Kent Speedway Press Release 148/19 Meeting preview: 2019 National League Riders' Championship [NLRC], Leicester Speedway Sunday September 22nd.
It’s champions galore as the National League’s top riders gather in Leicester on Sunday 22nd. September to contest the division’s annual showpiece individual event, the National League Riders’ Championship [NLRC].
Must be debatable how many times there’s been a Speedway meeting which contains as many as winners of 20 separate British national titles but that’s the situation at the Beaumont Park venue in the East Midlands’ city this weekend – with Kent TouchTec Kings’ top two, the teens Drew Kemp and Anders Rowe carrying the hopes of the Central Park-based club. Drew is a twice British champion himself – claiming the GB Youth title at the 500c class in 2017 and, of course, earlier this season added the Under 19s crown – with the ‘double’ of the NLRC in the 17-year-old’s sights.
That ‘double’ has been done before and Max Clegg who achieved the feat in 2016 is arguably the rider most in form going into Sunday’s event – after recording back to back maximum for his long-term club Cradley in a double header against Kent & then Belle Vue Colts on Monday. The Heathens’ second competitor is another former NLRC winner – Dan Halsey’s moment in the sun coming two years before his teammate’s.
Kent fans will remember fondly the outcome of the year in between - when in 2015, the then Kings’ captain Ben Morley took first place in the NLRC ahead of teammate Danny Ayres. Morley now representing the Isle of Wight Warriors is the reigning champion again – taking the title last year at Leicester, remarkably again with a teammate (Alfie Bowtell) taking second. With Georgie Wood suspended from riding, Morley is the sole representative for the Ryde-based club this time but few would bet against his ability to become the first rider ever to take the title for a third time.
Isle of Wight’s loss at having just the solitary competitor is Kent’s NL Play Off semi final opponents Belle Vue Colts’ gain with three riders in the field. Jordan Palin is a national champion this term, taking the GB Youth 500cc title in what has been a major breakthrough year for the 15-year-old from Hull – qualifying for the U21 Final too at the first attempt. His two team mates know that title-winning feeling – Kyle Bickley has three GB youth titles (the 125cc class twice in 2013 and ’14 and the 500cc crown in 2016); with Northumberland’s finest, Leon Flint also a three-times winner, at the 150cc class in 2015 and at 250cc in the following two years. Flint is another rider in very good form and will go into the big meeting at Leicester among the favourites for sure.
The riders many though would say are the ones people need to beat to take the coveted title are the two home-based stars, Danyon Hume and Ellis Perks – having taken the Leicester Lion Cubs to the top of the NL table (they meet Cradley in the other Play Off semi-final), home advantage is in their locker too. Perks is the only rider currently riding in all three divisions of British Speedway.
At the opposite end of the table ended up the Plymouth Gladiators who are represented on Sunday by two former GB champions in former Kent rider, Nathan Stoneman (GB Youth 500cc title winner in 2011) and still further back the 2006 GB U21 champion, Ben Wilson. It may be Wilson’s last chance to add the NLRC crown as the Sheffield-born racer has recently suggested he may be hanging up his kevlars at the end of this season.
The runner up to Morley back in 2015, Danny Ayres has suffered an NLRC-jinx since, n-missing out on the event through injury and does so again this term having suffered a broken leg. His replacement as number one for Mildenhall Fen Tigers is Ryan Kinsley, joined by the runner-up to Kemp in the U19s earlier this year, the former GB Youth Grasstrack champion, Jason Edwards.
It's a poignant occasion for Stoke Potters’ fans as their track has sadly had to close after 46 years, so the appearance of Tom Perry (a three-times GB U21 Grasstrack champ) and Joe Lawlor looks like being the last in the colours of this famous club – having been members of the successful quartet who took the NL Fours title back in June, Perry & Lawlor could be more than spoilers in the field of 16 on Sunday.
The NL Pairs title this season went of course to the Kent duo of Kemp and Anders Rowe – and recent appearances for Rowe at Leicester have catapulted him into the role of real contender for this year’s NLRC.
Last time a Kent duo took the Pairs title, in 2015 the successful pair went on to finish first and second in that year’s NLRC. Could history be about to repeat itself?!
The action gets underway with a 3.00 start time on Sunday 22nd. September at the Paul Chapman & Sons Arena, Leicester Speedway Track & Pavilion, Beaumont Sports Complex, Beaumont Park, 1 The Lions, Beaumont Leys, Leicester, Leics, LE4 1DZ
2019 NLRC Line Up [in draw order]:
1 Ryan Kinsley (Mildenhall Fen Tigers) 2 Kyle Bickley (Belle Vue Colts) 3 Jordan Palin (Belle Vue Colts) 4 Ben Morley (Isle of Wight Warriors) 5 Ellis Perks (Leicester Lion Cubs) 6 Danyon Hume (Leicester Lion Cubs) 7 Tom Perry (Stoke Potters) 8 Joe Lawlor (Stoke Potters) 9 Jason Edwards (Mildenhall Fen Tigers) 10 Nathan Stoneman (Plymouth Gladiators) 11 Drew Kemp (Kent TouchTec Kings) 12 Leon Flint (Belle Vue Colts) 13 Max Clegg (Cradley Heathens) 14 Anders Rowe (Kent TouchTec Kings) 15 Dan Halsey (Cradley Heathens) 16 Ben Wilson (Plymouth Gladiators) 1st Track Reserve Dan Thompson (Leicester Lion Cubs) 2nd Track Reserve Joe Thompson (Leicester Lion Cubs)