Crashes, tantrums, drama and controversy – and that was just the last four races of this ding dong derby in the Bank Holiday sun at Central Park as the Kent SLYDE Kings took another giant step towards the end of season Travel Plus National League Play Offs with a 47-42 victory over Eastbourne Eagles on Monday.
Heat one set the tone for the match when the returning Luke Bowen set about Eastbourne guest Mark Baseby (who was free of work commitments this week to ride for the visitors from Sussex) for three and three quarter laps before getting up the inside of Baseby on the line, to give Kent a 4-2 heat advantage to open proceedings. Heat two followed a similar pattern with this time Eastbourne reserve Tom Brennan passing Danno Verge for second on the line to restrict the home side to another 4-2 heat win.
After heat four, Kent led 13-11 before the only 5-1 heat advantage in the match came in heat five from James Shanes and Kent guest Nathan Stoneman (a late replacement for sickness victim Danny Ayres) over Baseby. The lead was stretched to eight points after Luke Bowen beat Jake Knight and Luke Clifton held off an out of sorts Luke Harris. This made the scores 22-14 in favour of the Kings.
There then followed five shared heats in a row before the drama really began.
Heat 12 saw the Kings heat leader Shanes take a spectacular but alarming fall. After some treatment and a visit to the ambulance the rerun saw Jack Thomas ride one of the races of his career to hold off the pressing Ellis Perks.
Heat 13 saw Bowen hold off Eastbourne duo Baseby and skipper Jake Knight to maintain the eight point advantage.
Heat 14 saw an unfortunate coming together between the home side’s guest Stoneman and visitor Georgie Wood. The referee decreed that Wood was at fault; and with the leader Verge clear at that juncture it was somewhat surprising a rerun was ordered. In the rerun a disgruntled Verge fell after a challenge from the Eagles’ Brennan.
In the second rerun the 15 year old Brennan secured his first-ever win in senior League Speedway by holding off Stoneman but the two points posted by the guest rider was enough to secure victory for the hosts.
The first staging of Heat 15 saw Jack Thomas leading when he ran into difficulty on bend four of lap two, hitting the fence a couple of times before falling on bend two of lap three! In the rerun the Eagles’ lively looking Perks won from Bowen, with Knight in third able therefore to secure a consolation point for Eastbourne.
Aside from the main meeting there were two female races and Francesca Kirtley-Paine won from Holly Knell. Francesca admitted to feeling nervous before her first ride but the Parliamentary Advisor from Coventry was very grateful for the opportunity.
Also off track the annual Speedway Riders Benevolent Fund collection raised £1,154.20 from the fans – a staggering amount and many thanks to all those who contributed.
Having seen off the team immediately below them in third in the TPNL table, the SLYDE Kings’ next opponents are the team currently in fourth – twice winners of the League in the past three seasons, Cradley. The match, which could clinch Kent’s place in the top four, against the Black Country ‘Heathens’ is on Monday 5th. September – 6.30pm start time.
TAGS: Kent Kings