A resounding display from the Kent SLYDE Kings saw them come away from Hoddesdon with a maximum four Travel Plus National League [TPNL] points, courtesy of a thumping 56-34 victory over the Rye House Raiders.
The Kings recorded just one 4th place finish from 15 heats and that was when ‘Guest’ (in for the absent Danny Ayres) Mark Baseby fell in Heat 12 and was excluded.
Speedway attendances are up across the country this season and a very good sized crowd (swelled by a large contingent of travelling Kent fans) packed into the re-modelled stadium on the banks of the River Lea to be entertained by a preceding Premier League thriller and a TPNL encounter with plenty of passing and incident to keep them happy.
The incidents started as early as heat one when former King Sam Woods touched the tapes and was excluded. In the rerun, long time Rockets man back on very familiar shale, Luke Bowen took off like the proverbial ‘747’ of his nickname and jetted to a fine win over the Raiders’ ‘Guest’ man, Zach Wajknecht. With Luke Clifton in third, the 4-2 put Kent into an early advantage.
Heat two saw Danno Verge gate and Jack Thomas hold a controlled outside line to come by his team mate and the two headed off for a 5-1 heat advantage. That’s three 5-1s by the new reserve pairing in three heat twos in matches so far this term: a huge improvement on last year’s campaign!
After the next three heats were shared points-wise (including home man Luke Priest taking the notable scalp of Bowen in heat five), heat six was a thriller – with new Lakeside Hammers’ signing Wajknecht away first from the tapes but his rival from many a Grasstrack & Longtrack encounter across Continental Europe, James Shanes in pursuit; and the Boy Wizard of Balance produced a trademark outside pass to move the SLYDE Kings eight points ahead as Verge took third.
That lead became 12 when Luke Clifton (suffering with painfully sore ribs) got into the act with a heat win; Thomas tucking into second for a decisive 5-1 to the visitors.
Heat nine and the Raiders fans were blessed with another Priest victory but once again he had no support and the gap remained at 12. Heat 10 saw Wajknecht come to grief in an alarming first lap fall when dicing with Baseby and David Mason. The rerun saw Mason roll back the years from the gate and saw the Kings take another 5-1 to be 16 ahead.
Heat nine and the Raiders fans were blessed with another Priest victory but once again he had no support and the gap remained at 12. Heat 10 saw Wajknecht come to grief in an alarming first lap fall when dicing with Baseby and David Mason. The rerun saw Mason roll back the years from the gate and saw the Kings take another 5-1 to be 16 ahead.
Heat 11 was shared after another terrific race between 2015 NLRC winner Ben Morley and his successor as Kings’ skipper and number one, Bowen. Heat 12 saw the Raiders’ sole heat advantage before a bizarre heat 13.
With depleted Rye having to draft in rookie reserve Connor Locke for the unfit Wajknecht, Morley had had a terrific duel with Bowen – with this time the Kings man getting in front. On the last lap Morley, took a tumble narrowly avoided by the hard pressing Shanes. Ben lay ruefully looking to the heavens when realising he was still in third place, as Locke had earlier fallen in the race and had remounted at the back.
Morley attempted to remount or clear the track and was again narrowly missed by Locke but the avoiding action unsettled the young Raider and he took another tumble; the Maidstone teen then got up to eventually push home for a hard earned point – his only point of the evening. The biggest question was, why the red lights didn’t come on?
Heat 14 was won by Mason – a ‘Magic’ performance. spoiling the maximum hopes of the homesters’ Priest.
Heat 14 was won by Mason – a ‘Magic’ performance. spoiling the maximum hopes of the homesters’ Priest.
Heat 15 was arguably the race of the evening. Morley and Priest gated on a 4-2; Bowen sensationally passed the former Kings skipper and – to the delight of those who’d travelled from the Garden of England to cheer on their heroes – Shanes did likewise to Priest, to turn the situation to the Kings’ favour and cruise to a 22 point victory.
One other thing of note was the fantastic reception given to former Kings skipper Ben Morley by a large band of travelling Kent fans and also the warm reception given Luke Bowen by his former Rye House fans.
Image courtesy of Ian Bush
TAGS: Kent Kings