Jay Herne’s luck ran out in heat 20 at Rye House as he had to settle for third place in the National League Riders’ Championship tonight.

Buccaneers captain needed to beat Plymouth’s Kyle Hughes to force a run-off for the title with Buxton’s Craig Cook.

But Mildenhall’s Barrie Evans inadvertently got in Herne’s way after gating in front but immediately grounding to a halt after suffering an engine failure.

It left the Bournemouth Castle Cover rider with no space on the outside to roar around Hughes, who marched on to a comfortable victory.

Hughes then led Cook in the final until the last corner, and then suffered bad luck himself, his engine packing up allowing the Hitmen’s rider to storm past and claim a fortunate overall victory.

Herne bagged third after his Buccaneers team-mate Jerran Hart, who had tied on 13 points with him, lifted as the tapes rose, gifting Herne victory in their run-off.

Earlier, Herne made a superb start, keeping cool after being pulled back while leading the original staging of heat one, which was stopped when Plymouth’s Mark Simmonds fell going into the first turn.

The Buccaneers captain had dived inside title holder Benji Compton, of Weymouth, on the fourth bend before referee Margaret Vardy had no option but to call a halt to the race with Simmonds and his bike still laying on the track.

Herne, off gate four, finally edged past King’s Lynn’s Darren Mallett on the fourth corner and then dived up the inside of Compton on the second lap as he was made to work hard to take the lead and get off to a winning start.

The Aussie’s time of 57.2 seconds was the fastest at National League level at Rye House this year.

Hart, fresh from his British Under-18 Championship triumph at Scunthorpe the previous night, flashed out from the traps in front to record a comfortable race four triumph over Plymouth’s Kyle Hughes, Ben Hopwood, of Isle of Wight, and Buxton’s Jade Mudgway.

The Buccaneers big guns clashed in heat eight, and it was Herne who trapped marginally in front of Hart, who was forced wide on the first bend.

Herne, who has finished fourth and fifth in previous third-tier riders’ championships, was awarded the victory after Weymouth’s James Cockle fell while last on the first turn in lap three.

The Aussie was well clear at the time, with Hart having worked hard to remain second in front of hard-pushing Simon Lambert, of Scunthorpe.

It meant Herne was tied on six points with fellow leader Craig Cook, of Buxton, who had blitzed to two lightning quick successes, while Hart was joint third with Hughes on five at that stage.

Hart scorched to an untroubled victory in heat nine over Mildenhall’s Barrie Evans, Tony Atkin, of Newport, and Compton to take his tally to eight.

Cook was surprisingly only third out in race 11. He soon got past Mallett, but couldn’t catch Hughes, who took the chequered flag.

Herne, boosted by the Buxton rider’s shock setback, blasted out of the traps to win heat 12 convincingly from Rye House’s Daniel Halsey, Mudgway and Cobras’ Daniel Blake, a replacement for King’s Lynn’s Adam Allott, who had been excluded for going through the tapes.

It left Herne leading on nine points at the interval, with Hart, Cook and Hughes tied in second on eight.

Hart’s electrifying gate brushed aside the challenges of Mallett, Allott and Simmons in heat 15.

Then Herne lined up outside Cook in race 16 with the Hitmen’s rider getting to the first corner in front and then holding off Bournemouth’s skipper to triumph.

The Aussie’s first defeat of the night meant it was a four-way tie for first place going into the last set of races between Herne, Cook, Hart and Hughes.

Hart and Cook clashed in heat 18 with the Buxton man having the inside gate again.

Both riders got away at the same time, with Hart slightly edging it, but Cook went wide and gave Hart no room on the outside with Bournemouth’s heat leader going down.

Vardy called all four back, and in the re-run Cook got away better, blocking Hart’s outside move on the back straight, which allowed Halsey briefly to steal second before the Buccaneer prised it back before the end of the opening lap.

Cook was away though and comfortably took the chequered flag to take his qualifying tally to 14, ending Hart’s hopes of overall victory and an under-18 and 21 double triumph on successive nights.

It left Hart on 13 and meant Herne would have to beat Hughes off the outside gate in race 20 to force a run-off for first place, with the Plymouth rider also needing victory to be able to challenge Cook in a run-off as well.

With all eyes on Herne and Hughes, it was Evans who made the gate, but he immediately suffered engine problems and pulled up, bulking Herne’s surge on the outside.

That gave Hughes, who’d gone off gate two, the room to surge ahead and claim victory, with Herne second.

Hart lifted as the tapes rose as he lost a run-off for third place to Herne, before Hughes suffered last bend agony in the final, gifting Cook his overall triumph.

Heat details National League Riders’ Championship at Rye House Qualifiers: Kyle Hughes (2-3-3-3-3) 14, Craig Cook (3-3-2-3-3) 14, Jay Herne (3-3-3-2-2) 13, Jerran Hart (3-2-3-3-2) 13, Tony Atkin (3-1-1-0-3) 8, Simon Lambert (2-1-3-0-2) 8, Barrie Evans (1-2-2-3-ret) 8, Darren Mallett (1-3-1-2-0) 7, Ben Hopwood (1-1-0-1-3) 6, Daniel Halsey (fell-0-2-2-1) 5, Nick Simmons (fell exc-2-2-0-1) 5, Jade Mudgway (0-1-1-1-1) 4, Benji Compton (2-fell exc-0-1-fell) 3, Mark Simmonds (fell exc-2-1-ns) 3, Adam Allott (0-0-exc tapes-1-1) 2, James Cockle (fell exc-fell exc) 0. Reserves: Ben Morley (0-2-ret) 2, Daniel Blake (0-2) 2.

Referee: Margaret Vardy.

Ht 1: (re-run) Herne, Compton, Mallett, Simmonds (fell excluded), 57.2.

Ht 2: (3rd re-run) Atkin, Halsey (fell), Cockle (fell excluded), Simmons (fell excluded), 61.0.

Ht 3: Cook, Lambert, Evans, Allott, 58.0.

Ht 4: Hart, Hughes, Hopwood, Mudgway, 59.7.

Ht 5: Cook, Simmons, Mudgway (fell, remounted), Compton (fell excluded), race awarded, no time.

Ht 6: Hughes, Simmonds, Atkin, Allott, 59.3.

Ht 7: Mallett, Evans, Hopwood, Halsey, 60.6.

Ht 8: Herne, Hart, Lambert, Cockle (fell excluded), race awarded, no time.

Ht 9: Hart, Evans, Atkin, Compton, 58.1.

Ht 10: Lambert, Simmons, Simmonds, Hopwood, 59.8.

Ht 11: Hughes, Cook, Mallett, Morley, 58.8.

Ht 12: (re-run) Herne, Halsey, Mudgway, Blake, Allott (excluded tapes), 58.4.

Ht 13: Hughes, Halsey, Compton, Lambert, 58.8.

Ht 14: (re-run) Evans, Morley, Mudgway, Simmonds (fell excluded), 58.8.

Ht 15: Hart, Mallett, Allott, Simmons (fell, remounted), 59.3.

Ht 16: Cook, Herne, Hopwood, Atkin, 60.1.

Ht 17: Hopwood, Blake, Allott, Compton (fell), 60.4.

Ht 18: (re-run) Cook, Hart, Halsey, Morley (retired), 58.8.

Ht 19: Atkin, Lambert, Mudgway, Mallett, 60.4.

Ht 20: Hughes, Herne, Simmons, Evans (retired), 59.8.

Run-off for third place: Herne, Hart, 59.2.

Run-off for first place: Cook, Hughes, 60.7.