Castle Cover Buccaneer Kyle Newman produced a scintillating battling performance to complement skipper Jay Herne's faultless 18 point maximum as Bournemouth completed their league programme with an 8 point win over their nearest rivals Weymouth.
Herne looked as though he had the track record in his sights as he scorched away in the opening heat and with Danny Warwick gifted third place when Terry Day retired early the Buccaneers gave notice of intent that they were in no mood to let the Wildcats have life easy. Although Newman had to give second best to Lee Smethills in heat 2 as the home side levelled there were greater things awaiting the Poole-born youngster. He stormed to a fast race win second time out, bettering Herne's time by 0.6 of as second to come close to the Wessex Bus Raceway and then found himself disqualifed from heat 7, taking a rider replacement ride and trying to squeeze round Smethills on the pit turn but running out of room and bringing Smethills down with him. Fortunately for the Buccaneers Mark Baseby shot out of the traps in the re-run to keep the scores level, Weymouth having squared things for a second time through birthday boy Compton and Day claiming a 5-1 over struggling Andrew Aldridge and a luckless Aaron Baseby.
Newman though quickly dusted himself down from the fall and came out to win heat 8 and the youngster wasn't to drop another point to an opponent as he completed a 7 ride performance.
Herne was simply fast, wheel perfect and full of determination as he led through example leaving the bumper crowd to marvel at his speed and skill.
Weymouth though put together a brace of 5-1 scores in heats 9 and 10 to open up a six point lead and giving themselves hopes of becoming the first team to beat the Buccaneer's twice this year, but Bournemouth showed why they are top of the table material as they swiftly recovered, first through Herne and Newman and then through Mark Baseby and Newman to turn that 6 point deficit into a 2 point advantage at the interval. Having shared heat 13 the Buccaneers doubled their lead through Newman's final ride of the night and Baseby's rider replacement third place and with pacey Herne a certainty to show in the nominated riders heat the Wildcats knew their chances of stealing a draw were remote. Herne didn't disappoint but it was a piece of class riding from Mark Baseby to pick off Compton, after almost being hit by James Cockle around the second turn, to give the visitors a closing 5-1 and a huge psychological advantage ahead of the play-offs on September 24th and October 9th.
Weymouth 41
B.Compton 2,2,3,2',2,1 =12+1
T.Day R,2',2,3, =7+1
T.Webster 0,1',2,3,1 =7+1
J.Cockle 2,2,2',1,2,0 =9+1
R/R (BJ,TW,JC,LS)
L.Smethills 3,1',R,1',0 =5+2
J.White-Williams 1,F,0,0 =1
Bournemouth 49
J.Herne 3,3,3,3,3,3 =18
D.Warwick 1,0,1,1, =3
M.Baseby 1,3,0,3,1,2' =10+1
R/R (JH,KN,DW,MB)
A.Aldridge 1,1,0,0 =2
A.Baseby R,0,1 =1
K.Newman 2,3,FD,3,2',2',3 =15+2
Referee: Mr Phil Griffin
Gates 2&4 Bournemouth lost the toss ; 1&3 Bournemouth won toss
1. Herne Compton Warwick Day (rtd) 2 4 2 4 (51.6)
2. Smethills Newman White-Williams A.Baseby (rtd) 4 2 6 6 (53.1)
3. Herne Cockle M.Baseby Webster 2 4 8 10 (51.8)
4. Newman Compton Aldridge White-Williams 2 4 10 14 (51.0)
5.Herne Cockle Webster Warwick 3 3 13 17 (53,0)
6. Compton Day Aldridge A.Baseby 5 1 18 18 (53.2)
7. M.Baseby Webster Smethills Newman (fell disqualified) 3 3 21 21 (53.0)
8. Newman Day Warwick White-Williams 2 4 23 25 (53.7)
9. Webster Cockle A.Baseby Aldridge 5 1 28 26 (53.5)
10. Day Compton Warwick M.Baseby 5 1 33 27 (53.5)
11. Herne Newman Cockle Smethills (rtd) 1 5 34 32 (52.1)
12. M.Baseby Newman Webster White-Williams 1 5 35 37 (52.8)
13. Herne Compton Smethills Aldridge 3 3 38 40 (53.1)
14.Newman Cockle M.Baseby Smethills 2 4 40 44 (53.4)
15.Herne M.Baseby Compton Cockle 1 5 41 49 (53.1)