The Jarvis Nuclear Gladiators fell short of a home victory last Friday

The Jarvis Nuclear Gladiators fell short of a home victory last Friday, when the reigning Championship fours champions, the Somerset Rebels, beat the Gladiators by 1 point in a last heat decider at the Coliseum.

The inter league challenge produced some exciting racing and saw former Plymouth (Devils) favourite Ben Barker go through the card unbeaten and claim an impressive 15 point maximum.

Team Manager Mattie Bates said “the meeting was 1st class entertainment from start to finish and even though we lost, we lost with a lot of pride”.

At one point the Gladiators gained a 5 point lead over the Rebels, but in the closing stages of the meeting the Rebels muscled their way back into the meeting to take the victory.

Bates said “we were always going to be up against it, with the Rebels being a very successful team in the championship and also having huge success in the premiership in recent years.

I think what was important for us as a club was attracting old Plymouth fans back in and introducing some new fans through the gates.

The National League is a great product and I feel we showed that last Friday”. Bates couldn’t praise the Gladiators enough for their efforts and added “it was only a season or two ago that Somerset had former world champion Jason Doyle riding for them.

Even though Somerset have since dropped down a league, they are still a league above us and a successful one at that.

I believe Friday we proved it’s not the dog in the fight, but the fight in the dog”. The Gladiators next home meeting is this Friday (July 5th) as they return to National League action against the Kent Kings at the Coliseum.