Kent TouchTec Kings ascended back to that precious throne – the number 1 spot in the National League [NL] after a stunning 59-31 victory over the Mildenhall Fen Tigers at Central Park on Monday afternoon.
As the heat baked down on the sun kissed Sittingbourne circuit, proceedings started with a welcome home parade for the victorious Kings duo, Drew Kemp & Anders Rowe who won the 2019 National League Best Pairs at Sheffield on Sunday.
Once the proceedings got underway, the TouchTec Kings were out of the blocks like a Tiger across an Asian savannah, opening up a 14 point lead inside the first third of the meeting. After an opening shared heat, the hosts took a lead they were never to relinquish in the second heat with a win for stunning reserve Jake Mulford, with birthday boy Jacob Clouting combining to take a maximum heat advantage.
The most exciting race of the meeting was the action-packed Heat 4. Fen Tigers heat leader, Henry Atkins gated and was pressured in the opening stages by Kent stand in captain Kemp – Atkins then made a slight mistake which allowed Kemp through at the end of the second lap then as they came out of the second bend in lap 3, Mulford also passed Atkins, who appeared to then slow on the last lap with bike problems, as the homesters took a second 5-1. This was swiftly followed by a third in Heat 5 from Dan Gilkes and Kent’s ‘guest’, the familiar face of Nathan Stoneman racing through the pain barrier as he so often did for the Kings in 2017 and ‘18!
The TouchTec Kings dominated the rest of the meeting, with strong performances from top scorer Gilkes who racked up 14 points. Skipper Kemp added 13+1 – a sign of how solid the Kings were, the lowest score was paid 7. There were only two races were the Kings registered a 0 in the score chart – Heat 7 when Clouting was disqualified for crossing the inside line with both wheels, and in the last race when Gilkes couldn’t quite get past Jason Edwards, in what was a fantastic scrap between Kemp and Ryan Kinsley.
For the Fen Tigers side, their recently installed number one Kinsley looked the most likely to overthrow the Kings’ reign on this Bank Holiday, he topped scored with 14 points including three very stylish race win. Kinsley had support from GB U19 runner-up Edwards who chipped in with 9 points. However, 8 points from the remaining four riders, rather told the story.
That concludes the TouchTec Kings’ home league fixtures and as table toppers currently, Chris Hunt’s charges sit in a strong position to qualify for the end of season play offs. Next up for Kent, is a difficult trip to Leicester to take on the Lion Cubs, who are also among the front runners for Play Off qualification. The next home match is a Challenge match against Great Britain Young Lions – this is next Monday (2/9) reverting back to the usual start time of 6:30pm.
Kent TouchTec Kings 59
A Rowe 2 3 3 2 10
Rider Replacement – for Jordan Jenkins
N Stoneman 1 2’ 1’ 2’ 2 8+2
#D Gilkes 3 3 3 2 3 0 14
D Kemp 3 3 3 1’ 3 13+1
J Clouting 1’ 2’ X 1 1 5+2
J Mulford 3 2’ 1 2’ 1’ 9+3
Mildenhall Fen Tigers 31
R Kinsley 3 1 3 2 3 2 14
M Marson 0 FX 0 0 0 0
J Edwards 2 2 1 3 1’ 9+1
Rider Replacement – for Charlie Brooks
H Atkins 1 2 R 0 3
A Butcher 0 R 0 0 2 2
E Kelly 1 F 1’ 1 0 3+1
Heat details
1 Kinsley, Rowe, Clouting, Marson 58.0 (3-3)
2 Mulford, Clouting, Kelly, Butcher 58.1 (8-4)
3 Gilkes, Edwards, Stoneman, Butcher (F/rem ret) 58.0 (12-6)
4 Kemp, Mulford, Atkins, Kelly (fell) 58.9 (17-7)
5 (Awarded) Gilkes, Stoneman, Kinsley, Marson (FX) (no time) (22-8)
6 Rowe, Atkins, Mulford, Butcher 59.7 (26-10)
7 Kemp, Edwards, Kelly, Clouting (excluded – crossing inside line) 59.1 (29-13)
8 Gilkes, Mulford, Kelly, Marson (fell remounted) 60.4 (34-14)
9 Kinsley, Gilkes, Stoneman, Atkins (ret) 60.6 (37-17)
10 Rowe, Stoneman, Edwards, Marson 59.1 (42-18)
11 Kemp, Kinsley, Clouting, Marson 59.8 (46-20)
12 Edwards, Stoneman, Mulford, Butcher 59.4 (49-23)
13 Kinsley, Rowe, Kemp, Atkins 58.4 (52-26)
14 Gilkes, Butcher, Clouting, Kelly 60.8 (56-28)
15 Kemp, Kinsley, Edwards, Gilkes 60.1 (59-31)