Dudley Heathens take lead in shield

Dudley Heathens 55 Buxton 37

Teenage hopeful Ashley Morris came of age as Dudley took a big step towards National League Shield success with a win over Buxton in the first leg.

The 16-year-old went through the card at Monmore Green to record his first National League maximum with five perfect rides.

Morris was sharp from the start and mature in both his pace and selection of lines.

But it was his performance in the crucial first corners that underlined the value of his current Premier League education in the reserve berth at Edinburgh.

Scores in the Premier League are made and lost on a willingness to engage in the cut and thrust of the opening turn and Morris is clearly learning his lessons well.

He gave no quarter even when shoulder to shoulder with as experienced a campaigner as Adam Allott and reaped the reward with the full 15 points.

His win over the speedy Allott brought a cheer second only in volume to the one which greeted his fifth and final victory.

Morris had made a super start to hit the front, while Adam Roynon gave him room to ride and made sure the Buxton pairing would not become a factor.

Morris had only one moment of anxiety, hitting the shale in heat 14 as he and John McPhail touched on the run to the first corner.

Referee Jim Lawrence called all four back and Morris made no mistake at the second attempt.

Roynon would surely have joined him on the five-ride maximum mark but for what he later described as "an epic fail" in boarding a new and untried machine for his first outing.

Following a second place it was immediately jettisoned in the pits, the Cumbrian turning to his customary steed and thereafter going unbeaten.

With those two in top form and Barrie Evans a fine stand-in for the injured Jon Armstrong, Dudley had plenty of top-end clout.

Although Tom Perry struggled for his customary form, Richard Franklin chipped in with a paid half-dozen while Darryl Ritchings again proved the late lynch-pin as the Heathens blitzed the final three heats 15-3 to take a 16-point advantage to Buxton for Sunday's second leg.

In a cagey contest, Dudley's initial bid to build a lead lost momentum with no fewer than three falls for Luke Chessell, two of them in scoring positions.

Chessell, to his credit, would have gone out for post-match practice but at the conclusion of the meeting found use of the circuit given over to the Wolves pair of Ludvig Lindgren and Tyson Burmeister.

His time will come. That of Morris may already have arrived.

By Tim Hamblin