A large opening day crowd basked in the West Row sunshine as the 16 riders gave their all in a highly-competitive running of the Fen Fours on Sunday.

The action was fast and furious from the off, with the returning Cameron Heeps taking the opening heat after being a late replacement after Josh Bates withdrew due to an injury sustained the previous evening. Some injudicious decisions by riders in the early part of the meeting caused a number of delays and re-runs, however even as the track struggled to hold up against the battering from the sun and wind there was some exciting racing for supporters to enjoy.

Mildenhall supporters will have been pleased to see Danny Halsey show fine early season form with a faultless 15-point maximum, while three wins from Jordan Jenkins promised much for the season ahead. A nasty fall for Connor Mountain when he reared in Heat 13 saw the Fen Tigers No.1 withdraw from the meeting as a precaution, while ex- Fen Tiger Chris Widman also pulled out of the meeting following a hand injury after Ryan Kinsley crashed with him in Heat 10.

Along with Halsey the star of the show was undoubtably the currently unattached Stefan Nielsen whose colours were lowered just once in six rides by the unbeaten Halsey. His clashes with Danny Ayres in particular had the crowd holding their breath as neither racer gave an inch!

After the meeting Fen Tigers promoter Kevin Jolly was pleased with what he had seen.

“Two and a half hours was longer than we hoped for the meeting to run, but some early falls and re-runs put us behind and I am pleased we decided to go straight through without an interval,” he said.

“The track did get dusty as the meeting drew towards its conclusion and I would like to apologise to everyone for that, but with the baking sun, the winds and it being the first meeting we were up against it but I think the racing remained good right to the end.

“We will work on the track ahead of next Sunday but we are in a much better position than we were at the start of last year in every aspect of the club and things will only improve.

“I would like to thank the riders for their efforts today, no quarter was asked of given and we saw some great speedway. I would also like to say a big thank you to today’s sponsors and everyone behind the scenes who worked so hard to ensure today was a success. We have a busy Easter coming up and I can’t wait!”

Scores

1st Browns Builders 40 points – Danny Halsey 15 (5 rides), Cameron Heeps 11 (5), Jordan Jenkins 11 (5) and Chris Widman 3 (2)

2nd Assured Aces 37 points – Stefan Nielsen 17 (6 rides), Jon Armstrong 8 (5), Sam Woods 8 (5) and Ryan Kinsley 4 (4)

3rd Mighty Manchetts 25 points – Ben Morley 13 (5 rides), Nathan Stoneman 8 (6), Danno Verge 3 (5) and Taylor Hampshire 1 (4)

4th Palmers Panthers 23 points - Danny Ayres 8 (5 rides), Alfie Bowtell 7 (6), Connor Mountain 6 (4) and Luke Ruddick 2 (4)