Two catastrophic crashes on an afternoon at Coventry littered with accidents, denied the Kent SLYDE Kings quartet the National Fours title their superb efforts deserved – and left the Sittingbourne-based club counting the cost of the loss of their talismanic young star James Shanes to injury.
The event saw the eight top sides in Speedway’s National League competing through two semi finals to qualify a top four Final with the title decided there in eight quick wire heats.
Quick fire was not though the way to describe a meeting interrupted by numerous crashes on a Brandon Stadium circuit in the West Midlands with a surface even the most experienced practitioners found challenging to the point of – at places (notably a final bend which developed an infamy as the meeting progressed and ultimately contributed to the destiny of the title) – seeming dangerous.
Kent were pitched into semi final group ‘B’ alongside holders Cradley, twice previous winners Mildenhall and the Hertfordshire side, Rye House Raiders – back in the Fours after a break of a three years.
And it was the Raiders who confounded most pre-meeting predictions by setting the early pace in Group ‘B’. The holders Cradley were severely weakened by the loss of their top two Max Clegg and Nathan Greaves (Greaves who suffered a bad leg break the evening before replaced by former Kings rider – one of six in opposing Fours on the day – Luke Harris) and failed to record a heat win, bowing out without ever looking like they could complete the hat trick of wins their enthusiastic backing yearned.
Rye House meanwhile roared into a large lead after four heats on ten points courtesy of three heat winners to Kent’s six with a subdued Mildenhall quartet back on four tied with the Heathens.
The afternoon started as it was ultimately end for James Shanes (who’d come into the meeting on a high having won a big Grasstrack meeting the evening before at Ledbury in Herefordshire) – with him hitting the deck: this time the result of perhaps overcooking it in pursuit of race leader Kyle Hughes.
So a zero was a worst possible start for the SLYDE Kings, but Danny Ayres got the challenge back on track in heat two with an emphatic victory. Raiders’ riders took the three points in heats three and four with another of those former Kings’ Luke Chessell taking the notable scalp of skipper Ben Morley.
So there was certainly work to do to qualify in the second stanza of the semi and Chris Hunt’s charges responded brilliantly – not just securing the berth in the Final with plenty to spare but actually catching the Raiders: with heat wins for Morley and Shanes and second places for Ayres and fourth team member, Aaron Baseby.
In the other semi final Eastbourne’s Bradley Wilson-Dean and King’s Lynn’s James Cockle were both injured badly in track crashes (the Kiwi who is so vital to the Eagles’ cause being the afternoon’s first but certainly not last ‘victim’ of the fourth bend) – and both ended in hospital.
Those blows effectively wrecked the chances of both fours (though the Young Stars had come into the meeting with a very weak quartet and were never likely contenders) and Birmingham and the hosts Coventry qualified with ease: the Brummies’ Adam Ellis and Storm’s Dan Greenwood avoiding racing each other and remaining unbeaten.
So, in the Final for the Kent SLYDE Kings it was to be a quick reunion with Rye House and a double challenge from the West Midlands, taking on the hosts who had scored 14 in their semi and a very solid looking Birmingham side who’d top scored at this point with 18.
For the Raiders this stage proved a step too far and they never really got going in the Final finishing with just four points – though Hughes had every cause to feel aggrieved when blatantly taken out by an out of control Rob Shuttleworth in a second unfortunate incident involving the Coventry man in the Final.
The Raiders’ loss was the SLYDE Kings’ gain as the Central Park-based team came on very strong and went nose to nose with the West Midland big boys throughout a pulsating final eight heats.
Heat one pitched Baseby in against the still unbeaten Greenwood and the hugely talented youngster Zach Wajtknecht – a single point was a fair return and set up the skipper Morley to storm to victory in heat two, beating his former Lakeside Hammers team mate Ellis with plenty to spare. All three of the main players were now tied on four each.
Heat Three though was ultimately to proof completely decisive, though one wasn’t to know at the time. Tom Perry the Brummies’ skipper and long-time grasstrack adversary of Shanes (indeed James had beaten him into third at Ledbury the previous day) led with the Kings’ ‘Wizard of Balance’ teenaged star in hot pursuit.
Shuttleworth represented the homesters in this one and he went totally out of shape as he and James negotiated the first bend on lap four sending the Dorset youngster full pelt into the safety fence, landing flat on his back with a sickening thud. It had been the second shocking accident in that area – with former Kings’ rider Jack Kingston a victim of a similarly horrific looking pile up in heat five of the semi.
Amazingly Jack walked away from that one and equally so James somehow picked himself up and very shakily walked away from the debris – awarded the second place and two crucial points. The consequence of his high speed accident (with Shuttleworth rightly excluded for causing the accident) wasn’t fully to be realised by the crowd for a while.
Danny Ayres was out in the next two heats (4 & 5) – by some strange anomaly in the format the only rider in any team in any part of the festival of racing with two rides on the trot. Up against the, at this point, unbeaten Hughes for the Raiders and the home side’s Darryl Ritchings was an enormous ask for the 2014 Kent Rider of the Year and he rose to the challenge magnificently– storming to the front.
Cue the perils of Brandon’s bend four: racing around for on the second lap, Danny bit a huge rut and was thrown massively heavily into the air barrier. The red lights signalled a stoppage and sadly as his damaged machine was carried away, Ayres rose from the floor knowing he needed quickly to recover and put body and bike through it again.
His victory then in heat five was as marvellous as it was memorable and put the SLYDE Kings level in the lead with Coventry, with the Brummies one point further behind.
Baseby took his final ride in heat 6 – benefitting when Shuttleworth again did a move which should surely have resulted in exclusion blocking Hughes and forcing the Rye man to the back. The maths was clear now: two heats to go and two Kent heat wins would clinch as first ever national title.
The skipper did his bit racing imperiously to three points in the penultimate race, strangely facing young Wajtknecht again and putting the youngster in the shade again. Now with one heat to go the scores on the board read:
Kent 13, Birmingham 13, Coventry 12.
Then came the news which turned an exciting denouncement into a massive anti-climax for the massed ranks of travelling Kings’ fans. They’d be no rider in the Invicta race jacket and blue helmet colour in the final deciding heat: James Shanes was dazed, suffering from suspected concussion and with bad facial injuries too.
The crushed state of his crash helmet showed what fantastic protection these skid lids give in such a horrific input but was also testament to how heavy the blow to his head had been. The rules of the Fours allow no replacement rider in this circumstance – a huge injustice considering that an illegal riding move had led to James being stricken in this way and denied the supporters a three way battle for the title in heat 8.
There was a battle joined though, by the other two contenders and with Greenwood making it four wins from four by holding off Chapman it meant the West Midlands rivals finished tied on 15 points each.
Adam Ellis for the side from Perry Barr hadn’t raced Greenwood at this juncture so a run off between the two was both appropriate and going to prove if the Coventry man could conquer all: Greenwood made the start but French-born Ellis roared around him and pulled away to clinch the title for the NL newcomers.
Co-promoter Len Silver summed up the thoughts of all connected with the club after the dust settled on the bravest of performances and a desperately unlucky near-miss,
“We were so unlucky at Coventry.. In heat 3 of the Final, James Shanes was steamrollered into the fence by Coventry’s Shuttleworth. It was a bad crash and resulted in James suffering a bad concussion among other things.
“The race was awarded with Shuttleworth excluded and Shanes given second place. It meant that he could not take part in his last and vital race in which we needed 2 points to level with Coventry.
“And then of course there was heat 4 with Danny Ayres leading by a mile and hitting a rut in the last corner which sent him over the handlebars. We came home feeling robbed.”
Group ‘A’
Coventry Storm 14
Eastbourne Eagles 8
King’s Lynn Young Stars 7
Birmingham Brummies 18
Group ‘B’
Rye House Raiders 16
Kyle Hughes 3, 3 6
Sam Woods 1, 1 2
Luke Priest 3, 2 5
Luke Chessell 3, X 3
Mildenhall Fen Tigers 7
Jack Kingston 1, X 1
Dan Halsey 1, 3 4
Connor Mountain R, 0 0
Connor Coles 2, 0 2
Cradley Heathens 9
Arron Mogridge X, 1 1
Matt Williamson 0, 2 2
Ellis Perks 2, 1 3
Luke Harris 2, 1 3
Kent SLYDE Kings 16
Danny Ayres 3, 2 5
Aaron Baseby 1, 2 3
Ben Morley 2, 3 5
James Shanes F, 3 3
Group ‘B’ Heat Results
Heat 1: Hughes, Perks, Halsey, Shanes fell 62.4 (R3; M1; C2, K0)
Heat 2: Ayres, Harris, Woods (fell rem), Mountain ret 64.8( R4; M1; C4, K3)
Heat 3: (rerun) Priest, Coles, Baseby, Mogridge (fell exc.) 65.7 (R7; M3; C4, K4)
Heat 4: Chessell, Morley, Kingston, Williamson 64.1 (R10; M4; C4, K6)
Heat 5: (awarded) Hughes, Ayres, Mogridge, Kingston (fell exc.) no time (R13; M4; C5, K8)
Heat 6: (awarded) Halsey, Baseby, Harris, Chessell(fell rem./fell exc.) no time (R13; M7; C6, K10)
Heat 7: Morley, Priest, Perks, Mountain 64.6 (R15; M7; C7, K13)
Heat 8: Shanes, Williamson, Woods, Coles (fell rem.) 64.7 (R16; M7; C9, K16)
Final
Rye House Raiders 4
Sam Woods 0, 0 0
Luke Chessell X, 1 1
Luke Priest 1, F 1
Kyle Hughes 2, 0 2
Kent SLYDE Kings 13
Danny Ayres X, 3 3
Aaron Baseby 1, 1 2
Ben Morley 3, 3 6
James Shanes 2, N 2
Birmingham Brummies 15 (won after run off)
Tom Perry 3, 1 4
Sam Chapman X, 2 2
Zach Wajtknecht 2, 2 4
Adam Ellis 2, 3 5
Coventry Storm 15
Luke Crang 1, 2 3
Rob Shuttleworth X, 2 2
Darryl Ritchings 3, 1 4
Dan Greenwood 3, 3 6
Heat Results
Heat 1: Greenwood, Wajtknecht, Baseby, Woods 63.3 (R0, K1, B2. C3)
Heat 2: (rerun) Morley, Ellis, Crang, Chessell (fell exc.) 63.9 (R0, K4, B4, C4)
Heat 3: (awarded) Perry, Shanes, Priest, Shuttleworth (exc unfair riding) no time (R1, K6, B7, C4)
Heat 4: (rerun) Ritchings, Hughes, Ayres (fell exc.), Chapman (exc.NUP) 64.0 (R3, K6, B7, C7)
Heat 5: Ayres, Crang, Perry, Woods 64.0 (R3, K9, B8, C9)
Heat 6: Ellis, Shuttleworth, Baseby, Hughes 64.4 (R3, K10, B11, C11)
Heat 7: Morley, Wajtknecht, Ritchings, Priest fell 63.8 (R3, K13, B13, C12)
Heat 8: Greenwood, Chapman, Chessell (fell rem.), Shanes injured non starter 64.5 (R4, K13, B15, C15)
Run-off: Ellis beat Greenwood 64.1
Picture supplied by Jeff Davies