DUDLEY won the National League Fours at Stoke on Sunday with the depleted Coventry Storm side unable to reach the Final.
Without Joe Jacobs (racing for Glasgow, and scoring an impressive 10+2 against Somerset) and the injured Robert Branford and Luke Crang it was always going to be an uphill battle to get out of a group containing Mildenhall, King’s Lynn and the Isle of Wight.
James Sarjeant got the Storm off to a winning start in Heat 1, inheriting the lead when Dan Halsey fell on the last bend, and Olly Greenwood added a second place in his first outing as he got the better of Adam Ellis.
But there was only one other scoring race for the Storm, that coming when Sarjeant produced a superb ride to overhaul Ellis and Jake Knight in one spectacular move coming off the fourth bend to go from fourth to second.
There was frustration for Greenwood as he came to grief in his second ride when holding the lead after going too wide on turn four.
Youngsters Ryan Terry-Daley and James Shanes both failed to score in a tough meeting, although the second ride for Shanes in particular was an encouraging one as he kept pace well with the likes of Darren Mallett and Darryl Ritchings.
Mildenhall and King’s Lynn came through the group, to be joined by Dudley and Kent from the other semi-final. The Final saw Dudley, Mildenhall and Kent all level on 11 points going into the last race, and Lewis Blackbird took it for Dudley as he held off the challenge of the previously unbeaten Steve Boxall.
