MARK Baseby sustained a suspected broken right hand as Buccaneers’ play-off hopes nose-dived last night.

The Islanders belied their lowly league position to convincingly destroy Bournemouth Castle Cover 60-32 on a night of high drama at Smallbrook Stadium.

Baseby twice relinquished good scoring positions while occupying first and second places as he suffered broken chains in both incidents.

He sustained the injury to his throttle hand when going down on the second bend while leading on the last lap in heat six and took no further part in the meeting.

Baseby had already been forced to pull up sharply on the first corner, final circuit, while a safe second in race four after leading at one stage.

So, what could have ended up with Baseby grabbing a maximum six points from two outings, added up to nothing as Buccaneers were well beaten.

He wasn’t the only rider withdrawn from an eventful clash by the track doctor, though.

His brother and Bournemouth team-mate Aaron Baseby departed early with a severely bruised hip.

Aaron sustained the injury after laying his bike down to avoid stricken Buccaneer Daniel Halsey in front of him on the first corner in race eight, but bravely went out to grab a point in the re-run after Halsey had been excluded before withdrawing.

It meant Bournemouth finished the clash with only five riders, with Islanders also ending up two men short.

Their first man to pull out was Tom Hill, who had won his opening race, despite sickness, with Brendan Johnson following soon after.

Johnson’s night ended unhappily, though, with the doctor determining he was too ill to carry on riding.

Buccaneers, needing victory to break into the top four, were never really in the hunt once Islanders had notched three successive 5-1s to lead 18-6.

Amazingly, tactical man Halsey and Brundle were briefly on an 8-1 in heat 11 which would have cut Isle of Wight’s lead to 39-32.

But Ben Hopwood and Dean Felton, who grabbed a delightful 13 paid 19 from reserve, blasted up the banking outside both Buccaneers to reverse the situation, with their 5-1 sealing Islanders’ victory.