The very much in form Wightlink Islanders collected another two valuable league points as they easily defeated the Redcar Bears by 53 points to 40 at Smallbrook Stadium last night.

And those two league points see them climb above both Edinburgh and King's Lynn into third place in the table behind current league leaders Somerset and second placed Workington.

As with last week's home cup match against Sheffield, skipper Jason Bunyan and his men took a little while to stamp their authority on the match and only led 17-13 after the first five races with Redcar's skipper, former World Champion Gary Havelock, winning two of those and showing that despite now being 39 years of age he has lost none of the trackcraft that took him to that World title back in 1992.

But there was little he could do other than stand and admire the home riders as they stepped up the pressure and romped to no less than four maximum 5-1 heat advantages in the next five heat. with Kryzsztof Stojanowski (twice), Cory Gathercole (twice) and Bunyan all registering race wins.

That mid-match scoring burst took the score to 41-19 in favour of the Wightlink Islanders and many might have thought that at that stage that they were heading towards their biggest home win of the 2008 season so far.

The fact that it did happen was as a result of both Havelock rolling back the years to register three more race wins in the space of the final five heats to remain unbeaten on the night, and mechanical problems that beset both Stojanowski and James Holder who, nevertheless, managed to end the match as the Islanders top scorer earning him the 'man of the match' award from meeting sponsors GJ Aerials.

MATCH DETAILS:

IOW 53 REDCAR 40
(Premier League

Scorers: Wightlink Islanders: James Holder 12+2, Cory Gathercole 12+1, Glen Phillips 9+1, Krzysztof Stojanowski 9, Jason Bunyan 6+2, Andrew Bargh 5.

Redcar TLS Bears: Gary Havelock 18, James Grieves 9, Josh Auty 5, Ty Proctor 4, Daniel Giffard 3+1, Joni Keskinen 1, Arlo Bugeja 0.

JAMES PROMISES TO GET HAND X-RAYED - ONE WEEK LATE!

During the course of last week's tremendous home KO Cup victory against Sheffield, Wightlink Islanders in-form Australian reserve James Holder had what can best be described as a 'coming together' with the safety fence following a fiercely contested first bend melee in one of his races, the result of which was that by the end of the match, his right hand had swollen up like the proverbial balloon.

Vastly experienced track medic Clive Greedy immediately diagnosed a possible broken bone and suggested to James that he get his hand x-rayed at the earliest possible opportunity but James decided it would probably be best to leave it to the following morning and go to his local hospital.

The swelling had all but disappeared when James awoke last Wednesday and, being a typical speedway rider, he came to the conclusion that whilst his hand still hurt, as the swelling was no longer there, then it must be okay and that he wouldn't add to his hospital's A&E department's burgeoning workload.

Needless to say James ended last night's meeting with his right hand nigh on three times the size it should be, which makes his feat of topping the Wightlink Islanders scorechart even more remarkable, and he has now vowed to take Clive's advice and get it x-rayed this morning - albeit a week late!

NEXT ACTION AT SMALLBROOK....

The next high speed action at Smallbrook takes place next Tuesday (May 27) and takes the form of the annual Solent Sidecar Speedway Championship commencing at the usual time of 7.30p.m.

16 crews aboard their three-wheeled monster 1000cc machines hat have no brakes, piloted by daredevil drivers with their passengers holding on for dear life, will most certainly provide 20 heats of terrific racing plus thrills galore as no quarter will be asked nor given by the four crews in each and every race.

It's an exciting night out for young and old alike and a full preview of the meeting will be issued later this week.