Kent SLYDE Kings slipped to a 47-43 in the Travel Plus National League at Eastbourne on Saturday evening. After a hot summer’s day the track was a bit patchy throughout and caught a few riders out. Especially Eagles reserves Luke Harris and Tom Brennan in Heats 2 and 4 respectively.
The meeting started well for the visitors as they provided Heat winners in each of the opening three races: two of these providing heat advantages to take the Kings into an 11-7 lead. Heat 2 saw a courageous outside pass by Tom Brennan over Kings duo Jack Thomas and Danno Verge.
Heat 4 saw a lightning start from Jack Thomas and he was soon joined by Danny Ayres as the SLYDE Kings hit what was to be the only 5-1 of a very tightly contested match to level the scores.
The scores remained level until Heat 7 when James Shanes made a move around the outside of Jake Knight to send the travelling fans into rapturous applause for the Boy Wizard of Balance.
This was followed by a controversial Heat 8 as Jack Thomas and Ellis Perks collided going over the start and finish line of lap 2 resulting in a nasty tumble for both riders. The referee rightly called it as Perks the cause of the crash – this despite the optimistic protests of the home fans.
Heat 9 saw the home side level the scores before James Shanes rode the race of the night to win Heat 10 passing Adam Ellis (recently called up to the Team GB Speedway World Cup squad) round the outside. Kent’s own World Team Longtrack World Cup winner rode the wheels off the bike to hold on. This meant the Kings led 31-29 at the interval where a large amount of grading and watering took place.
The first race after the interval saw the two captains do battle with Jake Knight beating Luke Bowen to the victory and with former King, Harris beating Jack Thomas the scores were once again tied: 33-33.
It was still all square going into the crucial Heat 13; drama in the first staging as Danny Ayres came down under a challenge from Knight – the referee this time favouring the home rider. In the re-run Ellis and Knight outgated Bowen who rode hard to split the Eagles duo. A shared heat 14 set up a last heat decider.
Controversy reigned at the start of Heat 15, Danny Ayres was selected to go in Heat 15 (the nominated riders race) however after a protest from the Eagles management meant that Ayres couldn’t ride as he wasn’t one of the top three point scorers or average men. Shanes took his place hurriedly and he had started to get changed thinking his night was over. In the end it was a 4-2 to the home side despite the best efforts of Bowen and Shanes. The upshot is the Kent SLYDE Kings remain in the play off places with 24 points from 10 matches with crucial home and away matches against Stoke and the Isle of Wight on Monday and Tuesday.
TAGS: Kent Kings