Sittingbourne Crusaders are still looking for a first win of the season after a young and inexperienced side went down 54-36 to Redcar Cubs in the Conference Speedway League at the Old Gun site.

The final score did not do justice to the standard of racing and the entertainment value of the afternoon.

At the halfway stage, Redcar were ahead 29-18 thanks to successive 5-1 wins in heats seven and eight. There was plenty of excitement in heat nine with a re-run after a fall by Crusaders' Dan Berwick. Harland Cook pushed Redcar's Benji Compton for four exciting laps before conceding on the line for a drawn 4-4.

A straightforward 5-1 to Redcar in heat 11 was followed by a heat that gave home fans hope as Cook came inside and out of Richard Lawson to try and curtail his maximum. Lawson held on while Berwick suffered a puncture as Cubs won 4-2.

Heat 15 was exciting from start to finish with Aaron Baseby leading from the line and Dean Felton and Redcar's Jade Mudgway dicing for second place. So close was the scrap for second place that Felton had to take evasive action to avoid Baseby and ended up laying down to allow Mudgway and Lawson past for a 3-3.

Sittingbourne scorers: Basey 11, Felton 8+1, Cook 8+1, Berwick 4+1, Mullins 3+1, Cunningham 2.