On an afternoon where the temperatures soared on and off the track, a succession of falls by the home riders in the early heats saw the Mildenhall Fen Tigers, proudly sponsored by Manchetts Rescue and Recovery, fall to an opening defeat to their nearest rivals from Kent.

Although the Fen Tigers battled back well as the meeting continued the opening exchanges that saw the them 10 points down after only five heats proved crucial against a team with the powerhouse top two of Ryan Kinsley and Dan Gilkes.

Captain Jordan Jenkins clearly suffering the effects of his wrist injury led from the front and received good support from Sam Bebee and Luke Ruddick. Young reserve Sam Hagon making his home league debut battled hard for his well earned paid ten and featured in the race of the day in heat thirteen.

A disappointed Team Manager Malcolm Vasey said “This was not the start to our home campaign we wanted and our slow start to the meeting ultimately cost us our chance of victory in the end, but the lads battled back hard in the second half of the meeting. A lack of meetings may have cost us especially out of the starts but there was considerable promise on show from the boys and we have plenty to build on. We will dust ourselves down and go again at Berwick next Saturday”

Mildenhall Fen Tigers 43
Jordan Jenkins 12 (5), Luke Ruddick 8 (4), Sam Hagon 7+3 (6), Sam Bebee 7 (5), Connor Coles 6+2 (4), Elliot Kelly 3 (4) and Luke Muff 0 (3)

Kent Royals 47
Dan Gilkes 13 (5), Ryan Kinsley 12 (5), Jake Mulford 10+1 (7), Alex Spooner 5+2 (4), Jacob Clouting 5+1 (4), Tim Colley 1 (3) and Josh Warren 1 (3)