FORMER Weymouth Wildcat Lee Smart was crowned National League Riders’ Champion in a thrilling finale at Rye House.

King’s Lynn rider Simon Lambert looked on course for victory after four straight chequered flags but in his fifth and final race, the 21-year-old was excluded for flooring Mark Baseby, thus opening the door for either Smart or defending champion Craig Cook of Buxton.

The two men went head-to-head in the last heat of the night, quite literally as they went round bends one and two.

Smart ended up in the fence and Cook was excluded from the re-run, which the Dudley skipper won to leapfrog Lambert and take the trophy.

Buxton’s Adam Allott finished third with 11 points while Weymouth duo James Cockle and Gary Cottham scored six and five respectively.

Cottham went in the opening heat on Saturday night and finished third behind Lambert and Smart after Nick Simmons crashed out.

Cockle’s first outing came in race four but ended in disaster and controversy when he was excluded following a collision with Ben Morley, in which the home rider appeared to be the one at fault.

Club-mate Cottham again profited from a rival’s fall to collect his second point of the evening before Cockle faced two rides on the trot.

The Wildcats’ number one was second to Smart in heat eight but then hit the shale on lap one of race nine.

However, he was able to remount and take advantage of ex-Cat Danny Warwick’s retirement to claim third spot.

Cottham did well to relegate another former Weymouth man – Kyle Newman – into third and then took his tally to five with a single point in heat 14.

Cockle’s charge was brought to a halt in the next contest though as engine failure saw him miss the two-minute time allowance.

A change of machinery brought a change in fortune for the 24-year-old as he won heat 18 ahead of yet another ex-Wildcat Jay Herne. Cottham also lined up in the same race but finished last.

And so it came down to a nail-biting finish for messrs Smart, Lambert and Cook, with the former running out victorious.