The Kent SLYDE Kings downed the reigning champions in a hugely convincing Travel Plus National League [TPNL] performance at a packed Central Park Stadium on Monday.
It was a perfect way to end the hoodoo which had bedevilled the Kent club since 2015 – having never previously got the better of the Birmingham Brummies. No rider in the Kings’ ranks recorded less than paid eight points making this the perfect all-round team performance against a crestfallen and increasingly tetchy visiting side.
Pride of place went to young Anders Rowe whose first ever race win in the TPNL at Central Park in heat eight was pivotal in pushing his team into a not to be assailed significant lead – three points garnered then in an impressive total of paid 10 for the diminutive 15-year-old.
The SLYDE-backed Kings had started on the front foot with skipper Luke Bowen overcoming the fast starting Layne Cupitt and his bête noire from a few weeks ago, Brummies’ ‘guest’ Mitchell Davey to lead in heat one. The very fast paced opener came to a premature end when the fading Cupitt tumbled off causing a stoppage – it wasn’t to be the first time the Brummies’ no. two was to do so on a night to forget for the rider from Notts.
It always seemed likely on a perusal of the two sides’ respective strengths that the hosts would hold ascendancy in the reserve berths and a 5-1 courtesy of Bradley Andrews and Rowe proved that point early doors. The Brummies are generally made of stern stuff though and they immediately hit back via stand-in captain Tom Bacon (the normal incumbent Daryl Ritchings apparently having aggravated an injury in a non-Speedway event at the weekend) and Cupitt.
Bacon was in absolute sizzling form all match – five heat wins including the scalps of all three Kings’ heat leaders – to top the scoring with 17 was exactly what the Central Park have come to expect from a visiting rider always taken close to their hearts. Bacon is the epitome of Speedway sportsmanship; it was to be disappointing that yet again such an excellent example was ignored by a number of his racing colleagues.
The ill-discipline among the beleaguered Brummies can be traced back to heat 7 when the scores were closely matched at just 22-20 to the hosts. Liam Carr who’d beaten Ben Hopwood in his first outing had been warned by the trainee referee Seth Perkin to keep still at the tapes (trying to take illegal advantage at the starts was fast becoming a trend with the visitors) in the previous race; but didn’t heed the warning, going through the tapes at the first attempt to stage heat seven. A fall for the Tweedsider in the rerun dampened his impressive start to the evening and Carr was soon to come completely off the road..
That pivotal heat eight quickly followed with Jack Thomas (who’d cruelly blown an engine in his first ride) showing maturity way beyond his years to protect fellow teen Rowe in a superb display of team riding.
Heat nine was an opportunity for the visitors to hit back but Carr again attempted to jump the start in contravention of the rules and for a second consecutive ride was having to start the rerun off a 15 metres handicap. Again, he fell at the back but this time failed to clear the track in time to avoid the race being stopped, to the frustration of a section of the main grandstand who incurred the wrath of Carr making gestures back to the supporters.
Carr’s double misfortune which now saw the home side in an utterly convincing 12 points lead and unseemly attitude to it, seemed to unsettle some of his less experienced team mates. Firstly, Cupitt did the sitting down in the track routine after a gentle fall when at the back, causing a race where his team mate Mitchell Davey was being soundly beaten by the homesters’ Hopwood to be stopped.
For some reason Cupitt opted to adopt some histrionics when traipsing along the back straight to return to pits side; hurdling the fence, throwing his helmet and making as if to confront a Kent fan. The referee took punitive action and one wonders if further action will follow from the record of this unseemly incident in the official’s report. As intended, the Aussie Davey beat the hugely unlucky rerun in the unnecessary rerun.
Heat 13 it was the hapless Macaulay Leek’s time to get unnecessarily aerated when he too decided not to clear the track after falling on his own on the opening two bends. Again hand gesturing followed and more punishment from the referee. A shame that Birmingham have now developed an unwanted reputation for these sorts of incidents when visiting Central Park. Last year their gamesmanship won the day; this time the tactics were as misplaced as they were unseemly, as defeat was very much staring them in the face as heat 13 was rerun.
The rerun brought the biggest of cheers and not just for the result which sealed the long awaited first win over the Second City side. Having witnessed so many light tumbles leading to no efforts to remount or clear the track in a meeting of 12 reruns, this time it was the Kent man Bowen crashing spectacularly and heavily when chasing Davey. Quick as a flash the Kent skipper who’s made of hugely sterner staff grabbed hold of his recalcitrant steed, remounted in one movement and set off again to race on! It was in stark contract to the actions of some opponents and brought the partisan house down!
Time still for the man who rose above all the shenighans which he never gets involved in, Bacon to “rind off” his evening with two back to back heat wins and lead to a final score which made handsome reading indeed of Kent 50-Birmingham 40.
Next up for the SLYDE-backed Kings is an away trip next Monday to the West Midlands to take on Cradley. Whilst the main team are away on TPNL duty there will be action at Central Park with the staging of the 2017 Futurama – an individual meeting for local amateur and development league level riders. The Futurama has a 6.30pm start time on Monday 19th. June with admission for adults and teenagers reduced to just £6.00; children 12 and under free of charge.
Kent SLYDE Kings 50
Luke Bowen 3 3 3 1* 2 12+1
Rider replacement – Luke Clifton
Nathan Stoneman 1 2 3 1* 7+1
Jack Thomas R 1* 2* 2* 2 7+3
Ben Hopwood 2 2 2 2 0 8
Bradley Andrews 1 3 1* 1* 1* 7+3
Anders Rowe 2* 0 1 3 1 2 9+1
Birmingham Brummies 40
Mitchell Davey [G] 2 3 3 3 1 12
Layne Cupitt X 2* 0 1 X 3+1
Rider replacement – Daryl Ritchings
Tom Bacon 3 3 2 3 3 3 17
Liam Carr 3 2 X✝ X✝ 5
Macaulay Leek 1 X 1 X 2
Kyle Roberts 0 1 0 F NS 1
Heat details
1. (awarded) Bowen, Davey, Andrews, Cupitt (f.exc) no time (4-2)
2. (re-run twice) Andrews, Rowe, Leek, Roberts (f.rem) 62.0 (9-3)
3. Bacon, Cupitt, Stoneman, Thomas (ret) 59.3 (10-8)
4. Carr, Hopwood, Roberts, Rowe 59.9 (12-12)
5. Davey, Stoneman, Thomas, Cupitt 59.6 (15-15)
6. (re-run twice) Bowen, Carr, Rowe, Leek (f.exc) 58.8 (19-17)
7. (re-run) (awarded) Bacon, Hopwood, Andrews, Carr✝ (f.exc) no time (22-20)
8. Rowe, Thomas, Cupitt, Roberts, 60.6 (27-21)
9. (re-run twice) Stoneman, Thomas, Leek, Carr✝ (f.exc) 62.1 (32-22)
10. Bowen, Bacon, Rowe, Roberts (f) 60.7 (36-24)
11. (re-run) Davey, Hopwood, Andrews, Cupitt (f.exc) 60.4 (39-27)
12. (re-run twice) Bacon, Rowe, Stoneman, Leek, 60.6 (42-30)
13. (re-run) Davey, Hopwood, Bowen (f.rem) Leek (f.exc) 60.6 (45-33)
14. Bacon, Thomas, Andrews 60.9 (48-36)
15. Bacon, Bowen, Davey, Hopwood 60.4 (50-40)