The Kent CTA Fire Kings bowed out of the Speedway National League Championship Play Offs at the semi-final stage on a night of thrills and a lot of spills at the historic Brandon stadium in Coventry on Friday night.
Going into the second leg five points to the good after the first leg staged at Central Park ten days earlier, a heroic effort from a bruised and battered Kent septet came literally just one centimetre away from forcing the tie into a last heat decider.
With two heats remaining the aggregate lead forced by a powerful host side, the Coventry Storm was eight points, meaning two maximum heat wins by the Sittingbourne-based Kings would have forced a replay.
The first stage of such a comeback came tantalisingly close to happening in a dramatic heat 14. Facing the responsibility of knowing only a 5-1 would possibly do for the visitors was Ben Morley (who’d had to miss his previous ride after a nasty tumble saw him suffer an elbow injury) and – ironically – the man whose fall in that fateful heat 10 has led to the uncharacteristic spill by Morley, Kent’s reserve hero from the first leg, Danny Ayres.
The Newmarket racer Ayres stormed away from the tapes with Morley, defying the pain barrier to sweep past Coventry’s Dan Greenwood and join his colleague at the front. The assembled masses of travelling CTA Fire Kings’ fans, all but outnumbering and most certainly out-shouting those supporting the home side roared their approval but those cheers stuck in the throat when at the back the previously impressive Storm reserve Martin Knuckey became the 14th faller on a night of an unhealthy abundance of heavy crashes.
Knuckey back up but disqualified, it was time to start again and to the massive relief of the Kent faithful, again the hugely popular Ayres trapped first with Morley tucked in behind. Now team riding could see stage one of the unlikely comeback secured.
All seemed set fair but on the second bend of lap three Ayres overcooked it and snagged into the air fence barrier. Somehow he stayed on his bike and though the chasing Greenwood made up ground it was still Kings one and two. On the final lap though, twice Ayres straightened up as he clung on desperately and it took all of Morley’s skilled track craft to keep Greenwood behind them.
Sacrificing a win to protect his less experienced team mate going into bends three and four on the final lap, Morley found himself under intense pressure by the former GB Under 15 champ Greenwood who made a last ditch, desperate lunge for the line getting between the two Kings and in a blanket finish finally getting the verdict in second, so ending the Kent dream.
It had been a race which followed a pattern drawn from the outset when in heat one the normally implacable Aaron Baseby fell on a third bend which was to claim numerous victims.
Skipper Simon Lambert had been given a handicap himself adjudged to be at fault for a tapes breakage when it was clear the person to move first had been the Storm’s guest Joe Jacobs; but when Jacobs also found the deeply rutted track too difficult to negotiate and fell in front of the chasing Lambert it was awarded as a win to the stricken Lambert.
When both Kent reserves Ayres and – leading at the time of his tumble – Jason Garrad fell in heat two, it meant there had been five fallers in just two races: no wonder the referee called the starters for heat three back to the pits and demanded work was done to attempt to bring the Brandon racing strip to a more acceptable standard.
But there were still major problems: Kent’s vice-captain David Mason is one of the most secure riders in the country and few can remember seeing him fall at all, but even ‘Magic’ was hit by the evil spell of the treacherous third bend in heat three: the injury sustained meaning Mason had to withdraw from the meeting.
That withdrawal piled on the work for Ayres who responded magnificently again, scoring paid 11 to add to his ten points from the first leg. Surely Ayres’ performance in this Play Off semi must clinch his claim to being the best newcomer in this year’s National League?
When Danny anchored home a flying Aaron Baseby in heat eight for a 5-1 the aggregate scores were level and real hopes had been raised of a successful night despite the injury setbacks. But when Morley crashed out in heat 10 after Ayres’ disqualification, a second successive 5-1 for the Storm meant Kent had a mountain to climb.
Two four pointers followed from tactical riders Lambert and Garrad (the latter wearing the black and white helmet colour for a first-ever time; his team mate in heat 12 Ayres not being allowed to go for double points as it wasn’t his programmed ride) – these kept the CTA Fire Kings within reach but finally that dramatic heat 14 ended the Kent side’s heroic effort.
As co-promoter Len Silver commented, “It has been a great effort by the whole team. If I’d told supporters this time last year that this season we’d make the top four and come so close to getting to the Play Off Final few people would’ve believed me – which shows how far we’ve come in a short space of time.”
“The team building has worked well and we need to look at how we can keep this winning formula for next season. With more sides joining the NL it’s a very exciting time and we’ll be working hard to keep a very competitive squad”.
The CTA Fire Kings sign off the 2014 season next Friday (10/10) at Central Park with the Tunnel Trophy match vs. local rivals, the Arena Essex Young Hammers.
Result & Kent scorers:
Coventry 54 Kent 39 (Lambert 12; Ayres 9+2; Garrad 8+1; Morley 5; Baseby 3; Benji Compton 2; Mason injured 0
Picture supplied by Chris Simpson