JERRAN Hart believes the fact that Weymouth number one Lee Smart “walked out on his team” with four races still to go didn’t take the gloss off Buccaneers’ fabulous cup triumph last night.

Bournemouth Castle Cover’s flying reserve banged in an impressive 16 paid 17 as they overturned a 16-point first leg deficit to triumph 102-86 on aggregate.

It meant Buccaneers were not only crowned the ‘Kings of Dorset Speedway’ but they also fixed up a juicy National League Knockout Cup semi-final clash against Plymouth.

But Bournemouth’s overall triumph was still in the balance as they led by only two points on aggregate going into heat 11.

That’s when referee Christina Turnbull excluded Smart after he had lost control of his bike on the second turn while leading the race.

Smart didn’t fall down, but the deviation from his line caused Hart to go down behind by the fence.

The official ruled the Weymouth rider’s loss of control was the prime cause of the stoppage and excluded Smart.

It was a controversial decision and the whole Wildcats camp didn’t agree with. They claimed Hart had room to go round Smart or shut off.

But it was Smart who really took exception to Turnbull’s decision though, and Weymouth team manager Jem Dicken later confirmed, the rider had “walked out on the team” despite also sustaining a wrist injury in the incident.

Hart and Kyle Newman grabbed an easy 5-1 over Matt Wright in the re-run – the heat advantage that finally broke Wildcats’ back and set up Bournemouth’s success.

Smart promptly pulled out of the meeting citing injury, leaving Weymouth with only five riders after Terry Day had already withdrawn through injury.

Talking about heat 11, Hart said: “I thought I made a good start and was clearly going round him (Smart).

“He just locked up although he didn’t hit me, but it was just a bit dangerous. He should have been in control of his bike but he wasn’t.

“I don’t know whether he should have been excluded but I had nowhere to go. I had to go down or have a big accident.”

Hart added: “I don’t think Lee pulling out took the gloss off our overall win.

“We knew we had to do a job tonight and Danny Warwick, Jay Herne and the rest of the boys were brilliant.”

Weymouth team manager Jem Dicken said: “Lee did throw a wobbly but he did hurt himself and he has a medical certificate for it.

“He is our captain and number one and you don’t walk out on the team.

“The rest of the team aren’t happy about it. It will be up to club chairman Phil Bartlett to decide what he does now.”

Buccaneers 62: 1 Danny Warwick (3-3-3-3-2*) 14+1, 2 Andrew Aldridge (1-1-2*-1*-1) 6+2, 3 Jay Herne (3-3-3-exc-3-3) 15, 4 Rider replacement for Mark Baseby, 5 Kyle Newman (3-1-2*-2*-2*) 10+3, 6 Aaron Baseby (fell exc-0-1) 1, 7 Jerran Hart (3-2*-3-2-3-3) 16+1.

Team managers: Garry May and Neil Vatcher.

Weymouth 30: 1 Lee Smart (0-2-exc unfair riding^-ns) 2, 2 Matt Wright (2-1*-3-1-0) 7+1, 3 Tim Webster (0-0-0-1*) 1+1, 4 James Cockle (2-4^-2-2-1) 11, 5 Mark Burrows (ret-ret-1-1) 2, 6 Terry Day (1*) 1+1, 7 James White-Williams (2-1-1-0-0-2-0) 6.

Team manager: Jem Dicken.

Referee: Christina Turnbull.

Bournemouth 102 Weymouth 86 (Bournemouth meet Plymouth over two legs in the semi-final).

Ht 1: Warwick, Wright, Aldridge, Smart, 61.95 (4-2).

Ht 2: (re-run) Hart, White-Williams, Day, A Baseby (excluded unfair riding), 62.89 (7-5).

Ht 3: (re-run) Herne, Cockle, Aldridge, Webster, 62.73 (11-7).

Ht 4: Newman, Hart, White-Williams, Burrows (retired), 63.91 (16-8).

Ht 5: (re-run) Herne, Smart, Wright, A Baseby, 63.07 (19-11).

Ht 6: Warwick, Aldridge, White-Williams, Burrows (retired), 63.15 (24-12).

Ht 7: Hart, Cockle^ (tactical rider, double points), Webster, 63.18 (28-16).

Ht 8: Wright, Hart, Aldridge, White-Williams, 63.96 (31-19).

Ht 9: Herne, Newman, Burrows, White-Williams, 62.95 (36-20).

Ht 10: Warwick, Cockle, Aldridge, Webster, 62.25 (40-22).

Ht 11: (re-run) Hart, Newman, Wright, Smart^ (excluded unfair riding, tactical rider, double points), 61.87 (45-23).

Ht 12: (re-run) Hart, White-Williams, Webster, Herne (excluded, not under power after unsatisfactory start), 60.87 (48-26).

Ht 13: Warwick, Newman, Burrows (two minutes offence, re-started off 15 metres handicap), Smart (non-starter), 63.40 (53-27).

Ht 14: Herne, Cockle, A Baseby, White-Williams, 63.06 (57-29).

Ht 15: Herne, Warwick, Cockle, Wright, 62.91 (62-30).

Last night’s other result, Elite League: Peterborough 48 Eastbourne 42, Swindon 55 Ipswich 37.

Fixtures, tonight, Elite League: Coventry v Peterborough.

National League: Plymouth v Scunthorpe, Weymouth v Mildenhall.