THE Swindon Sprockets beat the Isle of Wight Warriors 49-41 at the Abbey last Thursday to complete the double and put themselves in a good position to win the three-strong National Trophy group.

Zach Wajtknecht won his first four races and only a defeat by the former Robins reserve Nathan Greaves after a slow start in the last race of the night prevented his going through the card unbeaten.

Despite upwards of 25,000 gallons of water being pumped on to the track during the day, riders from both sides struggled on the slick surface with six races rerun and two awarded as 13 riders were involved in accidents. Fortunately none were serious.

Skipper Darryl Ritchings was also among the fallers and was disappointed to contribute just four points. Reserve David Wallinger impressed with two heat wins in his paid 12-point score.

SWINDON 49: Zach Wajtknecht 14, David Wallinger 11+1, Tom Woolley 8+3, Dan Greenwood 6+1, Layne Cupitt 5+1, Darryl Ritchings 4, Lewis Whitmore 1+1

ISLE OF WIGHT 41: Nathan Greaves 13, Ben Woodhull 13, James Cockle 10, Jamie Sealey 3+1, Chris Widman 2+1, Ben Wilson 0, Tyler Govier r/r THE following night Lee Kilby’s Sprockets side suffered their first defeat of the campaign going down 56-34 on the tiny 207-metre Plymouth track.

Darryl Ritchings and Lewis Whitmore both missed the meeting following crashes the previous evening as the under-strength team were no match for a Devils side with plenty of home track experience; Steve Boxall and Richard Andrews both went unbeaten for the hosts.

Number one Zach Wajtknecht continued his impressive form to lead the visitors while David Mason returned to the side to bag 11 points.

But they lacked support from the rest of the side – and team boss Kilby admitted it was a night to forget.

“It was a very tough meeting,” he said. “Plymouth are home track specialists and got off to a flying start which put us on the back foot. We were always up against it with the team we had. We had Darryl missing unfortunately and we had two very inexperienced reserves. I didn’t expect them to score many points, and I was very grateful to them for stepping in as without them we probably wouldn’t have had a meeting.”

PLYMOUTH 56: Steve Boxall 14+1, Richard Andrews 10+2, Henry Atkins 9+3, Callum Walker 7+1, Benji Compton 7, Lee Smart 5+2, Rob Parker 4+1.

SWINDON 34: Zach Wajtknecht 14, David Mason 11, Dan Greenwood 6, Layne Cupitt 2, Steve Anderson 1, Mick Sutton 0, Darryl Ritchings r/r.