BUCCANEERS boss Garry May labelled Kyle Howarth and Chris Mills’ last-heat heroics as “awesome” after they salvaged a 45-45 draw in spectacular style at Scunthorpe last night.

With just over one lap to go the Bournemouth Castle Cover duo both trailed Saints riders Marc Burrows and Benji Compton.

If it had stayed that way, Scunthorpe would have won 49-41 and picked up all three National League match points on offer.

But Howarth and Mills stunned the home fans in a bumper crowd at the Eddie Wright Raceway, who’d all gained free admission to the meeting in a publicity stunt, by contriving to pass both Saints in a sensational finale.

May, who also confirmed Buccaneer heat leader Karl Mason escaped injury in a horrible heat 12 fall, said: “I haven’t seen a race like that in this league for a long time.

“Kyle and Chris were simply awesome, and I still can’t believe they pulled off a 5-1.

“We looked down and out when Chris went through the tapes and had to go off a handicap.

“It looked worse when Marc and Benji both passed Kyle on the opening lap.

“But Kyle wound it on, kept plugging away out wide in the dirt and finally found a way past them both to win the race.

“He came back into the pits and told me that as he passed the finish line he looked back and couldn’t believe it when he saw Chris was following him home in second.”

May, whose side had drawn 46-46 at Scunthorpe just over 12 months ago when Howarth was riding for Saints, added: “Millsy thought he’d blown it when he went through the tapes.

“But he just kept going and found the necessary grip to fly past Marc and Benji on the last corner.

“I thought we’d thrown it away when we let our six-point lead go, so I would have been happy with one match point for losing by less than seven.

“To get two, and the draw, is amazing, although 45-45 was probably a fair result despite the fact we had nine race winners.

“Scunthorpe had a bit of bad luck, with Ashley Birks coming off and Adam Wrathall withdrawing after falling and going to hospital for X-rays on his ankle.

“Karl slid off on the fourth turn and hurt his back a bit, but it’s nothing serious and he’ll be okay for our trip to Mildenhall tomorrow (5pm).

“We’ll be back to full strength with Kyle Hughes guesting for Millsy, who has a grasstrack meeting in Kent, and Mark Baseby available again.

“So we’ll be looking to build on this draw in the Fens.”

Mildenhall: 1 Hart, 2 Wright, 3 Priest, 4 Jacobs, 5 Evans, 6 Rayson, 7 Laurence.

Scunthorpe 45: 1 Mark Burrows (2-3-2-2-1) 10, 2 Adam Wrathall (0-fell non-starter) 0, 3 Scott Richardson (2-fell-ret-exc tapes) 2, 4 Gary Irving (fell exc-1-2-3) 6, 5 Benji Compton (1-2-1-1*-0) 5+1, 6 Steve Worrall (2*-0-2-1*-3-2*-2*) 12+4, 7 Ashley Birks (3-3-1-fell exc-3) 10. Team manager: Stuart Parnaby.

Buccaneers 45: 1 Chris Mills (3-2*-2-3-2*) 12+2, 2 Rider replacement for Mark Baseby, 3 Karl Mason (1-3-1-0-fell exc) 5, 4 Kyle Howarth (3-3-3-3-fell exc-3) 15, 5 Daniel Halsey (1-ret-2-3-0) 6, 6 Aaron Baseby (1-2-0-1-1-1) 6, 7 John Resch (0-1-0) 1. Team managers: Garry May and Neil Vatcher.

Referee: Darryl Clark.

Match points: Scunthorpe 1 Buccaneers 2.

Ht 1: Mills, Burrows, Halsey, Wrathall, 58.62 (2-4).

Ht 2: Birks, Worrall, A Baseby (fell, remounted), Resch (fell remounted), 59.51 (7-5).

Ht 3: Howarth, Richardson, Mason, Irving (fell excluded) awarded, no time (9-9).

Ht 4: Birks, A Baseby, Compton, Halsey (fell remounted, retired), 58.81 (13-11).

Ht 5: (re-run) Mason, Mills, Irving, Richardson (fell), 59.40 (14-16).

Ht 6: (re-run) Burrows, Halsey, Birks, A Baseby, Wrathall (fell non-starter, injured), (59.21).

Ht 7: Howarth, Compton, Mason, Worrall, 59.06 (20-22).

Ht 8: Howarth, Worrall, A Baseby, Birks (fell excluded), awarded, no time (22-26).

Ht 9: Halsey, Irving, Resch, Richardson (retired), 59.75 (24-30).

Ht 10: Howarth, Burrows, Worrall, Mason, 58.93 (27-33).

Ht 11: Worrall, Mills, Compton, Resch, 59.64 (31-35).

Ht 12: (2nd re-run) Birks, Worrall, A Baseby, Mason (fell excluded), Richardson (excluded tapes), 59.62 (36-36).

Ht 13: (re-run) Mills, Burrows, Compton, Halsey, 59.61 (39-39).

Ht 14: (re-run) Irving, Worrall, A Baseby, Howarth (fell excluded), 59.28 (44-40).

Ht 15: (re-run) Howarth, Mills (excluded tapes, re-started off 15 metre handicap), Burrows, Compton, 59.17 (45-45).