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Kings remain unbeaten
Kings remain unbeaten

A casual glance at the scoreline might make one think this was a perfunctory victory by the Kent SLYDE Kings, as they kept up the country’s only unbeaten league run and moved up into third place in the Travel Plus National League.

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But in fact, the result belied a night of considerable drama at Central Park, where the home side had to overcome more injury misfortune and frantically juggle resources to make it through to the ultimately convincing result.

Certainly it’s highly unusual for a team to reach 58 points with only five riders at their disposal and it was also was a Kent Speedway first to have four of the SLYDE Kings outfit recording record TPNL scores for the side on the same night.

Top of the pile was paid maximum man James Shanes who was unbeaten by an opponent in his six rides, scoring 16+2; the Rider of the Night certainly showing no signs of fatigue despite his efforts just over 24 hours earlier in European Grasstrack Championship qualification and the long haul across the Continent which followed to bring him to the Sittingbourne circuit. Only a tapes exclusion in his antepenultimate ride for the skipper on the night, Danny Ayres prevented a fourth max of the season (and a third in successive matches) for the Newmarket racer.

Meanwhile both reserves, Danno Verge and back at no. 7, Jack Thomas were hugely busy, riding seven times each and recording figures respectively of paid 13 and paid 12 (the latter equaling the Norwich born teen Thomas’s best haul, albeit this time over more outings).

That Verge & Thomas were needed so many times was a result of a protracted and hugely eventful opening heat.

Coming to the tapes for the first time of asking to get the meeting underway was the SLYDE Kings’ ‘Guest’ replacement Ben Wilson, partnering Luke Clifton – who despite having been in the wars of late had got his machine and body back in shape for his return to the no. 2 berth. They lined up against the visitors’ Buxton’s top two men, Olly Greenwood and Ryan Blacklock – in a seeming statement of intent from the Derbyshire side’s team boss Jason Pipe.

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There was certainly no quarter asked or given coming into the first bend and Greenwood left Wilson with literally nowhere other than the air fence to go.

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All four back for a rerun was the referee’s decision. Second time of asking; and a literal carbon copy incident. Frustratingly for Clifton both times he’d trapped first and was ahead of the problems with the two number ones.

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That frustration turned to calamity in the third staging – the rider on the inside, Blacklock made contact with Clifton and a domino effect saw surely the most spectacular first bend pile up ever witnessed at Central Park with Greenwood, Wilson and Clifton the victims. It was the SLYDE Kings’ number two though, who took the brunt of the almighty crash: jarring his knee again but most significantly being knocked unconscious for a few seconds.

Those seconds though were enough for new and sensible rules on head injuries to mean he was withdrawn from the meeting (and indeed under a new 8-day rule will miss not just Wednesday’s visit to King’s Lynn but also the next home match at Central Park).

Into the fray for the third rerun came Jack Thomas and he sped away from a – mercifully – safe start this time. The teenager looked set for one of the best wins of his career over former GB U-19 champ Greenwood, until he overlocked it on lap two and came down. Fortunately the following riders avoided him and finally a protracted opening race was completed with the visitors two up.

That was though as good as it would get for the hapless Hitmen. Danno Verge stormed to a tapes to flag win with an already busy Thomas tucked in behind, for the first of five maximums as the homesters began to build a lead. Verge was to be out a further six times (covering under Rider Replacement for the missing Mason and now for the stricken Clifton); and Thomas, five more times – neither let their side down giving superb support to the totally dominant Shanes and Ayres.

As for Wilson – well, the jinx affecting Kent ‘Guests’ at Central Park continued: after his three falls in that opening race, the former GB Under 21 champ delivered the goods in his second ride, partnered by Thomas to a 5-1.

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But then he incurred the wrath of the meeting referee in heat 10 by returning to the pits area after an initial stoppage and had to go off a 15 metres handicap in the rerun. A huge effort to catch up ended on the final lap when he crashed straight through the boards in an explosion of wood, just exiting the second bend.

Then in what turned out to be his final race, three heats later, he was denied a point when shedding a chain yards from the line. No one this week could fault the effort of the stand-in but again the cover for missing skipper Luke Bowen had, through a combination of unfortunate circumstances, not delivered the expected points. Just as well then, that between the other four men left standing a prodigious 53 points had been scored!

The SLYDE Kings (up to third in the table now) move onto King’s Lynn on Wednesday (6/7) and then play host to the Rye House Raiders featuring the Kings’ former favourite Ben Morley next Monday (11/7).

Pictures supplied by Elizabeth Leslie.

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