The whole Kent Kings club were left in shock and dismay at the latest serious injury to befall the hugely popular racer Luke Clifton, who was hospitalised after a horror heat two crash in Monday’s away match against Cradley Heathens.
Making his comeback appearance after being out with broken ribs, the Canterbury born rider was leading in his first ride in heat two when he went over the unusual track camber on the back straight under pressure by Cradley reserve Conor Dwyer.
The heavy fall into the fence was instantly evident as a serious one – the long treatment on track worsened fears and early indications are that in addition to further rib and internal injuries Luke has suffered a bad break to his leg.
After such a calamity and long delay while the ambulance took their stricken team mate to hospital, it’s remarkable that the SLYDE-sponsored Kings bounced back so admirably that they were at parity with their hosts all the way up to heat 8 and only four behind with just four heats to go.
A superb 5-1 by Jack Thomas and Ben Hopwood put the Kings ahead after three heats and a Luke Bowen win over Kings’ old adversary Dan Greenwood kept things level going into six. There awaited former Kent favourite Danny Ayres and though he prevailed, Nathan Stoneman and the busy Anders Rowe took the vital second and third places.
Heat eight was a vital race and Bradley Andrews back at his old home track delivered a superb race win. At the halfway point against the odds the visitors were level at 24-24.
Heat nine was sadly a turning point – the shorthanded Kings fielded only Stoneman and he was sandwiched out of it by Greenwood and Luke Harris; the Welsh born hard man of the track forced into a near pirouette and taken out of significant points scoring.
The 1-5 reverse put the visitors behind by four and they were never to recover. Ayres came from behind to beat Hopwood but a race win by Bowen over the opposing skipper Tom Perry kept the margin to four until a calamitous heat 12 with Ryan Burton a hugely unlikely race winner shepherded home by Greenwood.
Events in an unlucky heat 13 cemented Kent’s fate with Stoneman unaccountably excluded for what was defined as delaying the start.
Bowen produced a brilliant battle keeping Ayres at bay but now the gap was ten. There was time as the curfew closed in for just one more completed race won splendidly by Thomas.
So a ten-point defeat left Chris Hunt’s charges without anything to show from their visit to Wolverhampton – except for a mood in the camp as black as traditionally the skies are in this part of the West Midlands over the terrible injuries suffered to one of their own.
The SLYDE Kings travel south and across the salty brine on Thursday (22/6) taking on the Isle of Wight Warriors in Ryde.
Cradley Heathens 47
1. Danny Ayres 3, 3, 3, 1 10
2. Joe Lawlor EF, 0, 0 0
3. Dan Greenwood 0, 2, 3, 2′ 7+1
4. Luke Harris 1, 1′, 2′, 1′ 5+3
5. Tom Perry 3, 3, 2, 3 11
6. Conor Dwyer 3, 0, 1′, 1′, 2 7+2
7. Ryan Burton 1, 1, 2, 3 7
Kent SLYDE Kings 37
1. Luke Bowen 2, 3, 3, 2 10
2. Bradley Andrews 1′, 0, 3, F 4+1
3. Ben Hopwood 2′, 1, 2, EF 5+1
4. Jack Thomas 3, 0, 1′, 3 7+1
5. Nathan Stoneman 2, 2, 1, 0 5
6. Luke Clifton F/X withdrawn – injured 0
7. Anders Rowe 2, 0, 1′, 0, 1, 0 4+1
Heat Results
1. Ayres, Bowen, Andrews, Lawlor (EF) (3-3)
2. (rerun) Dwyer, Rose, Burton, Clifton (fell exc.) 4-2 (7-5) (Clifton – Fell / Excluded)
3. Thomas, Hopwood, Harris, Greenwood (8-10)
4. Perry, Stoneman, Burton, Rowe (12-12) 57.87
5. Bowen, Greenwood, Harris, Andrews (fell rem) (15-15) 57.38
6. Ayres, Stoneman, Rowe, Lawlor (18-18)
7. Perry, Hopwood, Thomas, Dwyer (21-21)
8. Andrews, Burton, Dwyer, Rose (24-24)
9. Greenwood, Harris, Stoneman (fell rem.) (29-25) 58.31
10. Ayres, Hopwood, Thomas, Lawlor (32-28)
11. Bowen, Perry, Dwyer, Andrews (fell) (35-31)
12. Burton, Greenwood, Rowe, Hopwood (EF) (40-32)
13. Perry, Bowen, Ayres, Stoneman (exc delaying start; 15 m handicap) (44-34)
14. Thomas, Harris, Dwyer, Rowe (47-37) 59.5
15. (stopped – not rerun) Ayres, Perry, Bowen (fell exc.), Thomas
Curfew reached – meeting abandoned; result stands