Defying rainy conditions which swept in to coincide almost on the dot with start time at Central Park on Bank Holiday Monday, a thrilling afternoon of exciting racing was served up for a large holiday crowd at the home of Kent Speedway, as the CTA Fire Kings took the honours in an emotional and memorable John Cearns Cup match vs. Wimbledon.
The emotion came from the news that just the day before, surely the county’s greatest ever rider, seven-times a World Championship gold-medalist Malcolm Simmons had passed away aged just 68 years. An extra poignancy was added to this with one of ‘Super Simmo’s former clubs, the Dons from south-west London providing the opposition and a heart-felt tribute and minute’s silence was impeccably observed. And the always classy and gutsy Simmons would have been proud of the new generation of riders who have assumed his mantle as race after race showed that the sport is in good hands.
The circuit held up superbly well itself, allowing some thrilling racing even as squally conditions from the off turned to near torrential downpour by the end, with a large crowd served up all 15 heats of a fascinating battle. Up to the half-way point the two sides had scrapped it out almost toe to toe. There was disappointment for the crowd at the start of heat one as returning-just-for-the-day local hero Steve Boxall (who is seeking to become himself, like Simmons was in the ‘70s, a Kent-born winner of the British Championship when he rides in his first Final early next month) shed a chain at the very start of heat one. That mishap allowed the nomadic Londoners to take an early lead which was pegged back by the first of three maximum heats during the meeting – all of which involved the fast-rising new star in the Central Park firmament, Danny Ayres.
Indeed there was something of an air of the crowd moving on in terms of adopting new heroes in this one, as Ayres was to go onto to beat another returnee from last year the plucky Jack Kingston to grab further 5-1s and secure for Ayres himself in heat 12 both the best race win of the Newmarket-based racer’s still rookie career and an amazing double-points return on the afternoon. Boxall was far into the distance in heat 10, the first of those decisive maximum heats which turned the meeting in the direction of the home side, leaving Ayres to show track craft belying his experience to hold off Kingston. And when they clashed again two races later it was a classic: the young Essex-based Kingston doing everything he could to get by the increasingly formidable pairing of Ayres and his mentor David Mason. For nearly four laps one could’ve thrown a much-needed towel over the three riders, before Kingston tumbled off in an untidy heap on the final bend.
Ayres was buzzing from it all, “The support of the crowd at Central Park is just terrific. In my early outings a few weeks back I was pushing myself too much so I decided I needed to be steadier first: to slow down to go faster so-to-speak and thanks to the tremendous support of David Mason in particular, things have really clicked into place. To get two heat wins, twice beat a rider of the class of Jack Kingston and score double figures as well as receive the ovation from the crowd is beyond my wildest dreams this early into my National League career”, the 27-year-old from Suffolk enthused.
The other big positive for the Sittingbourne Dog Track-based side was the form of Luke Chessell who looked assured and impressive and very speedy out of the gate as he too recorded two heat wins in a paid double-figures score of his own.
Next up for the Kent CTA Fire Kings at Central Park is the visit of current championship pace-setters, top of the table Coventry Storm in an NL match on Monday (2nd. June) – 6.30pm start time.
KENT 52 S. Boxall X 3 3 3 - - 9 Rider Replacement (Benji Compton) D. Mason 2* 1 2 2 2* 0 - 9+2 L. Chessell 2 3 0 1* 3 - - 9+1 B. Morley 3 3 3 R 2 - - 11 L. Harris 2* 0 1 1 - - - 4+1 D. Ayres 3 1 0 1* 2* 3 - 10+2 Team Manager: John Sampford
WIMBLEDON 38 L. Bowen 3 3 Fx 2 3 - - 11 A. Baseby 1 2* 3 2 - - - 8+1 J. Kingston 1 2 F 1^ - - - 5 C. Widman 0 1* 1 2 - - - 4+1 J. Cockle 2 2 3 1* 1 - - 9+1 R. Mullins R 1* 0 R - - - 1+1 A. Sheppard 1 0 0 0 - - - 1 Team Manager: Chris Hunt Referee : Graham Reeve