The Kent Royals make the trip north tonight to the National Speedway Stadium in Manchester, to take on the Belle Vue Colts in a vital National Development League fixture.

The Royals go into the match with an 18-point lead from the fixture at the Old Gun Site in June. On that occasion The Royals hit Belle Vue hard in the last four races, taking each of them with a maximum 5-1.

That 18-point lead opens an opportunity for Kent to take the aggregate bonus point.

Kent goes into the fixture at Belle Vue with two absent riders. Heat leader Nathan Ablitt misses the fixture due to a clash of dates with his SGB Championship side Scunthorpe, which is a blow for the visitors as he was a Belle Vue rider last season.

Second string Jack Kingston will miss the fixture in a cruel twist of fate. After paying money to change a pre booked holiday to allow him to race in the fixture, Jack was injured in Sunday’s abandoned home match against Oxford Chargers.

Jack sustained injuries to his ribs, back and lung in the crash and Kent will be operating the Rider Replacement facility for Jack at Belle Vue.

A guest comes into the side to cover the absence of Nathan Ablitt, and on this occasion the Royals management have turned to Australian Jacob Hook.

Jacob doubles up between the Edinburgh Monarchs Academy in the NDL and Berwick in the SGB Championship. The use of the rider replacement facility will see a change in riding order for The Royals.

The R/R facility will slot in at number 2 to maximise use of higher averaged riders, and this means that second string Connor King will move to the number 3 berth where he will partner Kent captain Tom Woolley who moves to the number 4 race jacket on his former home track.

Speaking ahead of the fixture with Belle Vue manager Jamie Willis said, “Although we are 18-points ahead for the aggregate bonus point, we aren’t heading to Belle Vue to defend that lead but rather aim to win the meeting and come away with 3 league points.”

Commenting on the team news Jamie added “Unfortunately, we are without Nathan (Ablitt) who is on Championship duty, but we are pleased to welcome Jacob Hook who is guesting in his place. Typically, though, this one track we didn’t want Nathan to miss.”

There was also an update on the injured Jack Kingston and how the side would proceed in Jack’s absence.

“It’s been a strange and very stressful week. Between myself and Si (Kellow – Kent Promoter) we have been in contact with Jack daily since his crash and we are pleased that he is now at home and continuing his recovery.”

“This has of course forced us into a change of riding order, which I am confident will keep us strong throughout the meeting. We are obviously looking into who we can bring in to fill Jack’s place whilst he is out of action, and unfortunately, we have had a couple of setbacks this week. We’ll continue to keep searching to find a replacement.”

Belle Vue goes into the match at full strength, which means the return to the side of second string Freddy Hodder and Paul Bowen who both missed the first clash between the sides at The Old Gun Site.

Luke Muff takes his place at reserve as well; he was withdrawn in the clash after a crash in the fourth race. The new averages for the Colts see James Pearson take over the number one race jacket from Sam Hagon.

The action gets underway at the National Speedway Stadium at 7:30pm.

Belle Vue Colts: Paul Bowen, Sam Hagon, Freddy Hodder, Matt Marson, Luke Muff, James Pearson, Jack Smith (capt.)

Kent Royals: Jacob Hook (guest), Connor King, Jack Kingston – rider replacement, Ben Morley, Rhys Naylor, Sam Woolley, Tom Woolley (Capt).