A much weakened Fen Tigers septet put up a brave effort at Dudley on Tuesday evening.

The Fen Tigers managed to keep the score within eight points until Heat 11, after which the Heathens pulled away to record a convincing victory. Guest James Sarjeant scored two heat victories whilst newcomer Michael Neale scored four points from three rides. After two promising second places, a fall in his third ride when in third place saw Neale damage his bike and miss his final ride.

The Fen Tigers regularly packed the minor placings to keep within striking distance but couldn’t record enough heat wins or winners to really challenge the powerful Dudley top end. Apart from Sarjeant the Fen Tigers only heat winner was Josh Bates who inflicted the only defeat of the evening on Dudley number one Ashley Morris.

Club Chairman Kevin Jolly was not too disheartened - “We certainly were not disgraced, it was a difficult evening and the lads worked very hard to keep with Dudley and we did through the opening heats before they pulled away from us at the end. We will take the positives from the meeting and we were impressed by young Michael Neale. He looked hungry, good out of the starts and nothing phased him. There is potential there and plenty for us to work with. I am happy that he will be riding for us again on Friday at Coventry.

Dan was worth a lot more than the points he returned, and was all over there lads in heat 13. The fire is there for sure, we will regroup ready for Friday and look forward to a better result at Coventry”

Scorers: - DUDLEY 56: Lewis Blackbird 14, Ashley Morris 12+2, Paul Starke 11, Max Clegg 10+1, Gareth Isherwood 3+1, Dan Greenwood 3+1, Nathan Greaves 3+1.

MILDENHALL 36: Josh Bates 8+1, Dan Halsey 7+1, James Sarjeant 7, Jon Armstrong 6+1, Michael Neale 4, Ryan-Terry Daley 2+1, Aaron Baseby 2.

Mildenhall have secured the services of Kent King’s Ben Morley as a guest for Stefan Nielsen for Friday evenings National League fixture against Coventry Storm.