Today (9/7) sees the Kent SLYDE Kings take on the Isle of Wight Warriors in a Travel Plus Tours National League fixture at Central Park. The two sides met on the island on Thursday evening (5/7) where Kent ran out winners by 6 points 48-42.
Although, the manner of the victory was more comfortable than the scores suggest as The Kings went into the final race holding a 10 point lead.
Both sides see changes in the line up from Thursday’s clash, the main one involving Suffolk based youngster William O’Keefe - he scored 3 points for the Isle of Wight on Thursday and this evening lines up against them. William comes into the line up in place of Nick Laurence who in turn himself was a replacement for Jacob Clouting and we thank Nick for his efforts.
The rest of the home side our unchanged from Thursday led as ever by the heat leader trio of the brilliant Luke Bowen, terrific Jack Thomas and the swashbuckling Nathan Stoneman. Taylor Hampshire once again partners Bowen fresh from his 10+1 haul on Thursday.
Isle of Wight see Connor King come into their line up, to cover for Adam Portwood who has decided to take some time out of the sport. Connor lined up for Isle of Wight in the National Trophy fixture, taking a heat win in the reserves race.
The Warriors will once again be operating the rider replacement facility for broken wrist victim Chris Widman. His rides being covered by the two riders below him in the teams averages in this case reserves Shaun Tedham and the previously mentioned King, along with the one rider directly above Widman’s average, former Kent rider Danno Verge. The Warriors bring another former Kent rider in the shape of Ben Morley, who missed the trophy clash due to injury, we remember the terrific scraps he had with Luke Bowen last season. Coming into the side recently has been Alfie Bowtell who replaced Ben Hopwood. Alfie ‘Bo’ has certainly been on song racking up double figure scores in all but one of his matches since joining the side.
Both sides will be looking for the victory to keep up the pressure on those teams in the play off places as we enter the crucial part of the season.
Team Line Up’s (in alphabetical order)
Kent: Luke Bowen (Captain), Taylor Hampshire, William O’Keefe, Alex Spooner, Nathan Stoneman, Anders Rowe, Jack Thomas
Isle of Wight: Alfie Bowtell, Scott Campos, Connor King, Ben Morley, Shaun Tedham, Danno Verge, Chris Widman - rider replacement, Number 8 TBC