No heat winners and only three shared heats were the damning statistics as the previously high flying ‘KJM/Manchetts’ Fen Tigers crashed to a 65-25 defeat at the National Stadium, Belle Vue, on Friday night.

The visitors had no answer to the speed of the Belle Vue ‘Colts’ who collected five 5-1’s and two 4-2’s in the last seven heats! It was never better for the Fen Tigers than in heat one when Connor Mountain and Luke Ruddick secured a 3-3, after that the Colts literally bolted and the Fen Tigers were left chasing shadows.

Co-Promoter James Easter pulled no punches – he said: “It was simply not good enough! We were too slow out of the starts and beaten by the 30 yard mark, it is no good racing from there as they are good and were long gone! I can’t see anyone winning here, they are very quick around their home track but that was totally unacceptable and I expect a marked improvement at Eastbourne next Saturday. Connor Mountain and Luke Ruddick both rode well and Sam Woods gave his usual honest performance with plenty of effort but there isn’t much we can take from tonight and will now re-group ahead of our next meeting”

Scorers -

Belle Vue Colts 65 – Lee Payne 15 (5 rides), Jack Smith 14+1 (5), Dan Bewley 11+1 (4), Rob Shuttleworth 8+2 (4), Kyle Bickley 8+2 (4), Andy Mellish 6+1(4) and Luke Woodhall 3+1 (4)

Mildenhall Fen Tigers 25 – Connor Mountain 8 (5 rides), Jon Armstrong 5 (5), Jordan Jenkins 4+2 (4), Luke Ruddick 3+1 (4), Sam Woods 2 (4), Danno Verge 2 (4) and Danny Halsey 1 (4)