The long journey up into the Derbyshire Dales turned out to be one well worth pencilling in the Diary with a new Peak achieved of a 14^th match undefeated this season for the Kent SLYDE Kings.

The Sittingbourne-based Speedway side were again totally dominant against a Buxton side who were Hit by a gloriously inform septet who lodged 11 race winners and took home the full quota of four Travel Plus National League [TPNL] points to move up into third place in the table.

The side trailed only once – in the opening race when former GB Under 19 Champion Oliver Greenwood got the better of Kent skipper Luke Bowen; the 4-2 to the homesters though was to be one of only a meagre two race advantages the Hitmen were to record on a miserable evening for the Derbyshire outfit.

Danno Verge’s win in heat two set the visitors on their way with Luke Clifton unlucky to fall when leading but able none the less to remount for a point; and then further 4-2s in heats four and five (won respectively by James Shanes & Bowen, with Clifton again remounting for a point) saw an initial lead of six points established.

The only possible way back into the match for the home side would have been for Greenwood to score heavily and inspire his team mates into some kind of revival but those hopes were utterly dashed when he crashed out in heat six and had to withdraw injured.

Most observers saw the incident as a result of the Hitmen’s number one locking up but the referee Mr. Bates nevertheless excluded Verge who seemed to have nowhere to go in the first bend coming together and couldn’t avoid the contact.

Either way it now meant the two reserves having to cover for the withdrawn Greenwood who had a head injury; and Lee Geary and rookie debutant Chris Hay were never going to be able to be productive points wise covering in that way.

The heavy track was certainly causing some problems including to Shanes who suffered a rare fall;  but David Mason seems to thrive up at this tricky Hi Edge circuit and he recorded a race win in heat seven with Chris Hunt’s second hugely successful Guest pick of the weekend Georgie Wood following the evergreen Magic Man home for the first of three 5-1s Mason was to be involved in.

Wood’s return of paid 11 made a nonsense of the Hitmen’s team boss Jason Pipe’s assertion at the beginning that with Danny Ayres missing, the choice of the Eastbourne youngster as his replacement would prove a terminally weak link.  Mason’s brilliant 8 plus 3 bonus points was absolute class from a rider right back to his peak form in a real Indian Summer season for the 39 year old.

As has been a feature of matches in this most successful of seasons, the SLYDE kings really pulled away in the latter stages with heat winners in all of the last six heats, including three 5-1s in this spell – Clifton getting a well deserved heat win on the penultimate heat.

And with Bowen and Shanes taking the winning margin out to 25 points in the final race it was smiles all around, miles away from home in the Kent camp.

Buxton Hitmen                                                              32
1. Oliver Greenwood        3,NS withdrew injured               3
2. Rider Replacement – Steve Jones
3. Ellis Perks (G)             3,2,3,2,2                                  12
4. Ryan Burton   1,0,X,1,1                                              4
5. Ryan Blacklock    2,1,2,1,X                                          6
6. Lee Geary   R,2,0,1,0,0,0                                              3
7. Chris Hay    2,R,F,0,0 0 0                                            2

Kent SLYDE Kings                                                         57
1. Luke Bowen    2,3,3,2,3                                             13
2. Jack Thomas    0,1,2,1                                               4
3. Georgie Wood (G)  2,2′,3,3                                       10+1
4. David Mason    1′,3,2′,2′                                           8+3
5. James Shanes    3,3,X,3,1                                        10
6. Danno Verge    3,X,2,1                                              6
7. Luke Clifton    1,1,1′,3                                                6+1

Heat Results

Heat 1: Greenwood Bowen Burton Thomas  (4-2)
Heat 2: Verge Hay Clifton (fell rem.), Geary (ret.)   (6-6)
Heat 3: Perks Wood (fell rem.) Mason Burton   (9-9)
Heat 4: Shanes Blacklock Clifton (fell rem.) Hay (ret.)   (11-13)
Heat 5: Bowen Perks Thomas, Burton (fell rem, exc lpd)   (13-17)
Heat 6: (rerun) Shanes Geary Hay (fell) Greenwood (fell – injured); Verge (fell exc)  (15-20)
Heat 7: Mason Wood Blacklock (fell rem.) Hay (15 metre handicap, 2M)  (16-25)
Heat 8: Blacklock Thomas Clifton Geary   (19-28)
Heat 9: (rerun) Perks Verge Burton Shanes (fell exc.)   (23-30)
Heat 10:  Wood Mason Geary Hay   (24-35)
Heat 11: Bowen Blacklock Thomas Geary   (26-39)
Heat 12: Wood Perks Verge Hay   (28-43)
Heat 13: Shanes Bowen Blacklock Geary   (29-48)
Heat 14: Clifton Mason Burton Geary   (30-53)
Heat 15: (awarded) Bowen Perks Shanes, Blacklock (fell)   (32-57)

Pictures supplied by Ian Charles.