The Kent Slyde Kings made the trip to Perry Barr on Wednesday evening to take on the Birmingham Brummies and for the first time at Perry Barr the Kings came away with a win and all 4 league points to further enhance their Play Off aspirations as they ran out 51-39 winners.

This win has moved the Kings up to third place in the Travel Plus National League table ahead of Lakeside on points difference.

The Kings were as ever led by captain Luke Bowen scoring 12+1 but the undoubted star of the show was Kent reserve George Hunter who took six rides to also score 11+2. The win however came at a cost as for the second time in the space of 48 hours Bradley Andrews was involved in a crash and needed medical treatment. The reports suggesting a broken and dislocated fingers for Bradley.

The meeting started well for the Kings who were six points up inside the first three races (6-12). The first race being won by Luke Bowen ahead of the Birmingham duo of Jack Parkinson-Blackburn and Layne Cupitt for a share of the spoils. The second heat saw the Kings reserve pairing of George Hunter and Bradley Andrews see off their Birmingham counterparts guest Jamie Halder and Taylor Hampshire to take a 5-1 heat advantage and give Kent a lead they were never to surrender. The third race was a 4-2 to Kent with Ben Hopwood taking the win from the lively Tom Bacon and recent signing Dan Greenwood taking third ahead of former King David Mason.

The next four races all ended up as shared heats, with the heat wins being shared two apiece between the two sides. Birmingham took the heat wins in heats 4 and 7 both times through Liam Carr; it was Carr who offered the most resistance for the Brummies only dropping one point to a Kent rider. Kent riders took the chequered flag in heats 5 and 6 through Luke Bowen and the ever improving Jack Thomas. This spell of heats maintained the Kings lead at six points (18-24).

Heat 8 saw the Kings stretch their lead to 8 points as they secured a 4-2 heat advantage with Anders Rowe taking the win from the start. It was looking set to be another shared heat until the pantomime villain Layne Cupitt from the reverse fixture in June suffered an engine failure on the last lap allowing George Hunter to take the third place point. This was followed by another spate of shared heats.

Heat 9 saw a nasty incident on the first turn involving Kent reserve Bradley Andrews. He took a spill on the first corner and was withdrawn from the meeting due to injuries to his fingers. The rerun saw George Hunter take the place of the unfortunate Andrews, Hunter took second place to give the Kings a share of the spoils behind Tom Bacon with Jack Thomas getting the third place point ahead of Mason.

Heats 10 and 11 were also shared, firstly Jack Parkinson-Blackburn became only the third Birmingham rider to take a heat win. Luke Bowen took the win in the 11th to maintain the Kings 8 point advantage (29-37).

Heat 12 saw a 5-1 to the Kings which put them 12 points up, with heat leader Ben Hopwood taking the win with George Hunter having the night of his career claim a paid win in second place ahead of Mason.

The final three races were all shared, but the final analysis will show a night to forget for the home side – suffering their biggest competitive home defeat in the league since they joined the National League, they failed to claim a single heat advantage as the Kings reigned supreme in the West Midlands.

Kent now move onto three meetings in three days at Stoke on Saturday, Buxton on Sunday before taking on Plymouth at Central Park on Monday. The way the fixtures are currently stacked across the league – it is possible that by taking 9 points in these three matches the Kings will be sitting pretty at the top of the Travel Plus National League table.

 

Birmingham

J Parkinson-Blackburn    2 2 3 0     7

L Cupitt           1’ 1’ r 0    2+2

D Mason           0 1’ 0 1    2+1

T Bacon           2 2 3 3 0     10

L Carr              3 3 2 3 3    14

J Halder                   1 0 1’ 0    2+1

T Hampshire           0 0 2 0    2

 

Kent

L Bowen        3 3 3 1’2    12+1

A Rowe        0 0 3 0        3

B Hopwood         3 1’ 2 3    9+1

D Greenwood        1 2 1’ 1’    5+2

J Thomas        2 3 1’ 2 1’    9+2

B Andrews        2’ 0 N (withdrawn) 2+1

G Hunter        3 1’ 1 2 2’ 2    11+2

 

HT

1: Bowen, Parkinson-Blackburn, Cupitt, Rowe 59.94  (3-3)

2: Hunter, Andrews, Halder, Hampshire 62.90 (4-8)

3: Hopwood, Bacon, Greenwood, Mason  61.15 (6-12)

4: Carr, Thomas, Hunter, Hampshire  61.22  (9-15)

5: Bowen, Bacon, Mason, Rowe 60.57  (12-18)

6: Thomas, Parkinson-Blackburn, Cupitt, Andrews 61.69  (15-21)

7: Carr, Greenwood, Hopwood, Halder  61.22 (18-24)

8: Rowe, Hampshire, Hunter, Cupitt (ret) 62.15 (20-28)

9: (re-run) Bacon, Hunter, Thomas, Mason, Andrews (fell – non starter) 61.35 (23-31)

10: Parkinson-Blackburn, Hopwood, Greenwood, Cupitt 60.75  (26-34)

11: Bowen, Carr, Halder, Rowe 61.32 (29-37)

12: Hopwood, Hunter, Mason, Hampshire 63.34 (30-42)

13: Carr, Thomas, Bowen, Parkinson-Blackburn 59.50 (33-45)

14: Bacon, Hunter, Greenwood, Halder 61.85 (36-48)

15: Carr, Bowen, Thomas, Bacon 60.57 (39-51)