Long distance travelling teams have been a feature of many of the fixtures in Kent Speedway's first ever calendar of SGB Championship racing in 2021 - and that trend continues with the visit to Central Park on Tuesday (10th. August) of the Edinburgh Monarchs.
The side representing the Scottish capital (based at Armadale in historic Linlithgowshire just outside the city boundaries) come with an impeccable pedigree at this level having won five second tier league titles this century and currently lie third in the table.
So it's another significant challenge for Chris Hunt's TouchTec Kings side who will be desperate to get back to winning ways on their home track and will be heartened by going so close to a first away win at Birmingham in their last outing. For the in-form Paul Starke the visit of the Monarchs will have special significance as the exciting 30 year old rode for Edinburgh's fierce rivals Glasgow Tigers for two seasons, in 2018 & '19 before joining the Kings' cause. If ever Paul needed an extra incentive to get his maiden maximum for his new club the visit of Edinburgh must surely provide it. Similarly champing at the bit to top the score charts will be new signing Troy Batchelor who comes up against three compatriots in the visiting side.
Sam Masters will go head to head against Troy in the respective number one race jackets. Like Batchelor an Australian national champion (indeed the current holder in Sam's case) and having worn Aussie colours in the World Championship SGP series, Masters is top of the SGB average standings currently - an objective for this season for Kent's new man for sure. The other two Antipodeans in the Monarchs' ranks are Josh Pickering and 2021 newcomer, Kye Thomson.
There's a rider from Perth in the Monarchs' septet too - but he's from the original Perth in Scotland: former GB U18 champion William Lawson. Talking of youth national titles, Nathan Greaves has a quartet of them at the U-16 level and is familiar with the Central Park circuit having appeared against the Kings in NL days for Dudley/Cradley. Though he'll perhaps best for known in Central Park history for being the rider who pulled off the track in error in heat two of a match with Cradley in 2014 resulting in the rarest of race results: a 0-0!!
A team mate of Greaves' in that same match was Steve Worrall and they'll be a double take needed by Kent fans when Richie Worrall takes to track for the Monarchs on Tuesday as he's the twin brother of Steve. TouchTec Kings' supporters will hoping twin telepathy doesn't extend to passing on track specialism!
Back to the long travelling theme, that certainly applies to Kent's teenager Dan Gilkes who the weekend before last went to Brokstedt in Germany as resrve for the GB U23 side contesting the European Team Cup and this weekend was back on the long road across the continent to the Latvian capital, Riga as reserve in the European U19s individual championship. 19 year old Dan comments on the two rides he got after that long journey.
”I’m really glad I got the chance to race after travelling all that way, obviously I was disappointed with mechanical problems again (like the previous week) in my first race but getting a second place in heat 17 was a great way to bounce back.”
The action on Tuesday at Central Park gets underway at 6.30pm (gates open at 5pm).