Dudley Heathens up to second place

Dudley Heathens 62 Scunthorpe Saints 32

These are heady days indeed for fans of speedway in the West Midlands.

Wolves' rousing defence of their Elite League title sees them lying second - and that's where the resurrected Heathens now stand in the National League after this big win.

Bournemouth pushed the door ajar with their weekend win at play-off chasing Rye House, last night Dudley kicked it off the hinges.

But, despite the 40-point margin of victory at Monmore Green, the standard of racing was a credit to the sport's third tier. Never more so than when Tom Perry got up right on the line in heat five to deny the astonished Saints number one Mark Burrows.

The two went shoulder to shoulder for the best part of three laps, with Perry on the outside before his clever inside switch appeared to have won the day.

But he couldn't quite keep it all together on the pits bend, drifting off line for Burrows to strike again on the inside run. However Perry, roared on by the Heathens faithful, gave it the big handful on the final bend to round his rival and sneak the verdict by about half a wheel.

Jon Armstrong's run of three successive maximums finally snapped when he ran out of room in the seventh, while trying to go round Gary Irving.

But Armstrong showed how it's done four races later when denying Burrows the full return from his double-point tactical ride with a driving outside pass.

Poor Burrows was also under constant attack on the other side from a very focused Ashley Morris, the Heathen finally slashing his way past on the entry to the final bend but unable to retain enough 'shape' to prevent Burrows executing the cutback and regaining the position.

Then it was Morris who went wheel to wheel and bump to bump with Irving in the penultimate race. The two made contact on more than one occasion in the heat with no quarter asked or given.

But it was always expecting too much for neither to come to grief and eventually it was Irving who took a worryingly swift trajectory into the first bend fence, his bike snapping one of the plastic support posts.

By Tim Hamblin