Kent SLYDE Kings moved into the Play Off positions with a 64-26 victory over a depleted Stoke Potters at Central Park on Monday evening.
It was evening that saw the home side register 12 heat advantages, 7 of which were maximums and only one recorded last place and that was in the penultimate heat so really had little bearing on the overall scoreline.
Captain Luke Bowen registered a paid maximum after a few home meetings of threatening to record one and his 13+2 tally was backed up superbly by Taylor Hampshire who scored 11+2 with both Jack Thomas and Nathan Stoneman dropping one point each in their 4 races to score 11. In the reserve berth there was a watershed in Heat 2 when Kent’s recent signing William O’Keefe registered his first race win in Kent colours.
It was a fantastic start from The Kings who raced into a 15-3 lead after the first three races and from there the writing really was on the wall for the visitors, who apart from two stylish wins from Max Clegg there was little to trouble the home side who didn’t register a heat advantage.
The recent pairing of Bowen and Hampshire which has proved to be strong in previous meetings was once again effective as they combined for three for 5-1’s in their three programmed heats together. They were on for a fourth in the final race but Hampshire made a mistake to allow Clegg through for second place thus denying him his maiden max in Kent colours.
One of the best races of the evening came as early as heat 2. Stoke’s stand in reserve Tim Colley made the start in what was reportedly only his third ever meeting (the other two being Midland Development League fixtures) before the Kings duo of William O’Keefe and Alex Spooner went one either side of him as they entered the backstraight to take a maximum heat advantage. Spooner was also involved in the other thrilling race in Heat 8, after touching the tapes in the first staging he went off a 15 metre handicap. This proved to be little handicap as he got by both Stoke riders in under a lap, first he passed Tim Colley on the second then kept his speed to line up and make the pass on Paul Burnett around the outside as they entered the second lap to seal another maximum advantage for Kent.
Kent now turn their attentions to Plymouth in the Knock Out Cup Semi Final on Friday (20/7) at the St Boniface Arena in Devon before hosting Birmingham next Monday (23/7) in the second leg of the Easter Cup (original staging postponed in April). This fixture sees the return of former Kent favourite James Shanes – the first time he has raced at Central Park since he won the King of Kent individual in 2016.
KENT 64
L.Bowen 3 2* 3 2* 3 – – 13+2 T.Hampshire 2* 3 3 2* 1 – – 11+2 N.Stoneman 3 2 3 3 – – – 11
A.Rowe 2* 1* 1 3 – – – 7+2 J.Thomas 3 3 2 3 – – – 11 W.O’Keefe 3 1 1* 0 – – – 5+1
A.Spooner 2* 1 2*♢ 1 – – – 6+2
STOKE 26
M.Clegg 1 3 3 0♢ 2 – – 9
P.Burnett 0 0 1 0 – – – 1
T.Atkin 1 2 1 2 – – – 6
Rider Replacement Adam Extance
R.Shuttleworth 2 1 2 1 0 – – 6
C.Watts 1 0 0 0 – – – 1
T.Colley F F F 1* – – – 1+1
J.Laker 0 0 0 2 – – – 2
1. Bowen, Hampshire, Clegg, Burnett, 57.8 (5-1)
2. O’Keefe, Spooner, Watts, Colley (f), 62.9 (10-2)
3. Stoneman, Rowe, Atkin, Laker, 60.4 (15-3)
4. Thomas, Shuttleworth, Spooner, Colley (f), 59.8 (19-5)
5. Clegg, Stoneman, Rowe, Burnett, 58.6 (22-8)
6. Hampshire, Bowen, Shuttleworth, Watts, 59.3 (27-9)
7. Thomas, Atkin, O’Keefe, Laker, 61.4 (31-11)
8. (re-run) Hampshire, Spooner♢, Burnett, Colley (f), 61.3 (36-12)
9. Stoneman, Shuttleworth, Rowe, Watts, 60.4 (40-14)
10 Bowen, Hampshire, Atkin, Laker (f), 59.5 (45-15)
11. Clegg, Thomas, O’Keefe, Burnett, 59.9!(48-18)
12. Stoneman, Atkin, Spooner, Watts, 61.1 (52-20)
13. (re-run) Thomas, Bowen, Shuttleworth, Clegg ♢, 59.1 (57-21)
14. Rowe, Laker, Colley, O’Keefe (f.rem), 61.6 (60-24)
15. (re-run) Bowen, Clegg, Hampshire, Shuttleworth, 60.9 (64-26)