A plucky effort by the Kent SLYDE Kings came up short in the Travel Plus National League Play Off Semi-final on Friday – going down by 14 points on the evening and losing 81-99 on aggregate to local rivals, Eastbourne eagles.
The Sittingbourne-based side went into the second leg over the county border in Arlington four points behind from the first leg and knew that it was crucial to have a good start if they were to turn the semi-final around. However, the hosts who’d started the first leg in similar fashion got the better of the opening salvoes moving into a 10 points lead on aggregate before Kent’s European Grasstrack Champion James Shanes broke the run by winning heat four.
The Eagles’ Ellis Perks had been the undoubted star of the first leg but heat 5 saw his colours lowered by the ever-reliable SLYDE Kings’ skipper Luke Bowen – however the deficit remained at 10 points on aggregate and actually only at one stage on the evening was that gap reduced and that only to eight points. Indeed by the half way stage on the night (after three successive 4-2 heat advantages to the hosts) the aggregate gap was now 16 points and looking insurmountable.
Shanes got the better of Perks in heat nine to give a chink of hope and when Jack Thomas and ‘Guest’ replacement for the missing Danny Ayres, Ben Hopwood trapped ahead of the up-to-this-point unbeaten Adam Ellis in the next race, it looked as if the comeback could be on. However, the World Under 21 competitor Ellis picked off both his opponents from behind to retain daylight between the two south-eastern rivals.
Two heat advantages for the visitors followed though: with Bowen and former Eastbourne man David Mason delivering in heat 11 and Hopwood’s fine win over Perks being backed up by Danno Verge – suddenly the gap was back to ten points with three heats remaining.
That left literally no margin to play with and heat 13 had the still undefeated Ellis in action. Actually the GB international was destined to crash out in this one in a fruitless attempt to catch Bowen; the Eagles’ skipper Jake Knight though crucially split Bowen from Shanes and though the gap was now in single figures (eight points) it meant the visitors needed two 5-1s to force a draw.
In fact, heats 14 & 15 were to be 5-1s but to the hosts – rather skewing the margin both on the night and aggregate across both legs.
The Sussex side then progress into the Championship Grand Final where they’ll take on the winners of the all-West Midlands tie between Cradley and Birmingham; the second leg of that one happens at Wolverhampton on Monday.
The Eagles’ Ellis Perks had been the undoubted star of the first leg but heat 5 saw his colours lowered by the ever-reliable SLYDE Kings’ skipper Luke Bowen – however the deficit remained at 10 points on aggregate and actually only at one stage on the evening was that gap reduced and that only to eight points. Indeed by the half way stage on the night (after three successive 4-2 heat advantages to the hosts) the aggregate gap was now 16 points and looking insurmountable.
Shanes got the better of Perks in heat nine to give a chink of hope and when Jack Thomas and ‘Guest’ replacement for the missing Danny Ayres, Ben Hopwood trapped ahead of the up-to-this-point unbeaten Adam Ellis in the next race, it looked as if the comeback could be on. However, the World Under 21 competitor Ellis picked off both his opponents from behind to retain daylight between the two south-eastern rivals.
Two heat advantages for the visitors followed though: with Bowen and former Eastbourne man David Mason delivering in heat 11 and Hopwood’s fine win over Perks being backed up by Danno Verge – suddenly the gap was back to ten points with three heats remaining.
That left literally no margin to play with and heat 13 had the still undefeated Ellis in action. Actually the GB international was destined to crash out in this one in a fruitless attempt to catch Bowen; the Eagles’ skipper Jake Knight though crucially split Bowen from Shanes and though the gap was now in single figures (eight points) it meant the visitors needed two 5-1s to force a draw.
In fact, heats 14 & 15 were to be 5-1s but to the hosts – rather skewing the margin both on the night and aggregate across both legs.
The Sussex side then progress into the Championship Grand Final where they’ll take on the winners of the all-West Midlands tie between Cradley and Birmingham; the second leg of that one happens at Wolverhampton on Monday.
In an act of supreme irony, the missing Danny Ayres had a wasted night with his Premier League side Glasgow’s trip across to the Scottish capital not able to get out of the tapes due to a power failure plunging Edinburgh’s Armadale home into darkness. The same time the lights sadly were going out on the SLYDE Kings’ brave attempt at the TPNL title.
TAGS: Kent Kings