READING Racers endured an evening to forget in their trip to Birmingham for an inter-league challenge match against the Bulls, losing 11-7 in a curtailed affair at Perry Barr.​

Racers had won against the Bulls at Eastbourne in June and were confident of putting on another good display, but with both teams missing a rider due to late withdrawals, the omens were there that this was a match that would not run smoothly.​

The start of the preceding National League match between Birmingham and Cradley Heath was delayed due to lack of a suitable ambulance at the track, and with a few of the standard falls and delays, the Development League match was always going to be struggling to finish before the 10pm curfew.​

Dan Gilkes made his return from a shoulder injury for the Racers in heat one and looked like he had never been away, streaking from the tapes to lead the race throughout.

Bulls’ Jamie Sealey and Bailey Fellows filled the minor places ahead of Rhys Laker for a drawn heat.

Gilkes was out again in heat two, taking the replacement ride for the absent Jamie Bursill.

He was joined at the front by his team skipper Stephen Whitehouse in the early stages, but while Gilkes went on to another win, Whitehouse succumbed to the pressure from firstly Tom Spencer and then Bailey Fellows.

Whitehouse did make a brave move to pass Fellows going into the first bend on the final lap, only to be repassed as they exited the bend.​

As the third race began the scores were level at 6-6, but the Bulls looked to be taking a two-point lead as Spencer led from Whitehouse, Sealey and Laker.

However, the Reading captain slid off into the fourth-bend air fence, leaving his opponents to take a 5-1 heat advantage and a four-point lead overall.

​With time already running out, it looked like the fourth race would be the last of the six to take place with the tapes rising at 9.56pm.

Gilkes appeared again, but this time, on a spare bike due to clutch problems with his favoured machine, he was beaten from the gate by Spencer.

With Laker trailing at the back Gilkes chased his rival determinedly, but while this bike looked visibly slower than the last, he found some extraordinary speed as he dived up the inside of Spencer going into the first bend of the second lap.

In truth it never looked like he would come out of the bend upright, and when the inevitable fall occurred, Spencer came down with him.

While Gilkes was excluded from the race, there was no time for a re-run and the result was called at 11-7 with three heats completed.​ Racers go back into SDL action next Thursday on the biggest track in the country on the Isle of Wight.​

Scorers Birmingham Bulls 11: Jamie Sealey 4+1, Tom Spencer 5, Bailey Fellows 2+2.

Reading Racers 7: Dan Gilkes 6, Rhys Laker 2, Stephen Whitehouse 0.​ Heat one – Gilkes, Sealey, Fellows, Laker.

Heat two – Gilkes, Spencer, Fellows, Whitehouse.

Heat three – Spencer, Sealey, Laker, Whitehouse (f).