Kent TouchTec Kings moved up to seventh place in the SCB Championship table after another emphatic home win on Tuesday evening. This time it was Newcastle Diamonds left in their wake as the resurgent Kings stormed to a 22 point victory 56 to 34.
For the second time in three days, number one Troy Batchelor went through the card unbeaten against the Geordie side with a paid 15 points maximum and the supporting cast to the rampant Aussie all contributed at least one paid full or paid race win in an overall team showing so hard that it cut the Diamonds to pieces.
The start had been delayed after additional tyre packing on the track surface was needed after the considerable amount of weekend rain had left areas around the outside in particular soggy but once the tapes did finally go up the home side wasted no time in storming ahead with four 5-1s in the opening seven heats effectively ending the match as a contest.
That’s not to say that the racing wasn’t often very close though and the performance of the visitors’ brave all English outfit really did belie the final match score, with old rivals of the Kings from National League days Max Clegg & Connor Mountain showing they knew the way around the circuit and always good value for their efforts.
But the star of the first half of the meeting was undoubtedly Kent’s starlet, Jake Mulford who proved he’s really arrived at this SGBC level with a second place behind team mate Dan Gilkes in the heat two maximum (keeping behind him Newcastle’s eventual top scorer, the hugely experienced Adam Roynon); and then team riding to a glorious race win in heat seven with his skipper Scott Nicholls, both overtaking former individual Riders’ Champion in the second tier, James Wright.
That 5-1 put the hosts 18 points up at the half way point and despite Roynon’s success in heat eight and then Mountain’s towering effort in splitting race winner Cameron Heeps and Paul Starke in the following race, a further pair of 4-2 saw the homesters lead by 20 with just five heats to go and on the hill in terms of match victory.
A mini Diamonds comeback in the next two races, with Nicholls denied his maximum chances by the visiting skipper Ben Barker finally coming to the party, was a mere bump in the road to victory – sealed by a reprise of their 5-1 glories up at Brough Park on Sunday by Batch & Scotty in heat 13, Cameron Heeps’ now traditional heat 14 victory; and then the crowd’s favourite, Paul Starke reaching double figures by a win from team mate Batchelor in heat 15 to ensure this was a totally emphatic victory.
Next up for the TouchTec Kings is a home match against old rivals Birmingham Brummies on Bank Holiday Monday, 30th. August – this is a 4pm start time with the gates opening at 2.30pm. Any race day enquiries about this one should be made to the new ‘phone number 07538 735 096.
Kent TouchTec Kings 56
Troy Batchelor 3, 3, 3, 2′, 2′ = 13+2 [PM]
Ben Morley 2′, 1, 0, 1 = 4+1
Paul Starke 2, 3, 1, 2, 3 = 11
Cameron Heeps 1′, 0, 3, 3 = 7+1
Scott Nicholls 3, 2′, 1, 3 = 9+1
Jake Mulford 2′, 3, 0, 0 = 5+1
Daniel Gilkes 3, 2′, 2, 0 = 7+1
Newcastle Diamonds 34
Ben Barker M, 2, 1, 3, 1, R, 1 = 8
Rider Replacement – Matthew Wethers
James Wright 1, 0, 1, 2, 3, R = 7
Max Clegg 3, 1′, 0, 0, 1′ = 5+2
Connor Mountain X, 2, 2, 1 = 5
Archie Freeman 0, 0, 0 = 0
Adam Roynon FX, 1, 1, 3, 2′, 2 = 9+1
Heat details
1 (rerun twice) Batchelor, Morley, Wright, Roynon (fell exc.), Barker (exc. 2M) 60.9 [5-1]
2 Gilkes, Mulford, Roynon, Freeman 60.4 [10-2]
3 Clegg, Starke, Heeps, Wright 59.4 [13-5]
4 (stpd/awarded) Nicholls, Gilkes, Roynon, Mountain (exc) no time [18-6]
5 Starke, Barker, Clegg, Heeps 59.7 [21-9]
6 Batchelor, Mountain, Morley, Freeman 59.4 [25-11]
7 Mulford, Nicholls, Wright, Clegg 60.1 [30-12]
8 Roynon, Gilkes, Barker, Morley 60.5 [32-16]
9 Heeps, Mountain, Starke, Freeman 60.4 [36-18]
10 Batchelor, Wright, Morley, Clegg (15m – 2M) 60.2 [40-20]
11 Barker, Roynon, Nicholls, Mulford 61.0 [41-25]
12 Wright, Starke, Barker [T/S], Gilkes 60.0 [43-29].
13 Nicholls, Batchelor, Mountain, Barker (ret) 59.9 [48-30]
14 (rerun) Heeps, Roynon, Clegg, Mulford 59.7 [51-33]
15 Starke, Batchelor, Barker, Wright (ret.) 59.8 [56-34]
Images courtesy of Oddshots Photography