An unexpected restful night off will hopefully be the extra boost that Kent Touch Tec Kings & Iwade Garage Royals’ Daniel Gilkes needs going into the GB Under 19 Championship at Mildenhall this afternoon (Sunday 22/8).
19-year-old Gilkes can also take heart from the unusual stat that no fewer than six riders who’ve finished on the rostrum in second & third place in this particular championship have gone onto win the prize in a following year. Dan was runner up last year to his former team mate, Drew Kemp – who of course the previous year (2019) Kemp became the first Kent rider to win this title.
Kemp on another of his former home tracks will be perhaps the favourite going into the event at West Row – aiming to make history by winning the title for a third year in a row; but a stellar line up, unquestionably the strongest in the history of the GB U19s, means picking a winner is extremely difficult.
There are actually five other riders among the sweet 16 who like Gilkes, have a previous rostrum finish in the U19s on their racing CV. Anders Rowe was also a Kent rider in 2019 when finishing third to Kemp and is enjoying a good season with Ipswich (outshining his Witches team mate Kemp, it could be argued) in the SGB Premiership making him many people’s tip to capture the title this time around.
The rider who split the two then Kent teens in 2019 is back again this year too and riding on his home track to boot, that’s Essex-based Jason Edwards who since being sacked by Eastbourne now rides in the SGB Championship for Plymouth Gladiators. Jordan Palin finished third behind Kemp & Gilkes last year and this year was 4th. in the next age range up championship the U21s. Leon Flint was third in the U19s in 2018 and this year was second in the U21s and like Kyle Bickley has had the benefit of a night off prior to this Final, the Berwick vs. Kent match due to be held on Saturday being rained of.
Bickley was, it could be argued, the rider most expected to be the star of his generation with two youth World tiles and finished third in his first U19 Final a remarkable four years ago now in 2017: he’ll feel that this is the occasion for him to step up to realise that potential at this stage.
So that’s the riders with a record of success already in the U19s – they’re joined by two sets of brothers: Joe & Dan Thompson from Leicester and Sam & Harry McGurk from Belle Vue Colts. A third former TouchTec Kings rider is in the field: Eastbourne’s Nathan Ablitt; and completing the 16 are Ben Trigger from Leicester, home rider Sam Hagon and, rather oddly, the Australian who rides for Glasgow, Connor Bailey.
So this is the challenge awaiting Gilkes but with a second in the U19s last year and third in the U21s this year, this could be the chance for Dan to be the main man!
The action gets underway at Mildenhall Speedway at 3pm.
Riders (in draw order) Joe THOMPSON (Leicester Lions & Lion Cubs) Ben TRIGGER (Leicester Lion Cubs) Daniel GILKES (Kent Kings & Royals) Jason EDWARDS (Plymouth Gladiators & Mildenhall Fen Tigers) Sam HAGON (Mildenhall Fen Tigers) Don THOMPSON (Leicester Lions & Lion Cubs) Archie FREEMAN (Newcastle Diamonds & Armadale Devils) Joe THOMPSON (Leicester Lions & Lion Cubs) Drew KEMP (Ipswich Witches & Eastbourne Eagles) Kyle BICKLEY (Berwick Bandits & Bullets) Connor BAILEY (Glasgow Tigers) Harry McGURK (Belle Vue Colts) Nathan ABLITT (Eastbourne Eagles & Seagulls) Jordan PALIN (Peterborough Panthers & Scunthorpe Scorpions) Sam McGURK (Belle Vue Colts) Leon FLINT (Wolverhampton Wolves & Berwick Bandits)