KENT KESTRELS 22

WEYMOUTH WILDCATS 13

WEYMOUTH Wildcats kicked off their Southern Development League campaign with a difficult defeat, on a tricky night against Kent Kestrels.

The one heat win on the night for the Wildcats, who faced a Kent side that had already hammered Exeter in the first half of the meeting, came from Connor Locke, who triumphed from the gate.

The ex-Rye House man’s heat three success, also scuppered chances of a maximum for Kent’s Jamie Couzins.

Martin French contributed points in all three of his rides to top the Wildcats’ scorecard on paid five.

Reacting after the meeting, Weymouth co-promoter James Tresadern told Echosport: “I did the track walk before the race started and there wasn’t a lot of dirt on it.

“It was the first time any of us had been there, even our riders.

“Obviously the Kent riders were a lot better and used to it.

“Bradley Andrews was on fire, so was Alex Spooner.”

He added: “We had a little bit of a rain shower before, which made the track a little bit tricky, but I think our guys handled it well. There are no complaints.

“It was just nice to be involved in it and things can only get better.”

Heat results

1 Andrews, Couzins, French, Strudwick (fell) 67.0 (5-1)

2 (re-run) Spooner, Meakins, Laker (fell NS in rerun), Locke (fell rem.) 68.3 (8-3)

3 Locke, Andrews; Couzins; Meakins 66.6 (11-6)

4 Spooner, Strudwick, French, Laker 68.1 (14-9)

5 Couzins, French, Meakins, Laker 65.3 (17-12),

6 Andrews, Spooner, Locke, Strudwick (fell) 64.2 (22-13)

RIDER TOTALS

Kestrels: Bradley Andrews 8, Jamie Couzins 6+2, Alex Spooner 8+1, James Laker 0.

Wildcats: Niall Strudwick 2, Martin French 4+1, Connor Locke 4, Tom Meakins 3+1.

n The Wildcats are scheduled to continue their Southern Development League campaign next month and are hoping to use Plymouth as their home track.