AWESOME HERNE

PLYMOUTH DEVILS 44

WILDCATS' sensation Jay Herne notched a phenomenal 20 paid 21 point maximum on his Conference League bow and admitted "it was all like a dream."

In what must rank as one of league speedway's greatest ever debuts, the Aussie led Weymouth to a vital 48-44 home victory over near neighbours Plymouth on Saturday night.

Despite taking seven rides, Herne's gating was simply electrifying as he left the Devils for dead at the tapes with seven precision starts.

Given that it was only his second appearance at the Wessex Stadium, Herne has clearly taken to the circuit like a duck to water.

But the Ringwood-based man admits he never thought his evening would go quite so swimmingly.

He said: "Well, I didn't expect my debut to be quite like that!

"I didn't think I'd have seven rides and I certainly didn't think I would get a paid maximum.

"In my first race I had a few nerves but when they said I was out again straight away in heat three, the adrenaline just kicked in.

"I didn't have time to think because I spent the whole night going in and out of the pits."

Given that he is new to Conference racing, Herne found it hard to take in that he had just destroyed one of the league's toughest sides.

He added: "I don't know any of the riders' names or which teams to look out for in this division.

"So I just go into each heat, looking at which gate I'm off and I don't think about the other riders.

"But now that I know Plymouth is such a strong team, this gives me a lot of confidence for the future."

While Herne was busy winning legions of fans, his team mate Lee Smart also impressed with a 14 paid 15 point maximum from five outings.

However, he made much harder work of it than Herne. In race three, he scorched around Tom Brown with a daring move on turn four.

Smart then hunted down Plymouth top gun Seemond Stevens for three laps, before shooting round him with half a lap left in heat five.

Comfortable victories followed in races nine and 12 but Smart took to the dirt again in heat 15 to pass Adam Roynon and seal the points for Weymouth.

It is very rare to see such a strong visiting team defeated with only two riders recording big totals.

And given that Sam Hurst and Terry Day uncharacteristically failed to score, this illustrated the magnitude of Herne and Smart's SCORES AND HEAT DETAILS

WEYMOUTH DOONAN WILDCATS

David Mason 2 1 2* 0 5+1

Sam Hurst ret ret fex 0

Lee Smart 2* 3 3 3 3 14+1

Nathan Irwin ex2 1 2* ret 3+1

Karl Mason 1 2* 1 2 0 6+1

Jay Herne 3 3 3 3 3 2* 3 20+1

Terry Day fxc ret 0

Team manager: Phil Bartlett.

PLYMOUTH DEVILS

Seemond Stevens 3 2 3 1 1* 10+1

Billy Legg 1 0 1* 2+1

Tom Brown 1 ret exc 1

Shane Waldron 0 1 1 2 4

Adam Roynon 3 3 1 4 3 2 16

Nicki Glanz 2 2* 0 1 1* 6+2

Tim Webster 1* 2* 2 fexc 5+2

Team manager: Derek Davey.

Referee: Jim McGregor

Ht 1: Stevens, D Mason, Legg, Hurst (retired), 54.1 (2-4).

Ht 2: Herne, Glanz, Webster, Day (fell excluded), 53.5 (5-7).

Ht 3: Herne, Smart, Brown, Waldron, Irwin (excluded, 2 minutes), 53.8 (10-8).

Ht 4: Roynon, Webster, K Mason, Day (retired), 52.8 (11-13).

Ht 5: Smart, Stevens, Irwin, Legg, 52.7 (15-15).

Ht 6: Roynon, Glanz, D Mason, Hurst (retired), 53.0 (16-20).

Ht 7: Herne, K Mason, Waldron, Brown, 53.8 (21-21).

Ht 8: (re-run) Herne, Webster, Legg, Hurst (fell excluded), 54.0 (24-24).

Ht 9: Smart, Irwin, Roynon, Glanz, 53.7 (29-25).

Ht 10: (second re-run) Herne, D Mason, Waldron, Brown (excluded, unfair riding), 54.2 (34-26).

Ht 11: Stevens, Roynon (tactical substitute, double points), K Mason, Day (broke tapes, handicapped 15m), 53.8 (35-33).

Ht 12: Smart, Herne, Glanz, Webster (fell excluded), race awarded, no time (40-34).

Ht 13: Roynon, K Mason, Stevens, D Mason, 53.1 (42-38).

Ht 14: Herne, Waldron, Glanz, Irwin (fell, remounted, retired), 55.0 (45-41).

Ht 15: Smart, Roynon, Stevens, K Mason, 53.3 (48-44).dominance on a great night for Wildcats.