Speedway by David Crane King s Lynn 52 Mildenhall 41 Premier League, Wednesday July 19 Aggregate: King s Lynn 99 Mildenhall 86 A LATE surge by King s Lynn saw them produce a convincing scoreline but this Premier League local derby was closely conteste

Speedway by David Crane

King's Lynn 52 Mildenhall 41

Premier League, Wednesday July 19

Aggregate: King's Lynn 99 Mildenhall 86

A LATE surge by King's Lynn saw them produce a convincing scoreline but this Premier League local derby was closely contested and remained in the balance until the final two heats.

Mildenhall, who remain the only team so far to restrict the league favourites from scoring 50 points at home, after their trophy clash earlier this year, were still in with a shout of the victory as they trailed by just five points with two heats to go before Lynn ran away with a couple of heat advantages.

It proved to be a gutsy effort by predominantly three of the ASL Freight Fen Tigers side, as guests Richard Hall and Ben Powell, and second string Jason King, who scored well in the previous encounter, all struggled and scoring just four points between them.

With the early heats shared, Lynn pulled away by piling in four heat advantages in the space of five heats and led 29-19 after eight races.

Jason Lyons was again the stronghold of the Mildenhall cause, winning four of his five races, including a tactical ride in heat nine to grab their first advantage, 3-6, of the night. But the decision not to bring in former Lynn rider James Brundle, who had already earned three second places including a final bend blast in heat four, to try and grab a crucial minor place appeared to be a mistake.

Daniel King, who broke the tapes in his first ride and was excellent entertainment value throughout, passed Troy Batchelor to win heat 10 and with brother Jason King taking third, the scores were now 34-29.

Four-two's were exchanged, with Brundle taking an excellent win in heat 12 and then Lyons' lowered the colours of Czech star Tomas Topinka for the only time of the night in the next to put the scores at 43-38 before Lynn finished with a 4-2 and 5-1 to give a convincing look to the score-line.

Excellent efforts came from Lyons, Daniel King and Brundle who scored 37 of the 41 points total between them. However, Hall's performance was a huge disappointment, scoring no points from four rides and looking off the pace on a track he is renowned for riding well, and with Jason King also struggling, Mildenhall did well to push Lynn as far as they did.

It was a lively appearance from reserve Powell, who could become a regular fixture of the team. He led heat two for a couple of laps before finishing third and again held a scoring position in his last ride until he was passed, but he showed plenty of potential.

Mildenhall 55 Newport 39

Premier League, Saturday

MILDENHALL produced what promoter Mick Horton described as: "Their best performance of the season" on Saturday, as the six-man side got to grips with the perfect race surface to beat Newport in a convincing and entertaining display at West Row.

The ASL Freight Fen Tigers gradually moved into an eight-point lead with a couple of 5-1s in the first half of the meeting, and after successfully fending off the Wasps' tactical ride efforts, they smashed in a couple more maximums to take a healthy 16 point lead to Newport for the return on Sunday afternoon.

Lyons was faultless on his way to a paid 15 point maximum, Daniel King produced three race wins in his haul of 12 but the star of the show was undoubtedly Brundle, revelling now at reserve, as he hammered in four race wins in a superb seven ride display that saw him return his best score of the season with 15 points.

After dodging a brief, light shower, which only served to create excellent race conditions, the Tigers went 12-6 ahead with Lyons opening with a win and King brothers, Daniel and Jason, taking the first of four 5-1s in heat three in a quick time under 52 seconds.

Joel Parsons enjoyed a good return as he hugged the white line in heat four to follow up his heat two win with another, as reserve guest Powell went from first to third in the re-run after Carl Wilkinson was an earlier faller.

The Wasps grabbed the first of only two heat advantages of the night in heat five as Emil Kramer won and earned a 4-2 in what proved to be their last race win of the meeting.

Brundle instantly responded with two race wins of his own, first teaming up with Lyons for a 5-1 and then a solo performance in heat seven after Brent Werner, back from World Cup duty, blew a costly engine.

Not to be outdone, Daniel King followed in Brundle's path. First he saw off the close attentions of Parsons in heat eight and then won an excellent battle against another born racer, Wilkinson, for a 4-2 in heat nine to go 32-22 in front.

Lyons and King teamed up for a 5-1 in heat 10 and Werner pulled out his best race of the night in the next, winning to limit the damage of Kramer's tactical ride to a 3-5.

Brundle then defeated Parsons in his tactical effort in heat 12 and with Daniel King grabbing third, a 4-4 was the resulting score.

Wilkinson suffered his second fall of the night as he got caught up in a heat 13 first bend melee with Lyons in which the Aussie dusted himself down and won the re-run.

Brundle completed a tremendous night for himself with another 5-1 in the penultimate heat with Jason King and Lyons finished his maximum with another expert win in the last race.

Mick Horton said: "That was definitely our best performance of the season and I have said for a long time that if we can get all the riders clicking at once someone is going to get a good beating and unfortunately for them it was Newport."

Horton then said of Brundle: "James was definitely man of the match and I'm very pleased for him. He's growing in confidence now at the reserve berth and we need him to keep it going because when his confidence is high he's very difficult to beat.

"We have got a big enough lead to keep the bonus point, so that's the minimum requirement. Newport like most teams are going to be very difficult to beat, their home form has been pretty good of late but we'll be going there with only one thing in mind and that's to win, and if we can do that a lot of teams will sit up and take notice."

Horton also praised the excellent track conditions: "We had a lot of water which helped the track and it was one of the best surfaces we've had all year. The riders loved it, we rode it well and it was a real credit to track staff and the crowd witnessed a fantastic meeting."

Before the weekend Horton captured 21 year-old Jordan Frampton who replaces Barry Burchatt at reserve. Frampton made a starring guest appearance for the Academy at Plymouth earlier this month, scoring 13+1, and has appeared for Sittingbourne and Swindon in the Conference League in 2005 and 2004 respectively.

Horton said: "Ben (Powell) is acting as a guest as Rye House want to use him in certain meetings themselves and therefore we can't sign him though we'd like to, hence the signing of Jordan Frampton who makes his debut at Newport"

"Jordan comes highly recommended and hopefully he will produce the goods for us. I don't read too much into the performances in the Conference League but when you consider he beat Seemond Stephens at Plymouth it shows his capabilities and he has also done well in a couple of individual meetings recently. It's a big step for him going into the Premier League but I've got faith in him."

Newport 45 Mildenhall 44

Premier League, Sunday

Aggregate: Newport 84 Mildenhall 99

MILDENHALL grabbed the aggregate bonus point but missed out on more as a succession of falls ultimately ended their hopes of repeating the draw they earned at Newport in the Trophy.

The ASL Freight Fen Tigers led until heat 10 when falls from brothers' Daniel and Jason King presented the Wasps with a 5-0 and, after a series of shared races, Newport clinched the meeting with a 4-2 in the penultimate heat.

A fall from Chris Neath in the opening heat presented Mildenhall with an early 5-1 advantage and the King brothers teamed up for a couple of 4-2's in the early stages to cancel out Newport's own advantages to stay two points ahead.

Race wins from Lyons, Daniel King and Brent Werner were not enough as the Wasps' showed strength throughout, and some power scoring from reserve Joel Parsons, kept them just out of reach of the Fen Tigers.

Brundle suffered two falls after starting well but it was a debut to forget for new reserve signing Jordan Frampton, who endured two bike breakdowns and a hefty fall in heat nine.

Lyons and Daniel King grabbed a consolation 5-1 in the final heat and despite earning the bonus, this could be considered as points dropped in the Tigers bid for the play-offs.

Newport 43 Academy 46

Conference League, Sunday

MILDENHALL Academy went one better than their Premier League counterparts by proving victorious from their last heat decider as two fallers from the home side ultimately gave the Academy their second successive win.

The Jolly-Chef Academy, inspired by reserve Trevor Heath and without captain Mark Thompson, fought back from six points down to force a final heat showdown. The Academy couldn't believe their luck when Sam Hurst fell and then Bill Legg did likewise in the re-run to present them with a 5-0 result and two league points.

Inspired by a recent draw at Stoke and a win against league leaders Plymouth, the Academy took a 10-8 lead after heat three with Matthew Wright winning their third race in a row.

That was quickly responded with a 5-1 from Mavericks' duo Karl Mason and Nicki Glanz and they increased their lead with a 4-2 in heat six.

Wright won the next but with another 4-2 advantage going Newport's way in heat nine, that gave them a six-point lead, the meeting appeared to be slipping away from Mildenhall.

But up stepped Heath, after a couple of ducks and a second, he smashed in successive race wins and with Wright and Andrew Bargh picking up the minor places in heats 12 and 13, the Academy suddenly found themselves in touching distance of their opponents.

Then when the Mavericks' duo both fell in the final heat, leaving Heath and Bargh to complete double-figure hauls for themselves, luck was certainly shining on the team that took 11 meetings to find their first win and they are now unbeaten in three, having taken five points from a possible six.

# MILDENHALL Academy take centre stage at West Row on Sunday as they begin their Conference Trophy campaign with a double-header against Boston and Scunthorpe. The start time has been put back one hour to 4.30pm to allow for track preparation and this will remain for the rest of the season.