DUDLEY Heathens picked up their first away win of the season with a stunning performance at the Arena-Essex Raceway on Friday.

Recent signing Kyle Newman scored a fabulous paid maximum, twice combining with skipper Jon Armstrong for 5-1s in the closing three heats of a thrilling encounter as the Heathens inflicted Hackney’s first home defeat.

But this was a solid all-round show from Will Pottinger’s side, as none of the top five ran a single last place all evening – no mean feat on such a technical track as Purfleet – whilst reserve Darryl Ritchings won Heat 2 and picked up two more useful points later on.

There were never more than two points between the sides right up to the final race, with Heathens taking the lead in Heat 7 with a 4-2 from Newman and Ritchings, only to see the Hawks score the first 5-1 of the night in Heat 8 to go two-up themselves.

Heathens battled their way back ahead with consecutive 4-2s in Heats 10 and 11, Ashley Morris an impressive winner over Shane Hazelden in the first of those, but Heathens were under pressure when Hazelden and David Mason secured a 5-1 in Heat 12 to put their side back in front.

Armstrong and Newman responded superbly, however, with a 5-1 of their own in Heat 13, and after Morris and Ritchings importantly shared the penultimate race behind Hazelden it was left to Armstrong and Newman again to delight the travelling Heathens fans with the match-clinching rides in the decider.

HACKNEY 42: Shane Hazelden 14+1, David Mason 13+2, Marc Owen 6+1, Barrie Evans 6, Ben Hopwood 2, Brandon Freemantle 1+1, Ben Morley R/R.

DUDLEY 48: Kyle Newman 13+2, Jon Armstrong 12+1, Ashley Morris 9, Darryl Ritchings 5+1, Richard Franklin 5+1, Tom Perry 4+2, Danny Stoneman 0.