They say Diamonds are Forever – well, not quite, but the Diamonds variety of Newcastle ARE the next two opponents for the Kent TouchTec Kings – with what’s now the second leg of the Northern Tour (the matches at Berwick falling victim to the rain on Saturday) on Sunday seeing the Kings at Brough Park in Geordie land and then Newcastle being the latest first time visitors to Central Park on Tuesday 24th.
The TouchTec Kings will be back to full strength for the home match on Tuesday but on Sunday have to go into action without both their normal duo of reserves with Jake Mulford in the Czech Republic riding in the World Long Track Championship qualifier and Dan Gilkes going for glory at Mildenhall in the GB U19 Final.
Tom Woolley will replace Mulford in the line up at Newcastle and as ‘Guest’ for Gilkes, the TouchTec Kings Team Manager Chris Hunt has opted for a rider sure to be a hugely popular choice with the massed ranks of Kings’ fans on the tour up north, record appearance holder from his time as a fully fledged Kent rider, Jack Thomas.
For Newcastle they have a ‘Guest’ facility for their injured club captain, the Aussie Matty Wethers and on Sunday at Brough Park it’s the American who rides for Glasgow Tigers, Ricky Wells and then at Central Park on Tuesday they opt for newly crowned GB U21 champion, Tom Brennan.
In Wethers’ absence the captaincy for the Diamonds shifts to their number one, Ben Barker. Barker could hardly come from anywhere within England further than his SGB Championship club as he hails from Truro in Cornwall and has in his rather turbulent career represented Team GB in the World Cup.
A rider who will certainly on Tuesday be hoping to improve on his last appearance at Central Park is Diamonds’ heat leader, James Wright. The two times League Riders’ Champion (at second and third tier level) guested for Poole Pirates earlier in the season and had a nightmare night failing to score from three rides.
If Wright has poor memories of a Central Park visit, less so for the two Brits in the middle order of the Diamonds’ set: Connor Mountain & Max Clegg – seen regularly in National League days for their clubs back then, Mildenhall & Cradley respectively. Clegg is a former GB U19 champion.
In what will, unusually be an all British line up on Tuesday (with just the one transatlantic exception on Sunday) the reserve places are filled by two riders at different ends of the experience spectrum, Adam Roynon and Archie Freeman. Roynon’s Speedway career dates back to 2003 and is something of a favourite of Kent co-promoter Len Silver from the time the Cumbrian Roynan (whose career has been decimated by injuries) spent under Silver’s tutelage at Rye House. Freeman on the other hand is a SGBC 2021-first timer. Hailing from Newcastle and been riding there as a mascot since a very young age, he gets his big opportunity this year as their ‘Rising Star.
So it’s say “cheers” for the Double Diamonds with the two matches – the first at Newcastle on Sunday and then the sides resume at Central Park on Tuesday evening (August 24th.) at the normal time of 6.30pm.