The Kent CTA Fire Kings got back to winning ways at Central Park on Monday (2/6) evening with an emphatic win over fellow championship rivals Coventry Storm in Speedway’s National League.
The Storm blew into town on the back of an impressive start to the season where they have led the NL table for the majority of weeks but had to make a number of injury-enforced late changes and found themselves up against a determined Kings’ septet keen to bounce back from the disappointment of defeat at Mildenhall the previous afternoon.
It was an all-round solid performance by the Central Park-based side with six out of the seven riders in the ‘Invicta’ race jackets recording at least one paid win in their tallies and all six of these racking up a score of at least paid seven points. That kind of consistency wins Speedway matches and there was no doubt that the change made in bringing in Aaron Baseby as injury cover for the stricken Benji Compton has strengthened the outfit during the continuing period of the popular Compton’s absence.
It was indeed the Sevenoaks-based Baseby who got the match off to a winning start for the CTA Fire-sponsored home side in heat one and though a painful tumble in his second outing restricted his immediate progress, a second race win in heat eight meant it was a very satisfactory (if slightly bruising) home debut for Baseby, celebrating his 24th. birthday from the weekend. Also celebrating was Danny Ayres who would be happy again with a paid seven points return, including an excellent paid win beating former GB Under 18s champion Brendan Johnson and then capping off his night with a superb racing manoeuvre in heat 14 to pass the Storm’s own impressive no. 7, Martin Knuckey.
Rolling back the years was skipper for the day, David Mason – beaten only once by an opponent in his five rides, Mason’s paid 14 was indeed a ‘Magic’ performance. After being down on power and out of sorts at Mildenhall, this was a great return to form for the veteran who seems to relish the Central Park circuit and the responsibility of leading his young charges – taking the captain’s role as number one Simon Lambert was absent on Elite League duty with Birmingham. The ‘guest’ replacement for Lambert was Ben Hopwood and the team riding with fellow Ben, the Kings’ joint top-scorer Morley had the crowd gasping in an eventful heat 13 – the two young speedsters seeming almost tethered together as they threw their machines into the bends in perfect synchronisation. Ironically when discretion became the better part of valour and they parted such close company, the Storm’s Johnson was to find a way past Hopwood on the line but by then the valiant efforts of the visiting West Midlanders had been dashed and the match points belonged to Kent.
Next up for the CTA Fire Kings is a home match in the National Trophy vs. the Leicester Lion Cubs – on Monday 9th. June at Central Park, Sittingbourne – 6.30pm start.
KENT 53: David Mason 13+1, Ben Morley 13+1, Ben Hopwood 8+1, Aaron Baseby 7, Luke Chessell 6+1, Danny Ayres 5+2, Luke Harris 1+1.
COVENTRY 37: Dan Greenwood 12, Brendan Johnson 10, Ryan Terry-Daley 8+1, Martin Knuckey 5+1, Sam Chapman 2+2, Adam Sheppard 0, Oliver Greenwood R/R.