SpeedwayMildenhall 51 Newcastle 41THE West Row paying public were left gasping in awe after seeing Mildenhall defeat Newcastle by 10 points in arguably the best meeting of the season at the Suffolk venue.

Speedway

Mildenhall 51

Newcastle 41

THE West Row paying public were left gasping in awe after seeing Mildenhall defeat Newcastle by 10 points in arguably the best meeting of the season at the Suffolk venue.

Australian superstar Jason Lyons produced a couple of world-class passes from the back to confirm his stature as one of the club's greatest riders, while a powerhouse skipper's performance by Jon Armstrong saw him drop just two points from seven rides.

And American debutant Brent Werner confidently 'whipped some butt', as he told the fans over the PA system he would, as he bagged half of the four home 5-1s on the night.

It didn't start so rosily, however, for the ASL Freight Fen Tigers, who were missing the King brothers, Daniel and Jason, both competing in the World Under-21 semi-finals in Poland.

The Diamonds were quickest out of the starts and led the scorechart for the first six heats before perfect team-riding by Armstrong and Werner shut out Jamie Grieves for a 5-1 in heat seven that put Mildenhall 21-20 ahead.

Heat 10 saw Lyons wow the crowd. Left trailing at the back in the dirt on the opening bend, he wound the throttle up around the boards to pass Manuel Hauzinger and then instantaneously dived hard under Grieves into the pits bend to go from last to first inside a lap.

Home maximums in heats 11 and 12 put the Tigers firmly in control, but a tactical move by Newcastle team manager George English paid dividends in heat 13 as he put out Franc on a tactical ride and the Czech held his nerve under intense pressure from Lyons to win and earn a 7-2 result for the Diamonds that kept the result in the balance.

But a fourth and final 5-1, this time from Parsons and Armstrong in heat 14, was enough to clinch the two league points and leave Lyons to bring the curtain down in another top-drawer move in the final race.

Newcastle 48

Mildenhall 42

(Mildenhall win bonus point)

JASON Lyons returned to the club where he first made a name for himself and reeled off a 15-point maximum as Mildenhall lost by just six points in the return fixture.

Lyons was in irrestible form and he guided the Fen Tigers home to a bonus point which in the circumstances was no mean effort.

Already without brothers Jason and Danny King, Mildenhall also lost the services of Barry Burchatt in heat four after he was the victim of an awful accident when his team-mate Brent Werner's bike took off and careered into him.

Burchatt was taken to hospital with back injuries and the Fen Tigers were down to five riders.

But Lyons saw them home to their first Premier League bonus point of the season.

Mildenhall scorers: J Lyons 15, J Brundle 2+1, rider/replacement, C Branney 10, B Werner 5+1, B Burchatt 0, J Armstrong 10+1

- MEANWHILE Daniel King qualified for the world under-21 final in style in Lezno, Poland, yesterday. King scored 11 points from his five rides, qualifying him for the four-man final.

He finished last in that behind Swindon's Sebastian Alden (Sweden), Karol Zabik (Poland) and Wolverhampton's Freddie Lindgren (Sweden).

They all qualified for the final, as did Pawel Hib (Pol), Pawel Miesiac (Pol), Chris Holder (Aus) and Ricky Kling (Swe). Neither Danny's brother Jason King nor James Wright qualified for the final.

- SCOTT Nicholls won his third British final after beating Joe Screen, Simon Stead and Chris Harris in the final at Belle Vue yesterday. Ipswich's Carl Wilkinson scored three points, suffering two falls in the process..