CRADLEY captain Max Clegg inspired his side back to winning ways with another unbeaten night at Monmore.

The skipper roared to a 15-point maximum as the Anchor Logistics-sponsored Heathens beat the Isle of Wight 47-43.

But this wasn’t all about Clegg as he received some vital back-up from fellow heat-leaders Danny Halsey and Jack Smith.

And there were glimpses from their less experienced members of the side too as Heathens added three much needed league points to their tally.

Isle of Wight gated on a 5-1 in the opener before Tom Spencer shot up the inside of their duo and was shortly followed by Clegg. But Chris Widman caught the back wheel of Spencer into bend three and was disqualified from the re-run in which Heathens opened their account with a 4-2.

Sheldon Davies bagged his first race win in Cradley colours in the second before the Heathens moved six clear with a convincing 5-1 from Halsey and Luke Harris in the third.

They were on course for a second successive maximum in the fourth until Ben Morley eventually worked his way past Harry McGurk and then Smith who made an error on lap three.

The Warriors looked on course to close the gap in heat eight, but mature rides from inexperienced pairing McGurk and Spencer saw them smartly work their way past Widman – a regular National League rider for over a decade.

That did enable the visitors to introduce their tactical substitute though – and it almost came off. With Morley comfortable out front, Wood worked his way into second. But luck was on Cradley’s side on this occasion as his machine packed up on the final lap.

After Clegg made it a hat-trick of race wins in the tenth, Wood would set the record straight as he took the chequered flag in Heat 11, and with Davies unable to make an impact at the back, the gap was back down to six.

Halsey and Clegg added to their win tally and Heathens looked set to wrap the points up in the penultimate race. But a bend four error by Harris, for the second successive meeting, ensured a tense finale.

And although Halsey slid off in that last heat decider, super-cool Clegg delivered the goods once more.

Team boss Will Pottinger said: “We made a good start to the meeting and we were able to keep it pretty steady from there on in.

“We had a bit of luck with Georgie having bike problems twice - but we threw a couple of points away ourselves again so I guess you could say that levelled itself out.

“The Isle of Wight have got two top riders in Georgie and Ben who can win races for fun at this level so it’s always going to be close.

“But Max was in unstoppable form again, and he had support from other areas of the team tonight which was good to see.

“The lads lower down the team can take positives out of tonight and full credit to the track staff because that was probably the best it’s been this year so we thank them for that.

“We’re a little bit disappointed to let the Isle of Wight leave with a point but the most important thing is that we got the three league points and we’re back to winning ways so we’re happy enough.”

Cradley face the Isle of Wight away this Thursday (7pm).