WEYMOUTH Doonan Wildcats left it late with a thrilling final heat victory to win the meet by just a single point and go top of the Conference League in the process.

The Wildcats looked to have the match sewn up after heat seven, leading by 12, but Rye House fought back with good use of their tactical ride to go into the lead by the 12th heat.

David Mason got the Radipole Lane outfit off to a flying start against his former side.

Mason, starting in gate three, raced into the lead off the first bend and went on to secure a 5-1 heat with skipper Karl Mason finishing second.

Raiders' Daniel Halsey was causing Weymouth problems all night with his quick starts, racking up plenty of points for the visitors to keep them on track.

By the eighth heat the Wildcats were 27-15 ahead and looking comfortable with just one heat lost. But then came Rye House's tactical ride.

Halsey donned the black and white helmet and beat Weymouth's Jay Herne to the first bend to go on to pick up six points for the Raiders.

David Mason wasn't too happy with the referee's decision to exclude him from the race after he fell at the first corner, and things soon got worse for the hosts.

Two maximum defeats in a row (heats 10 and 11) turned the meeting on its head and put the visitors in the lead for the first time.

Karlis Ezergailis won two on the trot to take the overall score to 35-34 in Rye House's favour.

The Wildcats went into the interval trailing by one after drawing the 12th heat 3-3.

However, the rut continued for the home side - both Bowen and Mear got the better of their Wildcat counterparts, David Mason and Nathan Irwin, around the first lap to extend their lead to five points (43-38).

Weymouth needed at least a 4-2 in heat 14 to take the meet to a decider. Luckily Australian rider Herne stepped up to the mantle. Herne won the heat followed by Sam Hurst in second to secure a maximum win that took them within one point of their opponents.

Herne appeared to be having problems with his bike for the middle part of the night but in his first race after the break he showed his quality from the start to keep the Wildcats in contention.

It was down to the 15th and final heat.

Herne was joined by captain Karl Mason for the final showdown against the Raiders' pairing of Karlis and Luke Bowen.

It was an extremely tight heat that could have gone either way but thanks to some skilful driving from Herne, and an engine problem to Bowen's bike, the Wildcats secured a nail-biting overall win of 47-46 to the delight of the Wessex Stadium faithful.

Chairman Phil Bartlett was delighted, but also relieved, with the last-heat drama.

"It's brilliant, the boys did what they had to do. But we had the meeting in the bag early on and then we switched off," he said.

"At the interval I made sure I fired them up and told them exactly what we had to do. It was a thrilling end, though."

Bartlett also made note of Jay Herne's final heat ride, saying: "It was an awesome bit of riding by Jay, especially on the last turn when he knew exactly where their guy was. He rode it beautifully to bring home the win."

The Wildcats' next meet is against Buxton tomorrow in their Knockout Cup second round tie which they lead 51-45 from the first leg.

For now though, Weymouth sit top of the league, which Bartlett is very pleased about. "It's great to be top of the league, but by Sunday we might not be so we'll enjoy it while it lasts," he said.

HEAT DETAILS

Ht1: D Mason, K Mason, Bowen, Mear 54.0 5-1

Ht2: Halsey, Herne, Day Strudwick (x tapes, 15m) 53.4 8-4

Ht3: Hurst, K Mason, Karlis, Cottham 54.4 13-5

Ht4: Day, Halsey, Mear, Irwin (fx) awarded 16-8

Ht5: Halsey, Hurst, Bowen, K Mason 54.5 18-12

Ht6: Irwin, D Mason, Mear, Strudwick 54.7 23-13

Ht7: Herne, Karlis, Day, Cottham 53.9 27-15

Ht8: Halsey (tactical), Herne, Bowen, D Mason (fx) 54.5 29-22

Ht9: K Mason, Mear, Strudwick, Hurst 53.4 32-25

Ht10: Karlis, Halsey, D Mason, Herne (ret) 54.0 33-30

Ht11: Karlis, Bowen, Irwin, Herne 53.4 34-35

Ht12: K Mason, Karlis, Halsey, Day 53.7 37-38

Ht13: Mear, Bowen, D Mason, Irwin (ret) 53.6 38-43

Ht14: Herne, Hurst, Halsey, Cottham (x tapes, 15m) 54.1 43-44

Ht15: Herne, Karlis, K Mason, Bowen (ret) 53.7 47-46