Dons' return witnessed by big crowd.

A crowd of nearly 4000 fans turned to witness the return of the Wimbledon Dons speedway team at Wimbledon Stadium on Thursday night. 'The King of Plough Lane' Ronnie Moore was guest of honour and receievd a raptous welcome on his return to the track where he became a legend.

In their first track action for over a decade, Wimbledon were beaten 43-29 by the Belle Vue Colts in a meeting restricted to 12 heats. Conditions made atrocious by an earlier heavy downpour, but both teams battled to provide entertainment for the large expectant crowd, and all riders were specially commended by the referee Chris Gay for their skill and commitment.

With the match close at 26-28 after 9 heats, the Belle Vue Colts pulled away with three successive maximum 5-1 heat scores to finish off comfortable
winners.

The Dons no.1 Glen Phillips had the honour of winning the first race and went on to top the Dons charts with nine points before falling in his last ride.

The powerful Colts from Manchester were sharp from the start and were well led by Chris Collins (son of ex-World Champion Peter) and Tom Brown. A special mention must be made of Colts reserve Paul Burnett who had scored a maximum nine points from his three rides.

Scorers:

Wimbledon
Glen Phillips 9, Graeme Gordon 5+1, Jon Stevens 4+1, Garry Sweet 4+1, Chris Geer 3, Chris Hunt 2, Martin Williams 2

Belle Vue Colts
Tom Brown 9+2, Paul Burnett 9, Chris Collins 8+3, Aidan Collins 6, Danny Hughes 6, Lee Smethills 3, Dave Hartley 2+1