It was Carnival time at the Old Gun Site on Sunday where a crowd topping the 560 mark saw yet another last heat decider in this inaugural NORA season for the Kent Kings – this one going the way of the hosts, winning The London Tournament by two points from Wimbledon.

It was the Dons who were the most supported from the many London-based fans who ventured into Swale for this one – bolstered by the Routemaster bus which brought a group of intrepid travellers from the site of the south-east’s most famous ever Speedway venue, in London SW17, to its (currently) sole remaining track, in Iwade.

And has there ever been a more remarkable sight in the now getting close to 100 years of Speedway in the UK than when coming out in red, it was no. 98: the London double decker, which did some celebratory laps after the close of racing?!

The racing itself had been fiercely competitive with two stand out riders.  The Kings’ number one, Ben Morley was again in imperious form – continuing his long unbeaten winning streak on his home circuit, with a flawless maximum, followed by taking victory in the Vic Harding Memorial Trophy top scorers final.

And in the Heritage class (for riders mounted on the classic Uprights which were the machines in use when these London tracks were in their pomp) Graham Knowler reprised his previous life as a Wimbledon rider back in the 1970s by also max-ing out for the Dons.
 

The four bonus points contributed by Knowler’s efforts put the Dons in pole position going into the final three heats with a four point lead over the hosts – but a fall by Henning Loof and two vital points to Sam Woods turned the tables in favour of the Kings.   Over then to skipper Rhys Naylor and then Morley to bring home the much-acclaimed victory.

Naylor’s heat 15 win was richly deserved reward for the captain’s travails, as he had been involved in epic races with Dayle Wood (in Hackney colours this time) and Parick Hamilton (for the Dons) in his previous two rides – both narrowly going the way of the Aussies.

The other London outfit, White City had started well and were still holding their own at the halfway point, with Luke Harris, Jamie Etherington and skipper (himself for a spell a Rebels rider back in the mid-‘70s) Robert Hollingworth scoring consistently – but the loss of Hollingworth to a damaged bike after a heavy prang in heat 11 and then the teenaged Etherington to illness meant the West Londoners faded away somewhat.

Jack Kingston impressed for Hackney alongside the ever combative Wood and there was a very welcome win contributed by that great trier, Nathan Hargrave; and for the Dons, Jacob Clouting again looked mightily impressive around a circuit he must clearly count as one his favourites.

At the end, Kings’ supremo Steve Ribbons disembarking from his bus ride around the track, was able to announce big news for Kent’s season closing meeting next month,

“We will be staging on September the 1st. possibly the biggest meeting ever put on at Iwade: a NORA representative match England versus Australia – over 18 Heats with six man teams. 

“There will be national anthems to be played and sung , representative caps to be awarded, a special souvenir programme printed.  The meeting we hope will be televised by KMTV to be shown on the whole of their sports programme – with also, special guests in the form of England World Cup winner Dave Jessup and hopefully others.” 

Kent Kings                                    26

Ben Morley  3  3  3  3                  12 [M]
Rhys Naylor  2  2  2  3                 9
Sam Woods  1  0  0  2                 3
Daniel Owen [H]                         1 {4}*

Hackney Hawks                          18
Dayle Wood     0  3  3  1              7
Jack Kingston  3  2  1  1            7
Nathan Hargrave 0  0  0  3       3
Keith Hill [H]                                1 {2}*

White City Rebels                       14
Luke Harris  1  1  1  1  2             6
Jamie Etherington 1  1  1         3
Rob Hollingworth  1  0  FX       2
Dave Johnson                             3 {6}*

Wimbledon Dons                       24
Jacob Clouting  2  3  2  2          9                         
Patrick Harrison 0  2  3  0         5
Henning Loof  3  1  2  FX           6
Graham Knowler                        4 {12 [M]}*

Heat details

1 Loof, Hollingworth, Woods, Hargrave 61.3  [K:1; H:0; WC:2; W:3]
2 Kingston, Naylor, Etherington, Hamilton 60.6  [K:3; H:3; WC:3; W: 3]
3 Morley, Clouting, Harris, Wood 59.9  [K:6; H:3; WC:4; W:5]             

5 Clouting, Kingston, Etherington, Woods 61.3  [K:6; H:5; WC:5; W:8]
6 Wood, Naylor, Loof, Hollingworth 61.9  [K:8; H:8; WC:5; W:9]
7 Morley, Hamilton, Harris, Hargrave 60.8  [K:11; H:8; WC:6; W:11]

9 Wood, Loof, Etherington, Woods (fell rem.) 63.4  [K:11; H:11; WC:7; W:13]
10 Hamilton, Naylor, Harris, Hargrave 61.6  [K:13; H:11; WC:8; W:16]
11 (stpd, awarded) Morley, Clouting, Kingston, Hollingworth (fell exc.) no time
[K:16; H:12; WC:8; W:18]

Bonus points from Heritage races – see below for heat details
Knowler 4; Johnson 3; Owen 2; Hill 1
[K:18; H:13; WC:11; W:22]

14 (stpd, awarded) Hargrave, Wood, Harris, Loof (fell exc.)  no time
[K:20; H:16; WC:12; W:22]
15 Naylor, Harris, Kingston, Hamilton 61.5  [K:23; H:17; WC:14; W:22]
16 Morley, Clouting, Wood, Harris (NS) 62.4  [K:26; H:18; WC:14; W:24]

* Heritage Racing heats:
4 Knowler, Owen, Johnson, Hill 69.9 
8 Knowler. Johnson, Hill, Owen (exc. lpd) 73.2
12 Knowler, Johnson, Hill, Owen (fell) 69.6
13 Knowler, Owen, Johnson, Hill 72.3

Vic Harding Memorial Trophy
1^st. Morley; 2^nd. Wood; 3^rd. Clouting; 4^th. Harris 62.4

Picture supplied by Gary Groutage.