoddesdon this season.

The Mildenhall's top two were given good back up from Jason King and Jon Armstrong but it was a familiar story where they fell short.

Captain Shaun Tacey recorded just a point from 3 rides, that came as he team-rode with Barry Burchatt hoping to share the points in heat 12, only for Steve Boxall to blast around the pair on the final bend.

Burchatt failed to score on his parent track as did James Brundle who suffered an engine failure when in third position in the first heat.

Mildenhall's next Premier League action is at West Row next Sunday (May 21) against Somerset at 3.30pm, in a double header with the Academy versus Buxton in the Conference League.

Conference League, Sunday

Mildenhall 37 Boston 53

Aggregate: Boston 119

Mildenhall 61

Conference League points remain elusive for the Mildenhall Academy after losing their fourth league meeting of the season to local rivals Boston.

The Jolly Chef Academy showed improvement from the mauling received in the reverse fixture 48 hours earlier but they just couldn't match the Barracudas powerful top three plus the vital and starring contribution of reserve Sam Martin who rattled in paid 15 points.

Boston's secret weapon took the chequered flag twice by the interval break after heat 8 and had been beaten just once by a home rider in four races at that stage.

The Academy were 8 points behind after 5 heats and found their first race win in heat 6 thanks to Matt Wright, which was immediately followed by another from Mark Thompson.

Thompson dented James Birkinshaw's hopes of a maximum in heat 11 as he rode the boards to victory, but along with Wright, was then on the end of a match-winning 5-1 in heat 13 from Birkinshaw and Darren Mallett.

Ben Hopwood's close relationship with the shale continued as he fell entering the final lap of heat 2 and was clipped by Scott Campos and then hit from behind by Trevor Heath who did well to quickly lay his bike down.

It proved to be a not-so-happy return to West Row for Kyle Hughes, especially in his second ride when he was caught out by Mark Baseby's switch of lines in heat 5 and hit the fence with force.

Baseby continues to show good promise and was unlucky to be excluded by referee Barbara Horley in a classic first-bend bunching incident whilst on a tactical ride in heat 14.

The ref also missed constant tape-jumping from the visitors but in the end, there could be little doubt that Malcolm Vasey's side were just too good for the Academy.