Having dropped down to ninth place in Speedway’s City Gearboxes National League (CGNL) following defeat up at Stoke on Saturday, the Kent SLYDE Kings face two quick fire CGNL matches next Sunday and Monday.
Matches which may well have a huge bearing on where the Sittingbourne-based side end up finishing in the table in this, their third season in the sport’s third tier.
Before that – on an extremely busy weekend for the side from Central Park – there’s the no small matter of a local derby against the Eastbourne Eagles down at Arlington on Saturday evening in the second leg of the club’s first ever Knock Out Cup semi-final tie.
The SLYDE-backed Kings are 14 points down from a fairly calamitous first leg held a month ago at Central Park and it would take a monumental effort to turn such a deficit around down on the Sussex coast. From sunny Sussex on Saturday, the Kent riders and management then face a long trek up north to the Derbyshire Dales for the first of those two vital CGNL matches: taking on the Buxton Hitmen on Sunday afternoon.
Buxton are currently level with the side from Murston on nine points – behind the SLYDE Kings in the league rankings only on points difference, so this could scarcely be a more important fixture for Chris Hunt’s charges as they attempt a first away win of the campaign.
The Kings have recent history on their side, having tasted victory at the Hi Edge Raceway home of the Hitmen on their last visit, last August – with Ben Morley scoring paid 11 and Aaron Baseby putting in an excellent away performance to score paid 9 as Kent came home with a emphatic 56-32 victory: the club’s second biggest ever win on their travels.
Buxton retain veteran Tony Atkin, Ryan Blacklock and Tom Woolley from that side but are significantly boosted by the return from injury of their star man, Liam Carr. The Hitmen are the only side in the division the SLYDE Kings have yet to race this term so to that extent it’s difficult to make predictions on how the two teams will match up on Sunday.
Once runner up in the World Championship at Flattrack (an alternative form of dirt track racing) Tom Woolley is in form, chalking up his by far best ever score for the Hitmen when he recorded a paid maximum of 15 points against King’s Lynn in the NLKOC quarter final the Sunday before last – so he could be a danger man for the Derbyshire outfit.
Then with barely time to take breath, the Kent side will need to return south and ready themselves for next Monday’s home match versus the Mildenhall Fen Tigers at Central Park on 3rd. August. The Suffolk club are reeling from a court decision going against them which endangers their stadium home of 40 years up in the Fens, in the shadow of the giant USAF base; and a recent heavy home defeat by fierce rivals Rye House Raiders in the National Trophy.
It was in the Trophy that the Fen Tigers last took on Kent at Central Park, back on May Day Bank Holiday when Kent won 47-46 in a hugely dramatic encounter. Defeats like that and at home to the Raiders has ended Mildenhall’s chances of retaining the Trophy and their league form raises doubts that they can make the top four (where they’ve consistently finished in recent years) and therefore missing out on the Gold Cup – but the side managed by former GB international Kevin Jolly will want to get back to winning ways on Monday.
Their skipper Dan Halsey is the reigning League Riders Champion but in truth has been known to struggle around Central Park; but then again the Fen Tigers have two former Kings’ men in their ranks in Jack Kingston and Connor Coles and they certainly know their way around the circuit.
The other Connor, Connor Mountain is having a fantastic season and also making a big impression is Tom Bacon – a popular figure at Kent after a sterling performance early in the campaign in the Futurama event at Central Park and then top scoring as a guest in the SLYDE Kings’ heroic visit to league leaders Birmingham a fortnight ago. Nick Laurence who hails from Sussex and has appeared for Kent is expected to make his return to the Mildenhall line up on Monday. The meeting on Monday (3/8) at Central Park starts at 6.30pm.