This was despite another faultless five ride maximum from home captain Luke Bowen. A mention must also go to Bradley Andrews who battled manfully for his overall score.
The meeting started, as many have this season, with the skipper Bowen scorching from the tapes in the opening race to win in a quick time. However, with the rider replacement ride of Alex Spooner (happily appearing in the Invicta race jacket thus refuting claims by another local club Lakeside that he’d joined up with them) being kept at the back by Charley Powell it was all square after the opening heat.
The visitors went ahead with a maximum heat advantage in the reserves race with soon to be number one for the Sussex side Tom Brennan prevailing; and the Eagles were not to be knocked off their perch from this point. The homesters’ Nathan Stoneman won the rerun of heat three after Matt Bates gave a spectacular display of acrobatics – with the Eagles’ guest Alfie Bowtell getting the better of Jack Thomas in a hard move which saw the Kent man fall but quickly remount for the point to give Kent a 4-2 heat advantage.
The visitors extended their advantage to six points in the fourth heat from captain Georgie Wood and lively reserve Tom Brennan, before a shared heat in the fifth.
The race that put the spark back into the Kent fans was heat six. Bowen and Stoneman gated and rode side by side in a display of perfect team riding to cut the deficit back down to two. However, back to back 4-2 heat advantages to Eastbourne re-established the six point gap at the halfway stage.
A shared heat in heat nine saw the visitors’ Wood take the chequered flag in the second quickest time of the afternoon.
Heat 10 saw the brilliant Bowen take another fantastic win but all credit must go to the young Kiwi Andrews who rode the hardest race of his fledgling UK racing career to keep Bates behind him to cut the gap back to four points.
The interval took a throwback to the days of Speedway pioneer and one time Canterbury promoter Johnnie Hoskins who used to have some play with fire. This usually involved a hat, at Central Park we saw flames coming from the tractor!
Excitement and flames quelled, the Eagles extended their lead to eight points with wins from their lively number one Mark Baseby and Bowtell before the brilliant Bowen was back to his barnstorming best taking heat 13 in the quickest time of the afternoon.
Heat 14 was where the match was won be Eastbourne. Needing two 5-1 heat advantages to take a first leg advantage which frankly had always looked just beyond them, Kent held the lead through the teenager Thomas and the battling Andrews. The young New Zealander held second until inches from the line when Bates stole through for the second place to claim the match win for the Eagles.
The imperious Bowen won the last race to seal his maximum but the first leg advantage belonged to Eastbourne. This means that the SLYDE-backed Kings now have an uphill task in the second leg at Arlington Raceway on Saturday (3/6) if they are to avoid crashing out of the NKOC at the first hurdle for the first time since 2013.
Next up at Central Park next Monday (5/6) attention shifts to the National Trophy with Kent taking on Group rivals Mildenhall Fen Tigers – start time 6.30pm.
NKOC 1st round 1st leg
Kent SLYDE Kings 42
Luke Bowen 3 3 3 3 3 15 [M]
Rider replacement – Ben Hopwood
Nathan Stoneman 3 2 2* 1* 0 0 8+2
Jack Thomas 1 1* 2 2 3 9+1
Ryan Kinsley [G] 1 0 0 0 1
Bradley Andrews 0 2 1 2 1 6
Anders Rowe 1 0 0 2 – 3
Alex Spooner 0 0
Eastbourne Eagles 48
Mark Baseby 2 3 3 2 2 12
Rider replacement – Kelsey Dugard
Alfie Bowtell [G] 2 3 2 3 10
Matt Bates X 1 1 0 2 4
Georgie Wood 3 1 3 1* 1* 9+2
Charley Powell 1* 2* 0 0 1 4+2
Tom Brennan 3 2* 0 3 1 0 9+1
Heat details
1. Bowen, Baseby, Powell, Spooner, 59.8 (3-3)
2. Brennan, Powell, Rowe, Andrews (f.rem), 60.4 (4-8)
3 (re-run) Stoneman, Bowtell, Thomas (f.rem),Bates (f.exc), 61.1 (8-10)
4. Wood, Brennan, Kinsley, Rowe, 60.6 (9-15)
5. Baseby, Stoneman, Thomas, Brennan, 60.9 (12-18)
6. Bowen, Stoneman, Wood, Powell, 60.6 (17-19)
7. Bowtell, Andrews, Bates, Kinsley, 61.1 (19-23)
8. Brennan, Thomas, Bates, Rowe, 60.3 (21-27)
9. (re-run) Wood, Thomas, Stoneman, Powell, 59.4 (24-30)
10. Bowen, Bowtell, Andrews, Bates (f.rem), 61.1 (28-32)
11. Baseby, Andrews, Brennan, Kinsley, 61.0 (30-36)
12. Bowtell, Rowe, Powell, Stoneman (f.rem), 62.5 (32-40)
13. Bowen, Baseby, Wood, Kinsley, 59.1 (35-43)
14. Thomas, Bates, Andrews, Brennan, 60.6 (39-45)
15. Bowen, Baseby, Wood, Stoneman, 60.2 (42-48)
Pictures supplied by Elizabeth Leslie.