It’s Kent-Herts Trophy time for the Kent Kings at Iwade this Sunday when Rye House Rockets are the visitors.

And there’s an international feel to the Hertfordshire side with an Aussie and German in their line-up. The antipodean is the exciting racer from Wagga Wagga, the moustachioed Dayle Wood who has the distinction of recording a full 18 points maximum on his only previous visit to the Old Gun Site.

Joining him is a rider with second tier experience from the late noughties, Henning Loof.  The rider from Schleswig-Holstein but domiciled here in the UK since his riding days with Somerset and Mildenhall has long been an admirer of the training set-up at Iwade and chooses the venue for his first foray back into on-track action.

Another rider not seen for some time in shale action whilst pursuing a growing reputation in Speedway’s sister sports of Grasstrack and Long Track is Orpington-born, former Eastbourne Eagle Charley Powell.

And while Wood, Powell & Loof can only point to a handful of full seasons in British Speedway between them, Rob Hollingworth has more league appearances on his racing CV than more or less anyone still in action. 

And at a remarkable 69-years-young, the rider from Lincs (a constant in the amateur scene since his senior career with after a spell with Conference League club Peterborough ended in 2005) has the extraordinary distinction of being able to say he rode at Rye House in the Rockets’ very first league racing season in Hoddesdon back in 1974! 

An incredible half-a-century later, Hollingworth is now donning the Rye House race jacket!

And completing the visitors’ line up are GB U21 finalist (and former Kent King himself), the twice GB Youth champion, Nathan Ablitt and local rookie, Chris Laidlaw.

For the third meeting running, the side providing opposition to the Kent Kings who are unchanged are a club battling against a range of odds to return to their home track – the Rye House Stadium venue in the picturesque setting on the banks of the River Lea staged the sport from 1934, on and off until closure in 2018. 

That closure was after an extremely ill-fated attempt to stage top division sport at Rye House and one of the obstacles to overcome is the legacy of the debts left then.  But far more troublesome is the existence (without the correct Planning consent it’s now been officially confirmed) of a number of buildings which were put up where the stadium’s stands were located. 

The circuit remains basically intact though and the current owners who hoped that the Speedway would be forgotten about had reckoned without the force of nature that is Steve Ribbons.

The long-standing Rockets fanatic leads a very vigorous campaign (with a string of successes in challenging officialdom to date) to get Speedway back at Hoddesdon and of course doubles this up with being the Kent Kings promoter.

Ribbons (very much wearing two hats on Sunday) commented: “We’ve had two great local derby scraps so far, both going to last heat deciders showing that Kent Kings is the place to be for close and exciting action.  I’m proud as punch to have the ‘other’ team in my life Rye House forming the opposition on Sunday and with a strong and exciting line up for the Rockets it looks like another thriller.  With kids under 16 in for free there’s no better place to celebrate Father’s Day!”

The action gets underway at 2pm (parade at 1.45pm) at Iwade Speedway, Raspberry Hill Lane (off Old Ferry Rd.), ME9 8SP on this Sunday, 16th. June.