A Kent TouchTec Kings rider contesting a World Championship. Is not a sentence that's ever been written before - but all that changes this weekend when the Central Park-based club's teenaged number one, Drew Kemp goes into action representing club and country in one of the World Under 21 Championship semi finals.
Drew will be facing 15 other riders from nine other countries: France, USA, Australia, Denmark, Sweden, Poland, Czecha, Slovenia and Germany, the country hosting the semi final which Kemp and fellow Brit Zach Watjknecht are contesting.
That venue is in Straslund in Germany near the Baltic Sea coast on Saturday May 25th. and Drew and a rider seen previously at Central Park riding for Birmingham, Watjknecht are two of five young Brits contesting three semis all on the same day with places up for grabs in the three round World Final series at Under 21 level.
Team GB star and national champion at this age level the past three seasons, Robert Lambert (third overall in the world title race last year) will be joined by former National League Riders' Champion, Dan Bewley in Pardubice in Czecha; and in further great news for Kings' followers, the fifth place goes to former Kings' favourite and indeed Kent Speedway 'discovery', Jack Thomas who has been awarded for his rostrum position in last month's GB U21 Final with a late call-up to race at the third semi in Krakow in Poland.
There are two other riders in the field in Straslund who've raced at Central Park - the two Americans, Luke Becker and Broc Nicol, who appeared for the 'Dream Team' of Californians who impressed Kent Speedway fans so much in winning the Transatlantic Fours in June 2017.
Drew Kemp showed his great maturity and clarity of thought, belying his youthful years, when talking to fans about his world championship ambitions after Monday's meeting, "I'm looking forward to the challenge and will be doing my very best to qualify. However I'm only 16 years of age - I have got another five years to have a go at thgis world title and my eventual aim is, believe me, to win it".
Line up [in alphabetical order}: Luke Becker (USA); Lukas Fienhage (Germany); Matthew Gilmore (Australia); Frederik Jakobson (Denmark); DREW KEMP (Great Britain); Damil Klima (Czecha); Dominik Kubera (Poland); Roman Lakhbaum (Poland); Dominik Muser (Germany); Broc Nicol (USA); Timi Salonen (Finland); Christopher Selvin (Sweden); Nick Skorja (Slovenia);Tim Sorensen (Denmark); Gaetan Stella (France) ZACH WATJKNECHT (Great Britain)