Kent Eagles duo Ben Morley and Jack Kingston were victorious in the Isle of Wight Best pairs Championship on Tuesday evening.

It is the duos second pairs title of the 2026 season, and you wouldn’t bet against them winning a few more.

Competing under the banner of the Kent Spitfires the twosome scorched to a maximum 7-2 victory in the final over Arran Butcher and Charlie Wood (representing the Ventnor Vampires) to take the title.

Battling against four other pairs under an unorthodox scoring system that saw the race winner secure 4-points, second place, three, third place two and zero for fourth this put the emphasis on team riding and although on two occasions they would follow their opponents, Darryl Ritchings, representing the Ryde Rapiers in heat three and Freddie Hodder, on behalf of the Newport Nomads in race eight, on each occasion they filled the minor places to secure valuable 5-4 race victories.

Elsewhere, their path through the qualifiers consisted of a 6-3  victory over the Vampires, their eventual final opponents in race five.

Their only reverse in the initial four races came after Morley took a tumble while leading against the Cowes Comets in the final qualifying race to earn himself an exclusion. With the Kent Captain ruled out, Kingston certainly rose to the occasion producing a stunning effort to come from  third to first passing Harry Sadler and Alex Spooner in turn for the win. Kingston snatched the 4-points, but the chasing duo amassed five-points, this proved the only time that the scoring system worked against them.

The first of the two semi-finals saw the Ryde Raiders, arguably one of the favourites to make the final, ruled out for similar reasons. Although Ritchings had been in superb form throughout the evening, with partner Danno Verge having suffered a first bend fall, un-aided, his subsequent exclusion meant that Butcher and Wood (Newport Nomads) merely had to finish the race behind Ritchings to secure the 5-4 that saw them qualify for the final.

The second semi-final again saw Hodder lead both Morley and Kingston home but with Ollie Binns trailing the field it was the Spitfires who made it through the final showdown to face the Nomads by virtue of the 5-4 success.

The final arguably produced Kent’s best four laps of the evening. Kingston powered away to secure a tapes to flag win, closely followed by Morley to take the prize  with Butcher trailing in their wake.

Qualifying Scorers:

Ryde Rapiers : Darryl Ritchings 15(4), Danno Verge 7(4) – Total 22

Kent Spitfires : Ben Morley 10(4), Jack Kingston 10(4) – Total 20

Newport Nomads : Freddie Hodder 15(4), Ollie Binns 2(4) – Total 17

Ventnor Vampires : Arran Butcher 14(4), Charlie Wood 3(4) – Total 17

Cowes Comets : Alex Spooner 10(4), Harry Sadler 4(4) – Total 14

Semi Final 1 : Ritchings, Butcher, Wood, Verge (exc-fell) – Vampires 5 – Rapiers 4

Semi Final 2 : Hodder, Morley, Kingston, Binns – Spitfires 5 – Nomads 4

Final : Kingston, Morley, Butcher, Wood – Spitfires 7 – Vampires 2

Speaking after another successful evening, a delighted Kent Team Manager David Graveling, said: “What an amazing meeting to team manage our lads to another trophy. Great riding from Ben and Jack, I couldn’t have asked for more effort.”

Images courtesy of Tiffani Graveling