This Saturday  the Kings travel to Loomer Road in Staffordshire to take on the Stoke Potters in another crucial Travel Plus National League match.

Last season saw the Kings take their first ever win at Loomer Road and will be looking to continue their fine run of form that has taken them to the fringes of Play Off qualification.

 The Kings will line up Ben Hopwood who will be racing for his SGB Championship side Newcastle at Workington. The Rider Replacement facility will be used to replace him. This means that his programmed rides can be shared amongst the remaining six Kent riders.

Providing everyone comes through the away clash at Birmingham on Wednesday Kent will be confident they have enough strength in depth to overcome the Potters with new signing Dan Greenwood looking to continue his start to life as a King. Whilst Luke Bowen has been in sensational form since his return from the nasty shoulder injury he sustained.

Stoke will be missing their number 1 Mitchell Davey who raced to a four ride full maximum in the reverse fixture at Central Park in May. Details of the replacement were unavailable at the time of writing.

Stoke will have faith that Luke Priest can overcome recent bike trouble and lead the side against the Kings. Two riders who weren’t in the Stoke side when the Potters visited Central Park are Lee Dicken and Paul Burnett. Lee Dicken is the more recent of the signings – he was signed as cover for the impressive David Wallinger who suffered injuries in a crash in an away fixture at Isle of Wight. Whilst Paul Burnett came into the side to replace David Speight who announced his retirement shortly after the fixture at Central Park.

The Kings take one of the youngest riders to Loomer Road in the shape of 15 year old Anders Rowe – making his first competitive appearance at Stoke. At the other end of the age scale is 51 year old Tony Atkin. Atkin still has the ability to be a thorn in any side on his day.  

This is the first of two matches for the Kings over the weekend and if they are to maintain their push for the play offs they need to win at least one of these two fixtures and take points from the other. It promises to be an intriguing match at Loomer Road with the action getting underway at 7:30pm.

The address for Stoke is: Loomer Road Stadium, Chesterton, Newcastle Under Lyme, Staffordshire.

Post code for Sat Nav purposes: ST5 7LB

Image courtesy of Elizabeth Leslie