Conference League
Buxton Speedway: Hitmen fall short
By Nick
Jul 28, 2008, 19:31

The Buxton Hitmen suffered their first home defeat of the 2008 Conference League season as they were edged out 42-47 by the Boston Barracudas on Sunday.

The Hitmen were without top man John Branney who was riding for Workington in the Premier League at Mildenhall and faced a tough task against a full strength Boston outfit that had scored 41 points in their Trophy meeting at Buxton back in May. The visitors took hold of the meeting from the very first race as Simon Lambert shot from the tapes to lead going into the first turn. Buxton rider Jack Roberts was caught on the outside of the pack and slipped right to the back as the two Boston riders went in front. Roberts passed team-mate Paul Burnett before catching Darren Mallett and when the Boston rider moved off the inside line on the final turn, Roberts was there to take second place.

Heat 2 was real harem-scarem as three riders all tried to fit on a small piece of track exiting the second turn and as they got to the next bend Gareth Isherwood ran wide with a mechanical problem to leave the two Boston riders to head off into the distance. The 5-1 put the Barracudas 9-3 in front the six-point advantage stayed after the following race was shared points-wise. The Premier League experience showed as James Cockle breezed into the lead for Boston while his partner Darcy Ward bustled his way past Ben Taylor at the end of the first lap. Ward almost ran into Cockle on the first turn of lap two and ran wide with Taylor and Lewis Dallaway passing him. Taylor pushed on to catch Cockle but ran out of laps and the points were shared 3-3.

Buxton hit back in Heat 4 as Roberts and Isherwood easily saw off Chris Widman after Darren Rolph stopped on the first turn with bike trouble. The Boston lead had been cut to just two by this but they extended it to four in the next race as Lambert, currently with Kings Lynn in the Premier league, got out ahead and although Taylor rode a good first turn to get the better of Mallett, he had to settle for second place behind Lambert. The first running of Heat 6 was eventful as Rolph’s bike died again but this time right in the middle of the pack on the first turn. Burnett and Adam Lowe both fell and the referee excluded Rolph from the re-run. Taylor and Burnett teamed up for a maximum 5-1 to tie the scores at 18-all.

Even though there was more than half of the meeting to go, the next race proved somewhat decisive. As the riders exited the second turn on the first lap, Roberts suddenly slowed as his motor blew and as he coasted to a halt on the third turn, his partner Scott Whittington fell as he tried to go around him. Referee Dave Dowling excluded both Buxton riders resulting in Ward and Cockle racing unopposed to a 5-0 score. Not only were the home side five points behind but their top man was without a bike. Mallett and Isherwood battled hard at the start of Heat 8 with the Boston man edging in front but Isherwood had other ideas and nipped up the inside as they exited the last turn of the lap. Mallett didn’t put too much pressure on and held a comfortable second ahead of Burnett.

Buxton skipper for the day Dallaway was excluded in the following race after he fell entering the second turn of lap two but Taylor won the re-run to share the points and keep the Hitmen just three points behind. Cockle crashed out of Heat 9 in spectacular style despite leading the race and Ward was penalised 15 meters in the re-run for touching the tapes. Isherwood and Burnett led the re-run but the latter was riding too wide and Ward closed in before going through the gap left by Burnett to turn the 5-1 into a 4-2 and keep Boston’s lead. Lambert made it three wins out of three in Heat 11 although he didn’t help team-mater Mallett by running him wide at the start of the second lap and this allowed Roberts, on Whittington’s spare bike, through into second. The 4-2 moved the Barracudas three points clear and Roberts was clearly struggling on borrowed equipment.

After Heat 12 was drawn, Boston all but clinched victory in Heat 13 with Lambert and Rolph combining to see off Burnett and Roberts, this time mounted on Dallaway’s spare steed, and this put the visitors seven ahead with just two races left. The Hitmen looked for a short while to be hitting back in the penultimate race as Isherwood and Dallaway hit the front but Ward slipped into second as Dallaway went wide on the third turn with the result meaning that Boston couldn’t lose. All that was left from the final race was for Lambert to complete his unbeaten afternoon, the first by a visiting rider since September 2006, and his three points sealed the win for the Barracudas.

SCORERS

Buxton – J Branney r/r, P Burnett 5+1, B Taylor 14, L Dallaway 3+2, J Roberts 7, S Whittington 1, G Isherwood 12+2.

Boston – S Lambert 15, D Mallett 5, J Cockle 8+1, D Ward 7, D Rolph 4+1, A Lowe 4+1, C Widman 4+1.