For the second-year running the Kent CTA Fire Kings went close to glory in the annual National League Pairs Championship, only finally to finish in third place at the event held at the Mildenhall Speedway track in Suffolk.

Pairs from eight of the nine teams in the National League took to track, initially in two groups of four with the top two from each group moving forward into the Grand Final.

Back from last year’s bronze award winning pair for Kent was Mildenhall track specialist Ben Morley and the portents were good, as his partner this time around club captain Simon Lambert is the most successful rider in the history of the Pairs competition, three-times previously a winner in this unique format. Lambert’s last victory was as a Stoke Potter and ironically it was to be the side from Staffordshire, enjoying a major renaissance this season, who took the spoils this time.

Stoke’s path to the final was little blocked as two pairs in their group, King’s Lynn and Coventry suffered late withdrawals due to injuries and so both fielded weakened line-ups. Indeed, Stoke (who visit Central Park on Monday week [23/6] in a Knock-out Cup quarter-final) actually went through the card unbeaten in their semi recording a maximum 21 points, being joined in the Final by their local rivals Buxton.

For the CTA Fire Kings, qualification was a mightily more challenging proposition – finding themselves up against the hosts and pre-meeting favourites, Mildenhall and the reigning champions (both of this Pairs competition and the League in general), the Cradley Heathens. The group being completed by this Monday’s visitors to the Kings’ Sittingbourne base, the Devon Demons.

The format of this competition sees race points awarded differently from league matches and individual Speedway racing with 4 for a win, 3 for second and 2 for third. This places the emphasis on team riding and the performance of the pair as opposed necessarily to the individual and ultimately was to be the difference between Kent and the hugely dominant West Midlanders from Cradley. The semi started in perfect fashion for the Kings’ duo with Morley and Lambert combining for a maximum 7-2 over the Devon pairing of James Shanes and Richard Andrews.

Next up were the Heathens and the race was a classic with Lambert and Cradley’s Steven Worrall swapping places after going neck and neck for a lap before Worrall claimed the victory – crucially though, Lambert’s riding partner Morley was in third ahead of Max Clegg and it was a 5-4 heat win to the Kings.

This set up a final qualifying heat against the hosts with both pairs locked on 12 points each. By this juncture Cradley had achieved the maximum over Devon and had finished on 15 points, so it was clear Simon and Ben required at least a second place to get through. And so it proved with skipper Lambert splitting the home pairing of Joe Jacobs and Danny Halsey.

That saw Mildenhall through as group winners and though the Kings and Cradley were tied at 15 points each, the 5-4 win when the two pairs went head to head was enough to send Kent through.

Stoke were on a roll at this point and – punching above their weight in their semi – Buxton were to prove no match for the Potters as the pair of Ben Wilson and Jon Armstrong continued their perfect run in heat one of the final. Kent’s hopes really hinged on bettering their performance against the hosts in their quick-fire return race against Mildenhall but another 6-3 to the Fen Tigers put a huge dent in the well-supported CTA Fire Kings duo’s ambitions to better their third place of last term.

Mildenhall vs. Stoke was the big one and was on track next. A second successive 6-3 to the homesters after Halsey produced a brilliant inside pass on Wilson ended Stoke’s 100% record and offered hope back to the Kent pairing if they could deliver a similar coup de grace when they too faced Armstrong and Wilson in their next race.

Sadly though it wasn’t to be and though Simon Lambert put in a massive effort to the roars of the travelling Kings’ faithful, sadly a puncture saw his and the Central Park-based outfit’s hopes end. A final maximum against Buxton meant a successful end to the afternoon and then in a hugely dramatic final heat the Hitmen from Derbyshire broke the home fans’ hearts by somehow team-riding to hold out Halsey and secure a 5-4 which handed the overall title to Stoke.

Skipper Simon Lambert was in reflective and appreciative mood at the end,
“Myself and Ben tried our very best today to bring the title home to Kent but in the end we just didn’t get the breaks and fell just short. Massive thanks to all the CTA Fire Kings fans for their amazing support again today. It’s great having such good fans and all the riders in the side – Ben and me today and all the lads at home and away matches – really appreciate it.”

Result and Kent scorers:
Group A – Stoke 21 Buxton 15 King’s Lynn 9 Coventry 8
Group B – Mildenhall 18 Kent 15 (Lambert 9, Morley 6+2 ), Cradley 15 Devon 6
Final – Stoke 17 Mildenhall 16 Kent 12 (Lambert 9+ Morley 3+1) Buxton 9

Pictures supplied by Spencer Snow.