It’s back to home territory this evening for the Kent SLYDE Kings after a challenging weekend which has seen two defeats put a dent in their pursuit of a top four berth and play off qualification in Speedway’s Travel Plus Tours National League [TPTNL]. 
Those defeats came at fellow top four sides, reigning champions Belle Vue Colts on Friday and then closer to home at Eastbourne on the following evening. The SLYDE-sponsored Kings remain second in the table though despite the reverses, with just three TPTNL ‘qualifying’ matches to go.
To complete a spell of taking on all the other three teams in the current top four in a remarkable four day period, the visitors to Central Park Stadium today are the Mildenhall Fen Tigers. Confirmed now that they will finish top of the division no matter what remaining fixtures hold, the table-topping Suffolk side have a impressive set of stats to fall back on.
They’ve won all 14 of their TPTNL matches this term, achieving an extraordinary 46 points out of a possible 48 and are the only visiting side to have won at ‘fortress Central Park’ this season. That was by a solitary point only in the National Trophy [NT] (the Fen Tigers contest the final of that competition next weekend), which will give optimism in the Kings’ camp that their own play off ambitions can be achieved by ending the visitors’ run this evening. And the Kings have an impressive winning run of their own to protect: 23 successive home wins in the TPTNL which dates back to the mid point of the 2016 season.
Both sides are at full strength. Mildenhall won that 14th.straight TPTNL match yesterday – beating Kent’s conquerors of the previous evening, third-placed Eastbourne Eagles by an emphatic score of 57-33 – with their largely unheralded Aussie , Matt Marson stealing the limelight for once with a 10 points return. Much attention this evening will be on Drew Kemp – the prodigious teenager has yet to appear at Central Park this year having missed that NT match in May.
The hosts welcome Paul Hurry back – it was a busy weekend for the Maidstone based speedster too, racing first in France then making a winning return to the Garden of England yesterday winning the Grasstrack meeting at Frittenden yesterday. Taylor Hampshire is back after a bout of sickness kept him out of the trip to Arlington; whilst his close buddy Alex Spooner is putting his battered body through it all again after a tumble ended his evening at Eastbourne prematurely. Spooner is partnered at server again by Jamie Couzins.
TAGS: Kent Kings