The next two opponents for the Kent TouchTec Kings have a familiar look to them – it’s the two sides the SGB Championship [SGBC] team have taken on and beaten in the last two meetings at Central Park.
On the first two nights of a three meeting Northern Tour, the TouchTec Kings take on Edinburgh Monarchs on Friday (20th.) and then Berwick Bandits on Saturday (in a double header which will include the two clubs’ second sides, the Bullets and the Iwade Garage Royals respectively, meeting in a National League [NL] encounter – separate preview of that match to follow),
Edinburgh ride at the Armadale Stadium in West Lothian just outside the Scottish capital city limits and the Monarchs currently stand in third place in the SGBC league table – just a solitary point off the top behind their fierce countryman rivals, Glasgow Tigers. When the Monarchs travelled down to Kent the Tuesday before last they tumbled to a 46-43 defeat with their top scorers being their reigning Australian Champion, Sam Masters and his countryman Kye Thomson. The solitary Scot in their side, William Lawson was missing on that occasion but rides this Friday but there are considerable doubts over the availability of Richie Worrall after a high speed crash in the Monarchs’ last home match last Friday.
For the TouchTec Kings, Jake Mulford will miss all the matches on the Northern Tour as he is travelling to the Czech Republic to represent Team GB in the World Long Track Cup Challenge. Stepping in to ride at reserve for the Kings in Mulford’s absence at Armadale will be London-born, New Zealand-raised Ryan Terry-Daley. For Cameron Heeps the trip to Edinburgh will be a return to a track he rode for in the SGBC in the last completed league season in 2019.
Moving onto Berwick on Saturday, it’s a very quick reunion with a Bandits side which a rampant Kings’ septet beat 57-33 on Tuesday. The side from the Scottish Borders will certainly be wanting to put that heavy defeat behind them; whilst for Chris Hunt’s charges the boost gained from such an emphatic performance will fill them with confidence taking on the same opponents so soon after that victory. Scott Nicholls was a maximum man on Tuesday the day after finishing a very creditable fifth in the British Final. For Aussie number one Troy Batchelor these two meetings are his second and third only away matches for the TouchTec Kings and there’s no question that his presence in the side is leading to a significant turnaround in the club’s fortunes; and with Paul Starke in excellent form, Heeps getting back to the points scoring standard expected now that his recovery from a shoulder injury continues and Ben Morley (a double figures man of the meeting performance behind him in the first part of this quick fire double encounter with Berwick) and teenager Dan Gilkes providing solid back up, the match looks poised to be a close one.
Berwick are led by a spearhead of two Danes (Nikolaj Busk Jakobsen & Kasper Andersen) and two Australians (Aaron Summers & their skipper, Jye Etheridge) but top scorer on Tuesday was Borders-born and bred Leon Flint with paid 10 who will be on local territory this time. Both Flint and former Youth World Long Track champion Kyle Bickley along with the Kings’ Dan Gilkes will be travelling down to Mildenhall after this match to compete in the GB Under 19 Championship on Sunday. So Gilkes is available at Berwick for both the Kings and the Royals but not of course the longer-travelling Mulford and coming in for Jake on Saturday at Berwick in the SGBC match against the Bandits will be the popular Tom Woolley. Tom hails from Derbyshire and is a one-time runner up in the World Flat Track Championship – this season he’s riding in Scotland for the Edinburgh-based NL side the Armadale Devils. Advance tickets are available for both meetings – the respective Edinburgh & Berwick Speedway club websites have details.