It was a tale of two Lukes as the Kent SLYDE Kings surged to a tenth match unbeaten run.

That extended a club record – skipper Bowen was imperious as he rattled off five magnificent race wins to assert his dominance to full house effect; whilst Clifton had his best meeting yet in the Invicta race jacket, narrowly missing out himself on a maximum.

The victims of this dominant SLYDE Kings outfit were the Isle of Wight Warriors who having been beaten by 24 points in the Cup the previous month succumbed to an even bigger defeat this time around, in a National Trophy [NT] group losing by 59-29.

It was another impressive all-round showing by Chris Hunt’s charges – overcoming some early meeting misfortune to clinch their 100% record in NT qualification in emphatic style.

Bowen got the meeting off to a sizzling start breaking the 58 second barrier in heat one (56.6 being the third fastest time ever recorded at Central Park); though the headlines were nearly stolen from him by his new partner at no. 2, Jack Thomas.

Having made such an excellent start to the campaign young Thomas has been moved from the reserve berths into the notoriously difficult no 2 race jacket – in his first race, up against one of the division’s real big hitters in Joe Jacobs, the lad from Norwich produced a cracker of a performance leading the one time British Finalist for over two and half laps before being overhauled.

It was a great start and a great overall debut in the main body of the side for the teenager, finishing with impressive figures of paid 8.

The new reserve pairing of Clifton & Danno Verge were next to shine: storming to an emphatic 5-1 in heat two. The march was stalled in a controversial third heat: slow starting Danny Ayres cut on the inside of Mark Baseby and then repeated the trick on Lee Smart who took the slightest of contacts to go down.  The race stoppage saw the crowd’s favourite Ayres excluded – perhaps a tad unfortunately; and the misfortune was compounded when David Mason , who’d led comfortably when the first race was halted, missed the gate himself in the rerun and couldn’t make an impression on the Warriors’ pairing.

Ayres was having a more difficult evening than he generally has at his Central Park home, when Jacobs held him off in his next outing; but it certainly Clifton’s night after he followed his second place to team mate James Shanes in heat five with a flying win in heat 8 – Thomas tucking in for second to out the homesters 10 points up at the half way point.

That 10 was to become 30 by the end was down to the total dominance of Bowen; the resurgence of Ayres, winning his last two rides, Shanes who remained unbeaten after being battered by the ever-entertaining Baseby early on; and then a terrific win by the evergreen ‘Magic-man’ Mason in heat 14.  The only disappointment was Baseby just holding off Clifton in heat 12 to deny the Canterbury-born racer the paid maximum his sterling efforts certainly deserved.

A busy week on the road now follows for the Sittingbourne-based side, with the second leg of that First Round cup tie away at the Isle of Wight on Tuesday (7/6).  Depending on the overall result of that tie (with Kent holding a 24 points lead going into Tuesday’s meeting) the trip to the West Midlands on Friday (10/6) to try and weather the Coventry Storm will be either the first leg of a Second Round Cup tie or a Travel Plus National League [TPNL] encounter.

And then on Sunday (12/6) it’s the long haul up into the Derbyshire Dales to take on Buxton on what’s certainly a TPNL fixture.

Then to complete a breathless five fixtures in just eight days, it’s TPNL action net Monday (13/6) back at Central Park when the Hertfordshire side, Rye House Raiders visit.  With former Kings favourite  Ben Morley in the  Rye team alongside one time British Under 21 champion Rob Branford, the Raiders represent a severe test of the SLYDE Kings’ proud 100% home record this term.  That meeting at Central Park on Monday 13 June has a 6.30pm start time.

Match details:

Monday June 6th

NATIONAL TROPHY

National Trophy points: Kent 3  Isle of Wight 0

 

KENT 59

 

1. Bowen 3 3          3          3          3                                  15
2. Thomas 1 1          2*         2*                                            6+2
3. Ayres X 2          3          3                                              8
4. Mason 1 1*         2*         3                                              7+2
5. Shanes 3 2          3          1          2*                                11+1
6. Verge 2* 0          X          1                                              3+1
7. Clifton 3 2*         3          1                                              9+1

 

ISLE OF WIGHT 29

J.Jacobs                      2          3          2          2          1                                  10

1. Dugard 0 0          1          R                                             1
2. Baseby 2* 3          X          2          R                                 7+1
3. Smart 3 1          R          2                                                          6
4. Cockle 1 2          1          R                                             4
5. Saul 1 0          0          0♢                                                       1
6. Whitmore 0 0          0          0                                              0

 

 

1. Bowen, Jacobs, Thomas, Dugard, 57.6 (4-2)
2. Clifton, Verge, Saul, Whitmore, 60.7 (9-3)
3. (re-run) Smart, Baseby, Mason, Ayres (exc), 60.7 (10-8)
4. Shanes, Clifton, Cockle, Whitmore, 59.4 (15-9)
5. Jacobs, Ayres, Mason, Dugard, 60.7 (18-12)
6. Bowen, Cockle, Thomas, Saul, 60.1 (22-14)
7. Baseby, Shanes, Smart, Verge, 60.4 (24-18)
8. Clifton, Thomas, Dugard, Whitmore, 60.9 (29-19)
9. Ayres, Mason, Cockle, Saul, 62.6 (34-20)
10. (re-run) Bowen, Thomas, Smart (ret), Baseby (f.exc), 61.3 (39-20)
11. (awarded) Shanes, Jacobs, Verge ( f.exc), Dugard ( ret), no time ( 42-22)
12. ( re-run) Ayres, Baseby, Clifton, Saul♢, 60.6 (46-24)
13. Bowen, Jacobs, Shanes, Cockle (ret), 59.9 (50-26)
14. Mason, Smart, Verge, Whitmore, 60.1 (54-28)
15. (re-run) Bowen, Shanes, Jacobs, Baseby (ret), 60.0 (59-29)

 

Pictures supplied by Elizabeth Leslie.