The Kent CTA Fire Kings kick-off their National League campaign on Sunday as they travel to Scunthorpe Stags.
The Stags are new to the National League and the fixture away at the Scunthorpe Speedway track is sure to be competitive.
Having got the new season off to the best possible start with an emphatic Knock Out Cup win down in Devon, the Sittingbourne Central Park-based Kings will be aiming to crown a successful March with a first-ever away win in the League.
Making his debut for Kent will be Essex-based Daniel Blake, who formerly represented Swale’s other previous league side, the Sittingbourne Crusaders and so has experience of the Normanby Road circuit in North Lincolnshire.
Other than that, the side is unchanged from that successful sortie to Plymouth and for the CTA Fire Kings’ maximum man that evening, Benji Compton, Sunday will be an emotional occasion – the Yorkshireman having been a member of the all-conquering Scunthorpe side which completed consecutive Championship and Cup doubles in 2006 and 2007.
New Kent skipper and number one for 2014, Simon Lambert is also a former Scunthorpe rider and will be looking to continue his own excellent start to the season in his home county – Lambert will defend his Bronze Helmet against the top scoring Stag on Sunday also.
Appropriate that the 30th. is Mothering Sunday, as the Scunthorpe Stags’ side is built around a group of very young riders not long cut away from their apron strings! Among them is Reece Downs, who has risen through the ranks from mascot at the Scunthorpe club when he was aged just eight years, to a rostrum position in last season’s British Youth Speedway championship to a National League berth with the new-look Stags in 2014. Lining up alongside Downs in what could well be the all-important reserve berths is another local teenager, 15-year-old Liam Sanderson.
Scunthorpe-born Sanderson is the first rider actually born in the Steel town to appear for his home track since a certain Tai Woffinden – trying to match the exploits of the reigning World Champion surely isn’t a bad ambition for the one-time moto-crosser! Scot, Ryan MacDonald is a rather longer-traveller – the 19-year-old turning out for the Stags having traveled down from his Glasgow base.
Another making quite a journey for home matches for the Scunthorpe side is Arron Mogridge – a familiar name that for Kent-based Speedway fans, as the 22-year-old from East Grinstead is the son of Alan Mogridge, who rode for both of the county’s former Speedway clubs in the 1980s, Crayford and Canterbury. Captaining the Stags will be the experienced Geordie, Steven Jones – the 34-year-old who has league experience with Newcastle and both Scottish sides, Glasgow and Edinburgh, bucking the trend in an otherwise largely rookie outfit.
Meanwhile, two of the CTA Fire Kings’ heroes of their win at Devon were in individual action at the weekend in their respective age-range national championships. The hugely popular Ben Morley saw a large contingent of Kent fans cheering him on back down at Plymouth in the semi-final of the GB Under 21s; but it was to be a disappointing evening on Saturday for the Southend-based speedster – failing to finish in the top six which would’ve taken Ben through to the Final next month.
Former Kings from last year’s debut campaign, Jack Kingston and Connor Coles (both now riding for Mildenhall) were among the qualifiers. Better fortunes for London teenager Luke Harris in the first round of the British Youth championships the next afternoon – the rider from Northolt who had made his debut for the Kings in that KOC win finished in third place in the 500cc class at Scunthorpe on Sunday, forcing the Stags’ rostrum man from last years’ overall championship rankings Reece Downs into fourth place.
The NL action Scunthorpe Stags vs. Kent Kings gets underway at 3pm on Sunday 30 March at Scunthorpe Speedway, Moorwell Road, Normanby, Scunthorpe, North Lincolnshire, DN17 2SX
Picture supplied by Nick Truscott.