Kent SLYDE Kings travel to the Suffolk fens on Sunday to take on Mildenhall in a vital Travel Plus National League fixture still without the injured Danny Ayres.

Knocked unconscious when he crashed when riding for his Premier League [PL] side Glasgow Tigers, Ayres has also been diagnosed with a cracked bone in his wrist and so though the 9 days suspension for suffering concussion will have lapsed by the time of the Mildenhall fixture, this latest injury set back keeps him on the sidelines for a further period.

It’s a personal blow to Ayres as, being from Newmarket, the Mildenhall circuit in West Row is his local track.  It’s a particular blow to the SLYDE Kings because if Ayres was absent because he was riding in a PL fixture the club would be entitled to use a ‘Guest’ replacement for him but because the reason for his absence is injury (albeit suffered when on Glasgow Tigers duty), the only facility available to cover for the man now second in the Kent averages is ‘Rider Replacement’.

Though there is the consolation that all riders in the team, including number one Luke Bowen, are eligible to take one of the absent Ayres’ rides under the R/R system.

Bowen had a meeting to forget the previous time this year the side he skippers travelled to West Row – scoring just three points in a National Trophy [NT] fixture: by far his lowest ever return for the SLYDE Kings.  But brimming with confidence after taking the Central Park track record last Monday, the 30-year-old from Harlow will be determined to put the record straight on Sunday.

Despite that disappointing score from their leader, the SLYDE Kings won that NT match by 48-42 with Luke Clifton and Jack Thomas scoring paid 9 and Danno Verge contributing paid 8 making it a very solid team showing – with 11 point man James Shanes leading the way. A similar all round effort, especially in the absence of the talismanic Ayres, will be needed to repeat the winning formula and claim three or four priceless TPNL points.

The home side make three changes in their line up.  Connor Mountain (runner up in the GB Under 21 semi held at Kent earlier this year) has suffered a serious back injury and is out for an as yet unknown period.  The Fen Tigers management have moved quickly to cover for the injured teenager bringing Kyle Hughes back to the club.

Hughes who was himself injured in his first meeting for his planned 2016 club Eastbourne (ironically against Kent on Good Friday) has recovered from the broken collar bone he suffered then and will be raring to go after such a frustrating start to this season.  Hughes was a Conference League [CL] (the forerunner to the TPNL) with the Fen Tigers back in 2004 and since moving on has seen service with Oxford (and another CL title in ’05), Plymouth, King’s Lynn, Isle of Wight and Rye House.

Hughes joins two former Divisional Riders Champions in a heat leader trio that’s now the most experienced in the land: the evergreen Jon Armstrong and the in-form Danny Halsey.

The other two changes are at reserve with Luke Ruddick and Chris Widman displaced in favour of a pair of graduates from the youth system at West Row which includes the Tiger Cubs side managed by Phil Kirk who compete in the Midland Development League [MDL].  A club that’s always prided itself of developing new young talent has taken the bold step of bringing in Sam Bebee and Jordan Jenkins for the remainder of the season replacing the experienced Widman and GB U21 semi-finalist Ruddick.

Bebee had an opportunity with the senior side earlier this term but a broken wrist brought a premature halt to his progress and this will actually be his first TPNL outing for the club.

Jenkins meanwhile has a growing reputation as one of the most promising riders in the next generation and last weekend at Leicester confirmed that with victory in the latest round of the British Youth Championship.  He is making his TPNL debut almost as quickly as a young rider possibly can (15 years of age being the minimum age for riding in the division), coming into the Fen Tigers’ septet just five days after that landmark birthday.

By an incredible co-incidence Jenkins will equal the record as the youngest ever Mildenhall rider (15 years and five days) – a record he’ll now share with Kyle Hughes!

Alfie Bowtell and former Kent Kings’ rider from the Sittingbourne-based club’s first season in the sport (2013) Connor Coles complete the homesters’ line up.

The action gets underway at 3.30pm on Sunday 7 August at Mildenhall Stadium, Hayland Drove, West Row, Mildenhall, Suffolk, IP28 8QU