BUCCANEERS captain Mark Baseby is clearly already beginning to reap the rewards of racing more often following his appointment as a doubling-up rider for Somerset earlier this month.

But the exciting 22-year-old’s notable improvement, even after making only a few appearances for Rebels in the higher level second tier, still didn’t help Bournemouth Castle Cover prise away a precious league point from Dudley.

The Dorset side, with Baseby top-scoring with an impressive 11 paid 12 haul, looked destined to come away from Monmore Green with at least one point last night.

Kyle Howarth and Daniel Halsey were on a 5-1 for the best part of two laps in heat 12 that would have cut an earlier Buccaneers deficit of 22-14 to 36-35.

But in a pivotal final two circuits, Tom Perry and Richard Franklin were able to stunningly turn around a scintillating race so Dudley got a 5-1 instead to propel them 40-31 in front.

There was no coming back from that setback for Bournemouth, who also saw a possible 8-1 in the penultimate heat turn into only a 6-3 when Howarth fell on the first turn while partnering Baseby to what could have been a maximum score.

Instead of being just 45-41 behind, with an outside chance of still being able to grab an unlikely draw, the best Buccaneers could salvage then was one league point as they trailed 47-39 going into the final race.

Dudley top guns Lee Smart and Jon Armstrong quickly extinguished those hopes, though, outgating Baseby and Chris Mills.

Mills managed to quickly pass the Mighty Midget. But Baseby, who until then had sparkled, couldn’t make any headway and trailed in at the back.

It meant Dudley clinched a 10-point triumph and the maximum three home points, with Bournemouth getting none again following their 50-43 reverse at Buxton on Sunday.

Earlier, Baseby had looked particularly sharp as he swept smartly outside Richard Franklin to join Halsey on a Buccaneers’ 5-1 in race three.

Buccaneers line up with the same team as last night when they host Isle of Wight at Poole in the National League tonight (7.30pm).

Islanders include former Bournemouth rider Danny Warwick and ex-Poole junior Brendan Johnson.

Isle of Wight: Nick Simmons, Ben Hopwood, Brendan Johnson, Danny Warwick, Dean Felton, Tom Hill, Ricky Mullins.