With a contingent of the travelling Kent fans sharing a Ferry over to the Isle of Wight with Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt, it was a Leadership contention of their own which occupied their thoughts as the TouchTec Kings sought to continue their 100% winning start to the 2019 National League [NL] campaign. 
Sadly though the injury crisis giving a headache to Kent’s own leader Hunt, team boss Chris meant that a Conservative ambition of even a bonus point from this match wasn’t in the end to be achieved.
To be fair it was neck and neck in the polls after heat no. 10 with Kent’s top three Drew Kemp, Anders Rowe and Captain Fantastic, Rob Ledwith ably assisted by ‘Guest’, Jason Edwards were battling gamely to keep the team in the hunt for the points.
Kemp – who does tend to revel in the wide open spaces of the large Smallbrook circuit – opened up with two wins: including a heat one victory holding rival number one Georgie Wood at bay. Heat three was Rowe’s time to come to the Party – partnering Edwards to a very welcome 5-1 and then recording a notable victory over NL individual Riders Champion Ben Morley in heat seven. That was followed by skipper Ledwith leading from the front with two quick fire wins in heats 8 & 9.
However Wood was to go through the rest of the match unbeaten by a visiting rider after that opening heat reverse and similarly Morley was otherwise unbeaten by an opponent and with such a potent double-pronged spearhead ably backed by Danno Verge (who clinched the match with a win over Edwards in heat 14) and the lively reserve Chad Wirtzfield it was too much in the end for the depleted Kings.
His race win came in heat two when extraordinarily the referee decided to take issue with the hue of stand-in Kent reserve Jamie Sealey’s helmet colour (yellow & black instead of plain yellow) condemning him to a 15 metres handicap. Sealey’s evening never took an up-turn and he ended pointless.
The swing in the match overall came in the final five heats. Morley took Kemp from behind in heat 11; and though Rowe’s win in the following heat was a temporary back-stop, Morley and Wood delivered two killer blows with 5-1s in heat 13 and in the last chance saloon in terms of looking for the bonus point in heat 15.
There’s an opportunity to lick wounds on Monday (1/7) when Kent welcome first-time visitors Swindon Sprockets to Central Park in the second leg of the inaugural Inter-County Challenge.
Isle Of Wight Warriors 51
Georgie Wood 2, 3, 3, 2′, 3 13+1
Chris Widman 1, 2, 0 3
Ryan Terry-Daley 0, 0, 1′, 2 3+1
Danno Verge 1, 2, 2, 3 8
Ben Morley 3, 2, 3, 3, 2′ 13+1
Connor King 2′, R, 1 3+1
Chad Wirtzfield 1′, 3, 1, 1′, 1′, 1 8+3
Kent TouchTec Kings 39
Drew Kemp 3, 3, 2, 0, 1 9
Rider Replacement – Alex Spooner
Anders Rowe 3, 1, 2, 3, 0 9
Jason Edwards (G) 2′, 1, 3, 1′, 2 9+2
Rob Ledwith 2, 2, 3, 3, 1 11
Jacob Clouting 0, 1, F, 0, 0, 0 1
- Jamie Sealey 0, 0, 0, 0 0
Heat details
1 Kemp, Wood, Wirtzfield, Clouting 69.9 [3-3]
2 Wirtzfield, King, Clouting, Sealey (exc. 2M – 15 m) 71.9 [8-4]
3 Rowe, Edwards, Verge, Terry-Daley 70.8 [9-9]
4 (rerun) Morley, Ledwith, Wirtzfield, Sealey 70.8 [13-11]
5 Kemp, Verge, Edwards, Terry-Daley 70.4 [15-15]
6 Wood, Ledwith, Widman, Clouting (fell) 71.3 [19-17]
7 Rowe, Morley, Edwards, King (ret.) 70.8 [21-21]
8 Ledwith, Widman, Wirtzfield, Sealey 72.8 [24-24]
9 Ledwith, Verge, Terry-Daley, Clouting 72.9 [27-27]
10 Wood, Rowe, Edwards, Widman 70.6 [30-30]
11 Morley, Kemp, King, Clouting 71.8 [34-32]
12 Rowe, Terry-Daley, Wirtzfield, Clouting 72.7 [37-35]
13 Morley, Wood, Ledwith, Kemp 73.0 [42-36]
14 Verge, Edwards, Wirtzfield, Sealey 72.7 [46-38]
15 Wood, Morley, Kemp, Rowe 71.2 [51-39]