The Silver Ski Fours reached its conclusion on Monday evening at Central Park, with the Isle of Wight Warriors taking the victory both on the night and on aggregate in the championship itself.

However it was not the conclusion the meeting or the tournament deserved, and the result is of secondary importance right now. 

After 13 completed races the Isle of Wight Warriors, led on the night by four points over second placed Kent and Plymouth in third, with the Warriors ahead on aggregate from Plymouth  after an outstanding evening for the team from over the Solent. 

However, what was to follow, will no doubt cast a huge shadow over the evening. The riders entered the first corner of the ill-fated heat 14, and former Kent rider Danno Verge collected unexpected drive which sent him straight into the back wheel of the unsuspecting Plymouth rider Adam Extance, with both riders then having a very nasty and heavy impact with their machines as they hurtled into the air barrier. 

Verge was knocked unconscious in the initial impact and after a lengthy period, walked aided and gingerly into the track ambulance; but all thoughts were very much with Extance now.  Adam was treated on track and in the county ambulance for around 90 minutes before, he made his way to the hospital. An update from Plymouth team manager Mattie Bates confirmed a broken collarbone and that abdominal injuries were sustained by the rider in the accident. Further updates will follow when available. The meeting was abandoned due to the severity of the accident.

Of the actual racing, the meeting started well for the TouchTec Kings, as the Comeback Kid Dan Gilkes, took the opening race in what was to be the second fastest time of the evening 58.1, over Plymouth’s David Wallinger, Isle of Wight’s Connor King and Breem Construction Stars’ late call up, Matt Marson. This gave the Kings’ fans the hope of racing for pride and trying to steal the victory on the night, in front of their home fans. However, of the 12 declared races, 6 were won by the Warriors duo of Ben Morley and Georgie Wood, who went unbeaten across their respective three rides, with good support from Danno Verge and Connor King who contributed to minor places throughout the evening – in fact, they only failed to score on one occasion and that was in Heat 11 when Danno Verge fell and was disqualified – a race incidentally won by Paul Hurry of the Breem Team, making his first appearance back at Central Park after his injury at the end of last season. 

On the TouchTec Kings front, aside from Gilkes’ stylish win in the opening race, there were also victories for Jordan Jenkins in Heat 7 Impressively so ovder the BC Stars’ Danyon Hume) and Anders Rowe in Heat 8.  Drew Kemp’s scoring was reduced slightly, by an engine failure in the second race. Whilst the Plymouth Gladiators (who led going into this third and final round) and Breem Construction Stars sides were never really in the running despite victories for Welsh Wizard Nathan Stoneman (Plymouth) and regular visitor Danyon Hume (Breem). 

Although actually 13 heats were completed at the point of the abandonment  the referee declared the result as at the point of the conclusion of heat 12 (as is traditional in a four team tournament which is cut short, only full ‘sets’ of races count). The aggregate scores being at this concluded point:  Isle of Wight 81 points , Plymouth 76, Kent TouchTec Kings 65 and Breem Construction 39. 

Next up for Kent is a home challenge match against a composite side named Sussex, which will feature former Rye House Raiders Rider Alfie Bowtell and Sussex based former Wimbledon Dons racer on the comeback trail, James Clement. That takes next Monday (12/8) at the usual start time of 6:30pm.

 

Scorers (* not including heat 13)

 

Kent TouchTec Kings               18 [aggregate 65]

Anders Rowe         1, X, 3 4         

Jordan Jenkins       1, 3, 1 5      

Drew Kemp           R, 2, 2, 4* (2 in heat 13)

Dan Gilkes               3, F, 2 5 

 

Plymouth Gladiators               12 [aggregate 76] 

David Wallinger       2, 0, 2 4 

Richard Andrews       2, F, 0 2 

Adam Extance       0, 0, 0 0 

Nathan Stoneman      2, 3, 1 6* (3 in heat 13)

 

Isle Of Wight Warriors               24 (aggregate 81)

Georgie Wood       3, 3, 3 9 [M] 

Ben Morley           3, 3, 3 9 [M] 

Danno Verge           1, 2, FX 3 

Connor King           1, 1, 1 3* (0 in heat 13)

 

Breem Construction Stars           17 (aggregate: 39) 

Danyon Hume       3, 2, 0   5 

Matt Marson           0, 1, 1 2 

Luke Harris           0, 1, 2 3 

Paul Hurry           2, 2, 3   8* (1 in heat 13)

 

Heat details

 

1 Gilkes, Wallinger, King, Marson 58.1 (3,2,1,0)

2 (rerun) Hume, Andrews (tapes 15m), Verge. Kemp (EF) 59.6 (3,4,2,3)

3 (rerun) Wood, Stoneman, Jenkins, Harris. 57.9 (4,6,5,3)

4 Morley, Hurry, Rowe, Extance. 59.6 (5,6,8,5)

5 (stpd – awarded) Wood, Hurry. Andrews (fell), Gilkes (fell) no time (5,6,11,7)

6 Morley, Kemp, Harris, Wallinger. 59.3 (7,6,14,8)

7 Jenkins, Hume, King, Extance. 60.8 (10,6,15,10)

8 (stpd – awarded) Stoneman, Verge, Marson. Rowe no time (10,9,17,11)

9 Morley, Gilkes, Stoneman, Hume (fell rem.) 59.5

10 Wood, Kemp (tapes 15m) , Marson, Extance. 59.4 (14,10,23,12)

11 (stpd – awarded) Hurry, Wallinger, Jenkins. Verge (fell exc.) no time (15,12,23,15)

12 Rowe, Harris, King, Andrews. 59.4 (18,12,24,17)

13 Stoneman, Kemp, Hurry (tapes 15m), King. 59.7 (20,15,24,18) 

14 Not rerun after crash between Verge & Extance,

Meeting abandoned – result declared as at conclusion of heat 12