25 07 10 HITMEN DEFEAT LEADERS

[Tim]

HITMEN DEFEAT LEADERS
By Buxton Speedway ~ Sunday 25th July 2010
On Friday night, the Buxton Hitmen travelled to South Wales to face the league leading Newport Hornets and came away with a stunning 46-44 win in their National League clash.

Buxton were sitting in third place ahead of this encounter but hadn’t ridden for over a fortnight, not ideal preparation for an away meeting against the top side in the league at the moment. Both sides were pretty much at full strength, only rider missing was the Hitmen’s Jonathon Bethell.

The lack of action didn’t seem to harm the Hitmen as they started well and surprised their opponents by taking maximum points in the opening race as Craig Cook won from partner Nick Morris ahead of the Hornets Aussie duo of Todd Kurtz and Mark Jones. Things didn’t get much better for Newport in Heat 2 as James White-Williams touched the tapes at the start and was penalised 15 metres. Lewis Dallaway took the race win with Tom Young splitting the Hitmen as he took second ahead of Jason Garrity. This gave the visitors a 9-3 advantage at this early stage.

Newport were stung into action and skipper Tony Atkin took the race win Heat 3 but a good ride from Rob Branford for second place limited the home side to a 4-2 and they closed to within four points. Buxton restored their earlier advantage as Adam Allott celebrated becoming a father by winning the next race and White-Williams’s day didn’t get any better as he fell, the Hitmen taking the points 4-2 to lead 15-9.

The battle of the big guns in Heat 5 saw Atkin come out on top with Cook sitting in with partner Morris to share the point and maintain the lead but Dallaway’s retirement from the following race allowed Newport to claw a couple of points back as Kurtz won from Allott with Jones unopposed in third. The Hornets kept the pressure on as Kyle Newman won Heat 7 from Morris and Young’s third place, following Branford’s retirement, saw the gap close to just two as Buxton now led 22-20.

Just when it looked as though the league leaders were about to hit the front, the Hitmen took advantage of the home side as Morris and Garrity picked up maximum points in Heat 8. Jones was penalised 15 metres after failing to be on track in time and White-Williams fell again as Buxton restored their six-point advantage. Allott inflicted the first defeat of the night on Atkin in the following race but the points were shared 3-3 as Tim Webster took third for the Hornets. The meeting was suddenly back in the balance after Heat 10 as Kurtz, who also rides for Newport in the Premier League, showed his speed to win from team-mate Jones and the gap was back to just two points again.

Keen to hit back, Cook was adjudged to have touched the tapes by Referee Ronnie Allan at the start of Heat 11 and was handicapped 15 metres. Newman made the most of this by taking the win with Cook coming through to second and with Morris following him home, the points were shared 3-3. Garrity took the place of Dallaway, suffering mechanical troubles, in Heat 12 and it was a good move as he picked up a fine second place behind Webster and with partner Branford shutting White-Williams out at the back, Buxton still held the slender two-point lead.

Heat 13 saw Cook hit the front from Kurtz and Newman with Allott squeezed out at the back. Kurtz pushed hard but Cook was in fine form and when he crossed the line to take the win, he had also smashed the National League track record as well. Things were now getting rather tense as the Hitmen led 40-38 with two races to go and with Atkin leading Branford in the penultimate race, the third place point was crucial and Garrity took advantage of a spin by Young to snatch the place, and the point, as Buxton held on to their advantage.

Cook and Allott lined up for the Hitmen in the final race while Newport went with top scorer Atkin and surprisingly chose Newman rather than Kurtz as their other rider. It mattered little as Cook swept into the lead and, when he took the chequered flag, Buxton had won 46-44 and inflicted the Hornets’ first home defeat in the league. The win also moved the Hitmen into second place in the league table and the possibility that the two teams could meet again in the play-offs whetted the appetite after this cracking encounter.

Scorers
Newport – T Kurtz 9, M Jones 4+1, T Webster 5+1, T Atkin 12+1, K Newman 11+1, T Young 3, J White-Williams 0.

Buxton – C Cook 12+1, N Morris 10+2, J Bethell r/r, R Branford 6+1, A Allott 8, L Dallaway 3, J Garrity 7+2.