SPEEDWAY star Kyle Hughes led the Cobras home against Isle of Wight in the second half of August Bank Holiday Monday’s double header at Rye House.

The Kart Raceway Cobras kept their dreams of a National League Championship play-off spot alive with a hard-fought victory over the Islanders.

Having already claimed seven points for the Rockets against Stoke, Hughes got back on his bike to record a 14-point haul for the Cobras in their 49-41 win at the Hoddesdon speedway circuit.

The Cobras’ No 1 was followed into double figures by David Mason, with Marc Owen not far off achieving that mark.

In a match where the lead changed hands no less than four times, the Cobras actually trailed 26-22 following a visiting 5-1 in heat eight.

The home side pulled a couple of points back in the next race as Owen and Mason finished either side of Danny Warwick in a heat initially stopped after three riders slowed coming off the second bend when appearing to think the red lights had come on.

They then re-took the lead for good with a maximum performance from Hughes and Joe Jacobs in heat 10.

Following 4-2s from the pairings of Lee Strudwick and Tom Stokes – riding through the pain of Saturday’s finger injury – and Mason and Shane Hazelden took the score up to 39-33, and a final late burst saw them home.

The Islanders, for their part, came preciously close to nabbing their first away match point of the season.

Although producing only four race wins, they had a solid core in Paul Starke, Danny Warwick and veteran reserve Dean Felton, and would have kept the home side under real pressure but for a nightmare afternoon for British U18 champion Brendan Johnson, who managed just a single point.

As it was, despite an Islanders’ 4-2 in heat 13 that gave the visitors fresh hope of some reward at 41-37, a powerful close-out from the Cobras saw them finally clinch the victory.

Shane Hazelden and Marc Owen claimed a 5-1 in the penultimate race.

And then needing just a 3-3 from the final heat to seal the additional match point available, Kyle Hughes chalked up a tapes-to-flag win.