A difficult Friday night (9/7/21) up in Lincolnshire for the Kent TouchTec Kings saw them tumble to a 63-27 defeat to table toppers, Scunthorpe Scorpions.
The real sting from the hosts came in a run of nine consecutive heat advantages from heat two through to heat 10 which of course was far more than enough to end this SGB Championship match as a contest. But there were certainly moments to give the travelling Kings’ supporters some heart in the knowledge that few matches will be against such strong opposition.
Skipper Scott Nicholls broke that heat winning run by the hosts in heat 11 and came from third to first courtesy of two classic passes two heats later to take a second heat win. It was true that those were the only two occasions a Kent rider made it first to the chequered flag but there were some heroic efforts to stem the tide.
In his opening ride Cameron Heeps made a great pass on the hosts’ Jordan Palin and, rewarded for his efforts by a pick in heat 15, showed he’s really making his way back from injury with a battling third, overtaking the Dane, Thomas Jorgensen.
Similarly unrewarded on the scorecard for his efforts was the Kings’ third heat leader, Paul Starke – so unlucky after leading heat 10 until the final bend and even overtook the hosts’ maximum man Tero Aarino in heat 15 before the Finn just made it past him.
Dan Gilkes started strongly with two second places in the opening two heats while there was invaluable experience with three rides from the no. 8 berth for fellow teenager Jake Mulford.
Next up for the Kings it’s back to home sweet home when they play host to Redcar Bears on Tuesday 13th. – 6.30pm start time.
Scunthorpe Scorpions 63
Steve Worrall [G] 3, 3, 3, 1′ = 10+1
Simon Lambert 0, 2′, 3, 1 = 6+1
Theo Pijper 2′, 1, 3, 2′ = 8+2
Tero Aarnio 3, 3, 2′, 3, 3 = 14+1 [PM]
Thomas Jorgensen 3, 2′, 2, T, 0 = 7+1
Jordan Palin 3, 1, 3, 1′, 2′ = 10+2
Josh MacDonald 1, 2′, 3, 2 = 8+1
Kent TouchTec Kings 27
Scott Nicholls 1′, 2, 1, 3, 3 = 10+1
R/R
Paul Starke 1, 1, 2, 0, 2 = 6
Paul Hurry 0, 0, 0 = 0
Cameron Heeps 2, 0, 0, 0, 1′ = 3+1
Ben Morley 0, 1, 0, 1 = 2
Dan Gilkes 2, 2, 0, 0, 1 = 5
Jake Mulford 0, 1, 0 = 1
Heat details
1 (rerun) Worrall, Gilkes, Nicholls, Lambert 56.58 [3-3]
2 Palin, Gilkes, MacDonald, Morley 57.44 [7-5]
3 Aarnio, Pijper, Starke, Hurry 57.93 [12-6]
4 Jorgensen, Heeps, Palin, Gilkes 57.84 [16-8]
5 Aarnio, Nicholls, Pijper, Mulford 57.53 [20-10]
6 Worrall, Lambert, Morley, Heeps 58.38 [25-11]
7 Palin, Jorgensen, Starke, Hurry 57.69 [30-12]
8 Lambert, MacDonald, Mulford, Gilkes 58.41 [35-13]
9 Pijper, Aarnio, Nicholls, Heeps 58.32 [40-14]
10 Worrall, Starke, Lambert, Morley 59.06 [44-16]
11 Nicholls, Jorgensen, Palin, Mulford 57.91 [47-19]
12 MacDonald, Pijper, Morley, Starke 59.06 [52-20]
13 (rerun) Nicholls, MacDonald, Worrall, Heeps, Jorgensen (exc. tapes) 59.31 [55-23]
14 Aarnio, Palin, Gilkes, Hurry 58.59 [60-24]
15 Aarnio, Starke, Heeps, Jorgensen 58.15 [63-27]