Belle Vue Colts v Middlesbrough Tigers

Report

BELLE Vue got off the mark in the WSRA National Development League with a hard-fought 46-43 win over Middlesbrough in Manchester.

Home duo Will Cairns and captain Freddy Hodder packed in behind outstanding Tigers No.1 Ace Pijper in Heat 15 for a 3-3 to secure victory for the Colts.

The result came despite the loss of Jack Kingston after a heavy crash in Heat 9 saw him ruled out for the remainder of the meeting.

Cairns scored 13 points and Hodder added 10+2, whilst Pijper racked up 17 for the visitors as he suffered his only defeat to Cairns in Heat 1.

Said Cairns: “Ace is going well at the minute and he ruined my maximum, which I’m a bit annoyed about! He just had the track figured out and made good starts.

“I think we all came into today’s meeting thinking that we could win.

“When we lost Jack our morale definitely went down a bit. Luckily we stayed strong and got the job done. Everyone chipped in and we managed to pull it off.”

WSRA NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT LEAGUE
BELLE VUE 46: Will Cairns 13, Freddy Hodder 10+2, Jack Shimelt 8+1, Mason Watson 8, Harry Fletcher 4+1, Jack Kingston 2+1, Billy Budd 1+1.
MIDDLESBROUGH 43: Ace Pijper 17, Charlie Southwick 7+2, Stene Pijper 6+1, Jamie Halder 6, Kai Ward 5, Elliot Kelly 2, Tom Spencer r/r.

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Photo credit: IAN CHARLES