Mildenhall Fen Tigers 61 Eastbourne Eagles 29

Riding like a team possessed a rampant Mildenhall Fen Tigers dismantled a good Eastbourne side taking victory by a massive 32 points in the West Row sunshine today.

From the moment a rejuvenated Luke Ruddick fired from the gate in heat one it was relentless one way traffic. A super ride from guest number one Danny Ayres made sure Ruddick was never challenged as Ayres superbly protected his young partner. A lightning start in heat two from Jordan Jenkins was bought to a sudden halt when he clipped the fence near the start line and had to lay the bike down, the impressive young Tom Brennan coming through to take the first of three wins. This was one of only two heat reverses the Fen Tigers suffered all afternoon!

Jenkins quickly atoned in heat four where another fast start saw Eagles captain Georgie Wood in his wake, this was quickly followed in heat five by some more high class team riding this time from Jon Armstrong as he helped Danno Verge home for a 5-1 that saw the Fen Tigers lead already at 10 points! Wood gated first in heat six but Ayres quickly reeled his opponent in before executing a sweet pass round the outside. Heat seven was a repeat performance as this time Eastbourne guest Jack Parkinson-Blackburn made the gate but a high class pass round bends three and four by Danny Halsey saw another heat win.

The Fen Tigers extended the lead to 16 points in heat eight with a third consecutive 4-2 as Jenkins recorded the fastest time of the season as Ruddick nursed his bike home in third after his seat bracket broke. Young Brennan rode a fine race to win heat nine before Ayres again showed wonderful team riding skills as he combined once again with the fast gating Ruddick for another 5-1. Heat twelve saw the Fen Tigers take their lead to 26 points with Armstrong and Jenkins almost telepathic as they team rode to a perfect 5-1, this was quickly followed by a fifth 5-1 as Ayes and Halsey continued to turn the heat on the beleaguered visitors. A third race win by Brennan in heat fourteen was a deserved reward for his efforts, before Ayres and Halsey combined again in heat fifteen to seal a wonderful day for the Fen Tigers!

Team manager was suitably pleased with his team – he said; “This has been a pretty special few days, the lads are doing everything we are asking of them and the team spirit amongst them is better than I can remember. It is very early days though, with meetings coming thick and fast and we need to prepare for a difficult meeting at Belle Vue on Friday and not get ahead of ourselves.

“Danny Ayres was brilliant today, the perfect guest totally committed and fitting in so well with the team. I was very pleased with Luke and Sam today, they are really doing their job for us and this will only help their confidence. This was a decent Eastbourne side make no mistake, but we put them to the sword today and this win sets us up nicely in our National Trophy group.”

Scorers –

Mildenhall ‘KJM/Manchetts’ Fen Tigers 61 – Danny Ayres (G) 13+2 (5 rides), Danny Halsey 11+2 (5), Jon Armstrong 10+1 (4), Jordan Jenkins 9 (4), Luke Ruddick 8 (4), Sam Woods 6 (40 and Danno Verge 4+2 (4)

Eastbourne ‘IT Eagles’ 29 – Tom Brennan 13 (7 rides), Jack Parkinson Blackburn (G) 6 (5), Georgie Wood 4 (4), Mark Baseby 3 (4), Matt Bates 2 (4), William O’Keefe (G) 1 (3) and Kelsey Dugard 0 (3)