The Buxton Hitmen saw off the challenge of the title-chasing Plymouth Devils 48-44 in their Conference League encounter on Sunday.
The home side were without the services of Jack Roberts who was riding for Birmingham but at least his loss was tempered a little by the availability of John Branney. The visitors boasted the two most experienced riders in the League, Seemond Stephens and Mark Simmonds, in their line-up as well as former Buxton rider Paul Starke. It was Simmonds who led the opening race from Branney until the Hitman fell on the fourth turn of the opening lap. He quickly remounted and when the Devils Jamie White-Williams went down at the start of lap two, Branney gained third place and that shared the points 3-3. Gareth Isherwood won Heat 2 by a country mile but his partner Scott Whittington didn’t trouble the scorers as he fell on the opening lap allowing Jamie Pickard and Starke to pick up the minor points-scoring positions.
Simmonds was out again in the next race as he took the rider replacement ride for the missing Nicki Glanz and the veteran from Cornwall made the most of starting from the inside gate position to lead from team-mate Tom Brown. Brown was put under severe pressure by Buxton’s Ben Taylor and after four laps of action, the home rider slipped up the inside of the Plymouth man coming off the final turn to take second place. The 4-2 points advantage put the visitors two ahead 10-8. Stephens edged ahead of Isherwood coming off the second turn of Heat 4 but the young Hitman pressured his opponent and when Stephens failed to hold his line, Isherwood went through into the lead and never looked like being caught. Behind them Starke held off Burnett to shared the points and preserve Plymouth’s slender lead.
For the third time in five races Simmonds took to the track and he made the start but Taylor rode a better first couple of turns to go around him and into the lead. Simmonds could do nothing but follow the young Buxton racer home and with Lewis Dallaway picking up third for the home side, the scores on the day were level at 15-all. Stephens took advantage of the inside gate to see off the challenge of Branney in Heat 6 but all of the action was at the back. Burnett was shut out on the first turn and pressed White-Williams hard until the Plymouth rider slid off on the final turn as Burnett passed him. Taylor picked up his second win of the afternoon in the following race as he saw off Brown and Stephens as the scores remained tied.
Heat 8 was something of a change as for only the second time neither Simmonds nor Stephens was in the race. The Hitmen got out in front from the start and Isherwood led from Burnett with Starke close behind in third. The former Hitman cut under Burnett as the riders exited the second turn on lap three but he lifted and Burnett was forced to back off to avoid a collision and had to settle for third. The 4-2 put the home side in front for the first time on the day 25-23. That lead stayed the same after the next race as Stephens held off Taylor on the first turn then used all of his years of experience to block the faster racer with a couple of shady moves. Dallaway’s third place shared the heat points-wise as the tension started to mount.
Brown jumped out in front at the start of Heat 10 until Branney moved under him on turn two of the second lap. Branney ran wide to block Brown’s run down the fence and Isherwood took the opportunity to slip up the inside of the Devils man as the riders entered the third turn. From then on the only danger to the Hitmen was each other as the got mighty close to colliding but thankfully they didn’t throw away the maximum 5-1 as the home side edged six points clear. Branney was out again in Heat 11 and this time he had a more comfortable race as he defeated Simmonds but with Whittington failing to finish after falling, the 3-3 kept the Devils just six behind. Buxton took a big step towards victory in the following race as Isherwood and Taylor got out of the start with Brown falling on the first turn while in third and his demise made life easy as the pair took the 5-1 and suddenly the Hitmen were ten ahead with just three races to go.
The Plymouth team manager put Simmonds on a double-points tactical ride in Heat 13 but it was Branney who outgated Simmonds and Stephens but the race had to be stopped as Dallaway picked up too much drive on the fourth turn and crashed. After treatment on the track, he was able to walk back to the pits but was excluded from the re-run. Again it was Branney who hit the front ahead of his two more illustrious opponents and the best that the Devils could manage was second and third with Stephens allowing his partner through to maximise the tactical move as they gained a 5-3 advantage which wasn’t what they really wanted. The meeting was all over in the penultimate race as Isherwood passed Brown on the third lap to complete a six-ride paid maximum and put the Hitmen in an unassailable 47-39 lead.
The Plymouth big guns finally fired in the final race but it didn’t matter at that point as Stephens led from Simmonds ahead of Branney and Taylor. Barnet got alongside Simmonds as they crossed the start line for the last lap but the Devils man squeezed him right against the fence and the Buxton man pulled off the track in agony at the end of the race with a foot injury sustained in the clash. Thankfully he was walking unaided by the time he left the stadium and he had a smile on his face because his side had beaten a team who had fancied their chances of an away win and it keeps Buxton’s chances of a play-off spot alive.
SCORERS
Buxton – J Branney 13+1, P Burnett 4+1, B Taylor 12+1, L Dallaway 2+1, J Roberts r/r, S Whittington 0, G Isherwood 17+1.
Plymouth – M Simmonds 16+1, J White-Williams 0, N Glanz r/r, T Brown 6, S Stephens 13+2, J Pickard 3, P Starke 6+4.
