On a night of classic Speedway racing at Central Park the new look Kent TouchTec Kings went down to a narrow four points defeat against fierce local rivals, Eastbourne Eagles.
With new signing Troy Batchelor having never so much as having laid eyes on his new home track before going out to compete in heat one it was always going to more about a learning curve (or indeed precisely 16 learning curves!) for the Australian and a debut win adding to two second places was a steady start.
The story of the match was principally about some lightning fast starts by the visitors – which literally left the TouchTec Kings having to play catch up.
Leading from the off after Richard Lawson held off Batchelor with Kyle Newman producing an overtaking manoeuvre on Ben Morley in heat one, the visitors were to provide a minority of the heat winners (just six to the TouchTec Kings’ nine) but never really got close to surrendering that early lead – an advantage that became six points by heat 6, was pegged back to four in heat 8 but at no subsequent point did the hosts get any closer than that.
There were some huge highlights within the multiple shared heats (nine 3-3s in total).
Heat 7 was a reprise of the amazing on-track battle Kings’ skipper Scott Nicholls and Eastbourne’s vastly experienced Ed Kennett served up two weeks previously – with this time four full laps of close duelling being a total classic and ending in as close as an outcome as is possible.
The Eagles man had an lightning fast start with Nicholls quickly putting paid to Kennett’s compatriot, the GB U21 champion Brennan’s attempt to join his team mate at the front and for four thrilling laps it was nip and tuck between the two one-time GB Grand Prix stars – on the final lap Nicholls sat back to bide his time and cut back superbly to go under Kennett as they crossed the line together, Scott getting the nod.
If modern day officials ever made a call as was allowed back in the day, of a dead heat this was a finish that really could’ve been declared.
No half points these days and no time to draw breath either with Morley & Newman renewing hostilities in heat 8: the Kings’ man gaining revenge and a vital win.
The gap was back to four now and six races later it still was. There was plenty of significance in the intervening races. Morley had suffered the huge frustration of blowing his engine just after taking the chequered flag and his annoyance (and the chagrin of the Kings’ management) was intensified by being given no extra time after this mega mechanical misfortune to prepare for his heat 10 appearance and his evening was over – though there was some compensation with Batchelor pleasing the Kings’ faithful with his debut heat win.
The preceding race had seen a thrilling battle between Paul Starke and the Eagles’ resurgent captain Lewis Kerr but the Kings’ man couldn’t quite repeat his heat 5 heroics.
Starke was back to winning ways in heat 12 though, keeping his side in contention.
Heat 13 felt like it was going to be crucial if a Houdini effort was to be achieved by the hosts but though Nicholls got past the fast-gating Lawson , Batchelor was unable to add any points . This meant that the visitors could clinch victory in the penultimate race and Brennan and the man who’d been runner up in the recent GB U21s, Drew Kemp duly delivered – the worst possible time to concede a first 5-1 of the night.
So now the lead was eight but like London buses, no sooner had one 5-1 come along than another immediately followed – this time thanks to Starke first passing Kerr and then his skipper Nicholls completing a man of the meeting performance with an incredible around the boards swoop on the end of lap three. It was a thriller to send the sizeable crowd happy despite the defeat and the Eagles were denied the bonus point.
For the other newcomer in the Kings’ ranks, teenager Jake Mulford it was a frustrating evening – once mechanical problems ruined his chances of a point in his opening ride there were very limited chances to get off the mark.
Skipper Scott Nicholls’ expressed the sentiments of all in the Kings’ camp at the end,
“Of course I’m bitterly disappointed that we lost but from an entertainment point of view, well, the paying public had some great racing to see.
“For Troy it was always going to be difficult as this was the first time he’d seen the track. His performance and Cameron’s (Heeps) determination to improve means we can take the positives out of this and go again at Birmingham tomorrow (Wednesday 4th.)”.
The new Australian Batchelor took the mic too to address his new found fans,
“It’s a lovely little track. It’s also, can I say, very nice to be back with Len (Silver) who signed me for Rye House around 2005-ish. I just want next time to be out there where Scotty was against the fence! I hope to be back here next week talking to you after a win, a maximum and getting the Rider of the Night award!”
That next time is to be against Edinburgh Monarchs – with the Anglo-Scottish right royal battle up at Central Park on Tuesday 10th. August.
Kent TouchTec Kings 43
Troy Batchelor 2, 2, 3, 0 = 7
Ben Morley 0, 0, 3, M = 3
Paul Starke 2, 3, 2, 3, 3 = 13
Cameron Heeps 0, 0, 1′, 1 = 2+1
Scott Nicholls 2, 3, 3, 3, 2′ = 13+1
Jake Mulford R, 0, 0 = 0
Dan Gilkes 3, 1′, 1, 0, 0, 0 = 5+1
Eastbourne Eagles 47
Richard Lawson 3, 1′, 2, 2 = 8+1
Kyle Newman 1, 2, 2, 1′ = 6+1
Edward Kennett 1, 2, 1′, 2 = 6+1
Tom Brennan 3, 1′, 2, 3, 0 = 9+1
Lewis Kerr 3, 3, 3, 1′, 1 = 11+1
Drew Kemp 2, 1, 0, 1′, 2′ = 6+2
Nathan Ablitt 1′, 0, 0 = 1+1
Heat details
1 Lawson, Batchelor, Newman, Morley 57.6 [2-4]
2 Gilkes, Kemp, Ablitt, Mulford (ret.) 58.5 [5-7]
3 Brennan, Starke, Kennett, Heeps 57.7 [7-11]
4 Kerr, Nicholls, Gilkes, Ablitt 57.4 [10-14]
5 Starke, Newman, Lawson, Heeps 58.4 [13-17]
6 Kerr, Batchelor, Kemp, Morley 57.8 [15-21]
7 Nicholls, Kennett, Brennan, Mulford 58.0 [18-24]
8 Morley, Newman, Gilkes, Ablitt 59.4 [22-26]
9 Kerr, Starke, Heeps, Kemp 58.1 [25-29]
10 Batchelor, Brennan, Kennett, Gilkes, Morley (exc. 2M) 57.9 [28-32]
11 Nicholls, Lawson, Newman, Mulford 58.6 [31-35]
12 Starke, Kennett, Kemp, Gilkes 58.9 [34-38]
13 Nicholls, Lawson, Kerr, Batchelor 59.0 [37-41]
14 Brennan, Kemp, Heeps, Gilkes 59,0 [38-46]
15 Starke, Nicholls, Kerr, Brennan 59.1 [43-47]