Sittingbourne Crusaders 42 Buxton Hitmen 48

SITTINGBOURNE Crusaders suffered another narrow defeat in their latest Conference League outing at the weekend.

Despite claiming seven heat wins, with three apiece for the in-form duo of Danny Warwick and Mark Baseby, a lack of strength in depth proved the undoing of the Iwade-based speedway side.

Buxton used the Rider Replacement facility to good effect, with their top trio of Scott James, Jack Roberts and Jon Bethell all taking match-winning extra rides.

Andre Cross enjoyed his best meeting of the season so far for the home side. He won the re-run heat nine and then fell unluckily when in second place three races later.

Next up is the visit of the reigning grand slam champions the Scunthorpe Scorpions. Scunthorpe have a perfect record so far this term and will represent a huge challenge for the Crusaders who will need to juggle resources as Warwick is unavailable.

The meeting gets underway at noon at the Old Gun Site on Sunday.

Scorers: Warwick 13; M. Baseby 9; Dean Felton 6; Aaron Baseby 6; Cross 4; Luke Goody 2; Joe Reynolds 2.