MATCH REPORT: Lions fight their way to victory

Hellingly Lions took to the track again on Sunday in a South Coast League match against Poole Comets, gaining a hard fought victory in the last couple of heats by 91-85.

A good crowd had assembled and with the Lions suffering a heavy defeat on the road at Poole early last month, they were looking to start brightly, as the sun was shining on a hot summers day.

Captain, Jesse Moore, was partnered by Etienne Patel and with the outside gates, it was going to be a tough start against Poole’s Dean Hook and Ben Tinsdale. Tough it was, as Jesse was excluded for crossing the inside line as he overtook an opponent on bends 3-4.

Hellingly had given themselves the worst possible start by going down 7-2. Three shared heats followed, until the duo of Jesse and Jamie Morley took on Ben Tinsdale and Macie Schmidt in heat 5, with Jamie putting in a real shift to take the all important third place, securing a 6-4 advantage.

Hellingly’s cause was helped in heat 7, as Australian Ty Geertsen was adjudged to have moved at the tapes and was duly excluded. Jesse and Etienne raced to a 6-3 advantage meaning the scores were all level at 34 each.

Heats 8 and an eventful heat 9 were shared before the interval, heat 9 had seen young Poole rider, Danny Byrne take a spectacular fall that saw him do a 360 turn, bouncing back onto his feet, but the fall and a nasty knock on the lower arm unfortunately saw him withdraw from the rest of the meeting.

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After the break at 44-44, Hellingly secured an advantage in heat 10 (6-4), before a controversial race in heat 10 saw Neil Hollebon fail to finish. Neil was going for an inside move on the first lap, when it seemed to most, that an incident took place that should have caused a re-run, but referee, Mike Legge let the race continue. This left Hellingly trailing by 3 points.

Heat 13 took 4 attempts to start and with Dean Hook being adjudged to have made an illegal move crossing the white line, his exclusion saw Tristan Bassett take his first win of the day, followed home by Martyn Hollebon to put the lions in front by 2 points 64-62.

Steven Archer, racing in his first meeting for a month after being on holiday, won heat 15 and with the battling Jamie Morley taking third, Hellingly had moved 4 points in front.

The victory was all but sown up in heat 17, as Etienne Patel took the chequered flag with Neil taking the all important third place that put Hellingly 7 points in front.

Hellingly now take to the road in the next two weeks, Exeter (South Coast League) are the hosts next week, before a visit to Norwich on 19th June in the South East league.

Hellingly next race at the Lower Dicker Recreation Ground on 3rd July, when they face East London in a South East league fixture starting at 2.00pm.

Hellingly 91
Martyn Hollebon 17+2, Jesse Moore 16, Steven Archer 15+1, Neil Hollebon 13, Tristan Bassett 9+1, Etienne Patel 9, Jim Cox 7, Jamie Morley 5.

Poole 85
Ty Geertsen 14+1, Cory Drewett 13+2, Jay Briggs 13+1, Callum Smith 13+1, Ben Tinsdale 12+1, Dean Hook 10+3, Macie Schmidt 7, Danny Byrne 3.