SPEEDWAY MILDENHALL 58 ISLE OF WIGHT 34 Premier Trophy (South), Sunday A mid-meeting flourish of heat maximums made sure Mildenhall Fen Tigers secured a comfortable first victory in their return to Division Two racing. The Islanders looked set to caus

SPEEDWAY

MILDENHALL 58

ISLE OF WIGHT 34

Premier Trophy (South), Sunday

A mid-meeting flourish of heat maximums made sure Mildenhall Fen Tigers secured a comfortable first victory in their return to Division Two racing.

The Islanders looked set to cause an upset as swift exchanges of 5-1s in the opening four heats locked the scores at 12-12, but four maximums in five races from the Tigers put them into the comfort zone and eventually rattled off a 24-point win that will leave them confident of achieving the bonus point in the return match in May.

With top men Jason Lyons and Shaun Tacey trailing the visiting pair in heats one and three respectively, it was left to Daniel King and Barry Burchatt to square the scores in heat four with a 5-1. That was the first of King's four straight wins in his faultless 12-point maximum and Burchatt impressed immensely with a win and second in his first two races before going on to total 7+2.

Amongst the steady showers there was some excellent racing, the first of which was heat five with little splitting Tacey, who held the inside line, and under-21 Aussie champion Chris Holder, who took the wide line, for the first couple of laps before Holder got his nose in front.

The home side's strength was shown with the excellent team-riding exploits of Lyons and Jason King in heat six and Daniel King and Jon Armstrong, who was again a real class act at reserve, in heat seven.

Heat nine and at the fifth meeting attempt, captain Tacey took his first win for Mildenhall from gate three, much to his obvious delight after the race.

Heat 11 was the highlight for speedway enthusiasts. Daniel King hugged the inside line for a three-lap pulsating duel with Jason Doyle, who was on a double-points tactical ride, and he eventually found the speed to head the visiting Aussie. There was an equally exciting tussle going on behind as Holder made a final bend swoop on Armstrong but the mighty midget held on.

A second race win came Tacey's way in heat 12 and the next saw the seventh Tigers heat maximum as Daniel King and Lyons chose their line carefully as the rain now became more consistent.

After a track inspection by referee Tony Steele and both team's captains and team managers, the circuit was deemed suitable to carry on. Armstrong and Tacey rounded things off in style with an eighth 5-1 in the final race.

Promoter Mick Horton gave praise to his skipper and Barry Burchatt's performances: "I was expecting us to win today and it was a good margin to win by. It was good to see Shaun hit back with a couple of wins, heat 15 was good for him and will do his confidence the world of good. Barry was in my opinion the man of the match.