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That there is Gary Cottham, ready for his role in heat number three. He spent a spell
with Mildenhall last season in their squad, now moving on to Weymouth. The fans’ reaction
to the referee following that decision was slightly aggressive, shall we say – not
pleased with that at all. Of course with League points available for meeting victories and
depending on margins this could be particularly important, but you can see there there’s
no doubt: both wheels are over that white line, and Stoneman should therefore have been
disqualified.
But he wasn’t, and we can move on now with heat number three, the scores are six points
apiece going into this one. In the red helmet colour it’ll be Luke Priest for Mildenhall,
in blue Joe Jacobs, in white Tom Brown for Weymouth and in yellow Gary Cottham.
Joe Jacobs the big scorer, I’ve made a lot of the fact that he’s now moving up into
the main body of the side. Will his scoring remain just as prolific up in that number
four position? It’s a tough position, because it has such an important role, heat number
fourteen being so close to the end of the meeting, number four often a strong position
– we saw with Plymouth last week they had Seemond Stephens, a nine point averaged rider,
at number four, so Joe Jacobs will have a challenge for the remainder of this season.
As we look across the tapes then, off the inside start position Tom Brown, next to him
it is Joe Jacobs, gate three Gary Cottham, and from the outside it is Luke Priest.
Six points apiece, the scores locked level going into this one and it is a great start
from the inside for Tom Brown. Brown leads it as around the outside goes Luke Priest
and up the inside Joe Jacobs. Right at the back Gary Cottham struggling for pace in this
one, as Jacobs makes a mistake on bends three and four, but stays close to Tom Brown who
leads the way out front. Jacobs now around the outside of bends one and two. Joe Jacobs
getting very close to Tom Brown but Brown holding on. Jacobs around the outside of bends
three and four, Joe Jacobs in the grip comes through – what a move from Joe Jacobs to
take up the lead. Brown back up the inside coming out of bend two but can’t get there.
And I was questioning before the race whether Joe Jacobs would be able to live up to his
fantastic early season form - he’s on a seven point average at the first set of averages
– and here he is, blasting clear, after making a mockery of the lead gained by the
Weymouth captain Tom Brown. Here he is, Joe Jacobs taking the chequered flag to give Mildenhall
the lead for the first time on the night. Three points to Joe Jacobs; second place Tom
Brown, he gets two; a single point for Luke Priest, back in third; and Gary Cottham was
anonymous in that one, he failed to score.
A good ride from Joe Jacobs, and no doubt at all that he is one of the most capable
members of this Mildenhall squad, riding well above his start of season average, and he
was very important last week, but has been in each of Mildenhall’s victories so far
this season. Could he play another pivotal role here tonight? With Luke Priest not scoring,
perhaps, how he would have hoped, Tom Brown picking up two in that one to open his account,
and Gary Cottham right at the back.
But what a fantastic ride that was from Joe Jacobs, we’ll see it again in a moment.
Around the outside he went, Tom Brown was riding defensively and trying to block him
out. Here we see it on bends three and four: Brown looks to block the inside line and Jacobs
gets a really wonderful run around the outside on three and four. Brown looks for a moment
to have it covered but leaves enough room for Jacobs to get around, and through he comes.
Brown does look back up the inside on bend one, but continuing his fantastic run Joe
Jacobs heads off for the chequered flag and in the end wins it by a distance. Three points
to Joe Jacobs, with a four two heat advantage Mildenhall lead ten points to eight.