It was a difficult day at The Old Gun Site for the Kent Royals as they went down to their first home league defeat of the season at the hands of the current National Development League Champions, the Leicester Lion Cubs.
The visitors took a twelve-point victory, with their 50-38 win inspired by their number one Dan Thompson who raced to a paid 18-point maximum. There was support from the two Max’s, reserve Max James took three heat wins on his way to a total of ten points and Max Perry took two wins on his way to score nine points.
The match got off to a dramatic start in the opening two races, first there was a tangle in the opening race between Royals duo Ashton Vale and Ben Morley with National League debutant Vale being disqualified and the re-run saw Dan Thompson get the better of Ben Morley and Ashton Boughen took a tumble whilst attempting to challenge Morley.
The second race didn’t get beyond the first bend as Leicester reserve Vinnie Foord picked up drive and collected Kent’s Rhys Naylor, which caused both riders to crash heavily into the fence. Leicester’s other reserve Max James was also involved as he couldn’t avoid the strewn bikes. Vinnie Foord was disqualified from the re-run of the race but was able to continue in the match. Kent’s Rhys Naylor took his place in the re-run, but it was a race too far for the Essex born racer and he then withdrew from the meeting. Max James went on to win the re-run.
Leicester took the initiative in the match by opening a nine-point lead in a three-race salvo from heats four to six inspired by Dan Thompson and Ashton Boughen. Thompson led the visitors to a 4-2 in the fourth race getting the better of Kent heat leader Nathan Ablitt, before the duo teamed up in the fifth race to get a maximum heat advantage over Kent captain Tom Woolley. The sixth race was another 4-2 led by Ashton Boughen over Ben Morley which put the scores 22-13 in favour of the visitors, and set them well on course for the aggregate bonus points.
After back-to-back shared races in heats seven and eight, The Royals looked like they’d found a way back into contention as they hit heat advantages of their own in heats nine and ten. Tom Woolley made the gate and took the lead from Leicester reserve Vinnie Foord, Foord managed to hold off the hard charging Connor King who found a way passed at the start of the second lap for a maximum heat advantage for the hosts. In the tenth, Ben Morley and Ashton Vale got a 4-2 over Leicester guest Josh Warren which reduced the gap to nine points and put the score at 28-31 to the visitors with five heats to race.
The match was ultimately decided by an eventful twelfth heat, Kent reserve Sam Woolley took a tumble on the first bend and managed to clear the track allowing the race to continue, by which time Leicester duo of Max Perry and Vinnie Foord had got either side of Connor King to take the lead. King then suffered mechanical problems on the third lap and tried to push into the fourth lap to get around for a point, however Max Perry just passed King to lap him before he could enter the final lap, which meant King had to be disqualified and the visitors took a 5-0 heat advantage which moved them into a 10-point lead.
The thirteenth race was the race of the afternoon between Dan Thompson and Ben Morley who battled for the lead in the opening laps, before the Leicester rider got passed the Kent rider to take the fourth win of his maximum afternoon and completed his afternoon in the final race by passing both the Royals duo in his sixth race to complete a stunning afternoon by the British Under-21 Final runner up.
Speaking after the match manager Jamie Willis said, “Heat 12 killed us. We had ridden ourselves in with a chance of league points and that totally took the wind out of our sails.” Reflecting further on the meeting Willis added “Losing Rhys (Naylor) after Heat 2 was a major blow and I’m sure the result would have been different had he been riding. It’s unfortunately looking as if he’ll be out for a short amount of time so once again it gives Si (Kellow) and I another headache to deal with, we’ve really had no luck this season.
Next up for The Royals is a match against the Oxford Chargers away at Cowley on Wednesday 26th July. With the news confirmed later this evening from Rhys that he was facing a spell on the sideline with cracked ribs and damage to his left knee.
Images courtesy of Amanda Morrison