Devon & Dorset Trophy Second Leg

WEYMOUTH DOONAN WILDCATS 50 PLYMOUTH DEVILS 43

Wildcats win 96-86 on aggregate

GUEST rider Jay Herne returned to the Wessex Bus Raceway to help fire the Weymouth Doonan Wildcats to glory in the Devon & Dorset Trophy.

The former Wildcat filled in for injured number one Jon Armstrong and top scored with 10+1, followed by James Cockle who also hit double figures with 10, as the hosts ran out 50-43 winners in Saturday’s second leg.

And Herne’s contribution saw the Radipole Lane outfit wrestle the Trophy from the grasp of the Plymouth Devils courtesy of a 96-86 aggregate success.

Wildcats’ chairman Phil Bartlett said: “We beat them at their place and now at ours so it’s fair enough. It’s our first piece of silverware of the year and now we move on to the next one hoping to win as many titles as we can.

“Every one of the team played their part and overall it was a fantastic two nights’ racing.”

The Wildcats did the hard work in Friday’s 46-43 first leg win at Plymouth, but knew they could not afford to slip up on home shale.

And they got off to the perfect start on Saturday night as Herne and Terry Day, and then James White-Williams and Tim Webster, registered home maxi-mums in the opening two heats.

The early lead remained intact and grew to 14 points after Cockle and Matt Wright notched another 5-1 for the hosts in race nine.

The Devils cut that deficit in half moments later as Kyle Hughes, utilising a tactical ride, was followed home by Paul Starke in heat 10.

But the Wildcats kept their heads to see out the meeting and scoop their first piece of silverware of the new campaign.

Meanwhile, Bartlett has found a more permanent replacement for team captain Armstrong, who will be sidelined by a knee injury for at least six weeks.

The new face is expected to appear in Friday’s Challenge meeting with the Somerset Giants and will be announced later this week.

SCORES AND HEAT DETAILS

WEYMOUTH DOONAN WILDCATS

1 Jay Herne (G) 3 1* 1 2 3 10+1

2 Terry Day 2* 2 3 0 7+1

3 James Cockle 3 2 3 2 10

4 Matt Wright 1 1* 2* 2 0 6+2

5 Lee Smart 2 3 3 0 8

6 Tim Webster 2* 0 1 1* 4+2

7 James W-Williams 3 0 1 1* 5+1

Team manager: Jem Dicken

PLYMOUTH DEVILS

1 Mark Simmons 1 3 2 1 2 9

2 Jason Prynne 0 0 fx 0

3 Kyle Hughes 2 2 6^ 3 1* 14+1

4 Paul Starke 0 1* 2* 3 6+2

5 Seemond Stephens 3 3 0^ 3 9

6 David Gough 0 fx fx 0

7 Matt Bates 1 1 2 1 0 0 5

Team manager: Gary Spiller

Referee: Mr C Durno

Ht 1: Herne, Day, Simmonds, Prynne, 52.6 (5-1)

Ht 2: (Re-run) White-Williams, Webster, Bates, Gough, 53.5 (10-2)

Ht 3: Cockle, Hughes, Wright, Starke, 53.5 (14-4)

Ht 4: Stephens, Smart, Bates, White-Williams, 53.3 (16-8)

Ht 5: Simmonds, Cockle, Wright, Prynne, 53.5 (19-11)

Ht 6: Stephens, Day, Herne, Gough (fx), race awarded (22-14)

Ht 7: Smart, Hughes, Starke, Webster, 53.1 (25-17)

Ht 8: (Re-run) Day, Bates, White-Williams, Prynne (fx) 54.1 (29-19)

Ht 9: Cockle, Wright, Bates, Stephens (tact), 54.5 (34-20)

Ht 10: Hughes (tact), Starke, Herne, Day, 52.9 (35-28)

Ht 11: Smart, Simmonds, Webster, Bates, 53.8 (39-30)

Ht 12: (Re-run) Hughes, Cockle, White-Williams, Gough (fx), 53.9 (42-33)

Ht 13: Stephens, Herne, Simmonds, Smart, 53.7 (44-37)

Ht 14: Starke, Wright, Webster, Bates, 54.0 (47-40)

Ht 15: Herne, Simmonds, Hughes, Wright, 53.3 (50-43)