BUCCANEERS captain Jay Herne took his frustration out on Isle of Wight after being dramatically dropped by his Premier League club Somerset yesterday by blasting an immaculate 15-pointer last night.

The Aussie was head and shoulders above anyone else on display at Wimborne Road as Bournemouth Castle Cover stretched their unbeaten National League record.

Then Herne, who is able to double up with the Rebels as well as ride for the Dorset club, said: “It was a good night for us, me scoring 15 points and Buccs now only behind Weymouth in the league.

“I had a bit of a point to prove with Isle of Wight’s Tom Brown also riding for Somerset this year.

“I’ve got a higher Premier average than him so to beat him twice convincingly was my main target.

“I needed to make five good starts and have five good races, and I did.

“It’s been an up-and-down few days because I made my Elite League bow for Poole the night before.”

Somerset general manager David Croucher said dropping Herne “has absolutely no reflection on Jay’s performances for the club. It’s based simply on an attendance issue.

“Because of Jay’s commitments to his parent club, Bournemouth, he’s missed three out of our last four meetings, and has not ridden at home for us since June 3.

“I fully understand this situation is not of Jay’s making. It’s the result of a congested fixture list and riding in two leagues.

“All of us are very saddened we’ve had to part company with Jay and we know many supporters will feel the same way.

“But we have a duty to the club and its fans to field the strongest team possible within the rules, and quite simply, we have not been doing that recently.”

Herne said: “The only reason I’ve been told why I was dropped was because of my van cover. They said it was too expensive for them to insure it for me.

“I’m driving a 2008 model and that puts the cost up, but I’m not fussy, I’ll drive any age of van to keep the costs down as long as I have one.

“They also mentioned the Buccs-Somerset fixture clashes, but Matt Ford released me to ride for Somerset last Friday when Buccs were at Weymouth so I could keep my team place there, but even that didn’t help.

“I think it might only be over the van.

“Being dropped over a van or a fixture clash doesn’t add up.

“I’ve put over a point on my average for Somerset going from 3.00 to 4.60 or 4.70 now.

“It’s not like I’m being dropped because I’m riding badly. It just feels a bit harsh.

“But I’ve been talking to a couple of other Premier clubs already and I just want to get back into the Premier.

“Hopefully more performances like tonight for Bournemouth will help me with that.”

Buccs’ Mark Baseby withdrew after one ride with a recurrence of a knee injury, while Pirates’ Chris Holder didn’t have a post-meeting run out to test his injured collarbone.

It was his brother James Holder who had a practice.

Buccaneers 51: 1 Danny Warwick (1-1*-3-3-0) 8+1, 2 Andrew Aldridge (3-2-2*-0) 7+1, 3 Jay Herne (3-3-3-3-3) 15, 4 Mark Baseby (ret) 0, 5 Kyle Newman (2-3-2-ret) 7, 6 Aaron Baseby (3-1*-1-3- 1-2*-2) 13+2, 7 John Resch (fell exc-0-0-1*) 1+1.

Team managers: Garry May and Neil Vatcher.

Isle of Wight 41: 1 Tom Brown (2-2-6^-2-1*) 13+1, 2 Ben Hopwood (0-fell-1-1) 2, 3 Chris Johnson (1*-1*-1*-1) 4+3, 4 Brendan Johnson (2- 2-2-3) 9, 5 Nick Simmons (3-3-2-1*-2) 11+1, 6 Rikki Mullins (2-fell-fell-fell-ret) 2, 7 Scott Meakins (fell exc-0-0) 0.

Team managers: Chris Hunt and Kevin Shepherd.

Referee: Mick Bates.

Ht 1: Aldridge, Brown, Warwick, Hopwood, 62.45 (4-2).

Ht 2: (re-run) A Baseby, Mullins, Resch (fell excluded), Meakins (fell excluded), awarded, no time (7-4).

Ht 3: Herne, B Johnson, C Johnson, M Baseby (retired), 63.55 (10-7).

Ht 4: Simmons, Newman, A Baseby, Meakins, 63.60 (13-10).

Ht 5: Herne, Brown, A Baseby, Hopwood (fell, remounted, fell), awarded, no time (17-12).

Ht 6: Simmons, Aldridge, Warwick, Mullins (fell, remounted, fell), 63.53 (20-15).

Ht 7: Newman, B Johnson, C Johnson, Resch, 64.37 (23-18).

Ht 8: A Baseby, Aldridge, Hopwood (fell, remounted), Mullins (fell), 64.55 (28-19).

Ht 9: Herne, Simmons, A Baseby, Meakins, 62.07 (32-21).

Ht 10: Warwick, B Johnson, C Johnson, Aldridge, 64.13 (35-24).

Ht 11: Brown^ (tactical rider, double points), Newman, Hopwood, Resch, 64.60 (37-31).

Ht 12: Herne, A Baseby, C Johnson, Mullins (fell), 62.85 (42-32).

Ht 13: Warwick, Brown, Simmons, Newman (retired), 63.37 (45-35).

Ht 14: Johnson, A Baseby, Resch, Mullins (retired), 63.67 (48-38).

Ht 15: Herne, Simmons, Brown, Warwick, 63.41 (51-41).

Last night’s other results, Elite League: Ipswich 39 Lakeside 53, Peterborough 41 Wolves 49, Swindon 54 Coventry 39.

Fixtures, tonight, National League: Newport v Scunthorpe, Plymouth v Buxton.

Tomorrow: British Grand Prix at Cardiff.