National Trophy South Group qualification business is completed at Central Park on Monday evening with the visit of the Isle of Wight Warriors.

The Kent SLYDE Kings will be looking to continue their proud unbeaten start to the season (one which lasted throughout March, April & now May) and extend it to a club record eleventh match in a row.

The omens are good with the Sittingbourne-based side having won the away tie in the NT by a convincing 55 points to 35 down on the Hampshire holiday island; and also having beaten the recently reformed club, now nicknamed the Warriors, by an even bigger margin (57-33) when they visited Central Park last month in the Knock-Out Cup [KOC].

However having been taken right to the wire by Mildenhall last Monday (when that unbeaten record needed saving on the very last bend of the very last race), the Kings’ management will certainly be aware that teams in this division can spring surprises and came come again significantly stronger a second time round.

Mildenhall had lost by a very large margin themselves at Central Park just three weeks earlier but came back as a totally different proposition and the Isle of Wight certainly have hit a vein of form which suggests they also will be significantly stronger this time around.

And that’s seen very much in the number one berth, where coming in to replace injury victim, ex Kent Kings man Benji Compton is highly rated 22-year-old Joe Jacobs.

A winner twice of the NT with his previous side in this division, Mildenhall – the Ipswich-born Jacobs is one of a select group of riders in the 2016 Travel Plus National League [TPNL] who have berths also in the Elite League: in Jacobs’ case that’s with the Belle Vue Aces.

The Warriors indeed have a very a strong top four. Lee Smart is a former National Rider Champion (winning the title in 2010) and after a stop start period of years since then, is looking like he’s regaining full sharpness and getting back to the sort of form which saw him too reach Elite League status previously.

Club captain James Cockle is a very experienced rider with a string of Premier League clubs as well as honours in the third tier, the Conference League title with Scunthorpe back in 2007 and then a Divisional Pairs win for Boston the following year.

And forcing his way into a heat leader berth also has been another rider like Smart & Jacobs whose career has stalled and then got revving away this season, Mark Baseby. Winner of the last individual meeting held here last season, the SilverSki Championship, the former Sittingbourne Crusaders and Bournemouth Buccaneers man certainly knows the best way around this Central Park circuit in his home county.

Also locally-born and bred is Matt Saul – named initially in the Kent squad last year before injury denied him a chance with the SLYDE-backed Kings. He rides at reserve alongside the former Devon & Cradley rider, Tyler Govier.

Coming back into form also is the former Eastbourne Eagles rider who has hooked up this term with the side from Ryde: Kelsey Dugard – paid seven on his visit with the Warriors in that KOC first leg cup tie shows he can be a useful second string for the visitors.

For the home side, Danny Ayres will be back after missing the thriller versus Mildenhall. New averages apply for most of the team (with all except Ayres now having completed the statutory number of TPNL seasons to be given new figures).

This will lead to a re-jigging of the side as Jack Thomas (doing so outstandingly well in this his first season in the TPNL) is now moving up into the main body of the side, swapping with Luke Clifton.

The new averages are (in average order):

Luke Bowen 10.60; James Shanes 8.00; David Mason 7.20; Danny Ayres 7.05 *; Jack Thomas 5.26;
Luke Clifton 5.00; Danno Verge 4.47

* still last year’s average as only ridden three TPNL matches.

The action gets underway at Central Park at 6.30pm on Monday 6 June.