Kent Iwade Garage Royals’ National League title challenge received a massive setback at a very rainy Central Park on Tuesday night – going down 39-48 to Berwick Bullets.
The side from the Borders returned to the top of the division with this surprise win and the Royals’ hopes are now out of their own hands and they race an uphill struggle if they can catch the Bullets and hope that the third team in the title race, Mildenhall Fen Tigers don’t come up on the rails to take the title.
There was no sign of the calamities to follow when the action got underway after rain-laden skies – with Dan Gilkes’ trademark dive under fellow GB U19 international Kyle Bickley in heat one being followed by a even more crowd-pleasing moment as home debutant Vinnie Foord motored to a brilliant race victory in the Reserves race.
Better still was to follow two heats later with Foord combining with newly crowned GB Grasstrack champion Jake Mulford for a 5-1 to push the hosts ahead and a second successive maximum courtesy of skipper Ryan Kinsey and Alex Spooner meant after five heats the Royals led by 10 points.
But if the clouds had been “rain-laden” at the start, from the end of heat two onwards they were truly laying their contents on the track and the conditions rapidly became truly awful.
And the wheels were about to come off the Royals’ lead and turn the match unexpectedly but decisively in favour of their long-travelling opponents. The wheels not coming off but decidedly not going the direction they should be belonged to Mulford in heat seven – losing control on the increasingly waterlogged track surface and heading straight into the air barrier and out of the rerun. The visitors’ impressive pairing of man of the match Luke Crang and surprise package Mason Watson delivered a 1-5 and suddenly the lead the Royals were defending was down to six.
And things were about to get worse, considerably worse…
Heat eight and Foord was out again and making light of the by now torrential rain - the terrific teen was leading on the third bend of the final lap (and about to record an extraoirdinary third paid win in his first ever three rides around Central Park, when his engine totally seized causing him to grind to a sudden halt; and, with visibility an issue, both Ryan Douglas and Vinnie’s team mate Jacob Clouting crashed into Foord - Jacob’s machine, as a result, getting a massive, er, clouting.
The damage assessed and the evening was over for both Royals’ riders, with their machinery totalled and bike problems were about to see the Royals’ remaining hopes washed away. For it is remarkable to relay the fact that from a five points lead for the Royals after heat ten, the final outcome was a NINE points win for Berwick.
After heat 10 (a potential watershed – if you pardon the expression – as a stoppage now would mean the score would stand as a result), the rain actually relented for a spell. And nothing was more likely to galvanise the visitors who knew they HAD to win to keep their own title hopes alive, than the outcome of heat 11. Royals’ stand-in Nick Laurence was the next to be assaulted by the water-boarding Gremlins, with his bike electrics failing and the hosts had to go with one rider only, For one rider quickly read no riders, as Mulford’s machine suffered the same fate, sputtering no more than six inches as the tapes rose – a 0-5 and suddenly the scores were level.
Mulford was unable to appear also for heat 13 and Gilkes battled manfully but to no avail behind a resurgent Bickley and Greg Blair and suddenly the Royals were literally staring down the barrel of a wholly unexpected and calamitous defeat. And the Bullets delivered when Crang and Douglas scored a third maximum in just four heats for the now exuberant Berwick side and now the nightmare scenario of not just losing but seeing their opponents get all four match points awarded for a win by seven or more points was looking like it was happening. And when Kinsley’s bike packed up in the now returned torrential rain of heat 15 the homesters’ misery was complete.
The outcome left drenched Kent fans scrabbling for their calculators when they got home and dry, Because home and dry was exactly what the Royals could’ve been by winning all five home matches and now that’s very far from the case. Instead the unexpected four points for Berwick in what was their final match of the campaign lifted them back to the summit, finishing on 22 points. By winning all their remaining four home matches the Iwade Garage-sponsored Royals would also end on 22 points - and it would be down to points difference to separate those two clubs. That’s not currently looking like being in Kent’s advantage as the Bullets have finished with a points difference of +15. The Royals currently have a points difference of minus 12 - so not only need to win all four matches but in doing so, turn that around to +16. But it's not as straightforward as this! Things rarely are!
There's a third team who can take the title and that's Mildenhall Fen Tigers - due at Central Park on Tuesday October 19th. They are on 19 points and have two matches left - the one against the Royals and also another away match at Edinburgh-based club, Armadale. A win by 7 or more points up in the Scottish capital would mean Mildenhall finish on 23 points and the title argument would be over. A win by less than 7 would mean they got to 22 points also - and it should be noted that with a points difference that would by then be at least + 58, it's very hard to see that they wouldn't top the table on that basis.
If the Fen Tigers draw at Armadale, then a bonus point here on the 19th. would take them to 22 points and the above applies regarding their points difference.
Returning to the drama of Tuesday, hugely experienced Kent co-promoter Len Silver said, “In all my years’ involvement with this great sport of ours, I have never seen a meeting conducted in such wet conditions as we saw on Tuesday. And my huge applause goes to every single rider, not a single one of whom ever suggested not going out.
“The boys from Berwick got the bit between their teeth and took full advantage of our machinery problems, two blown engines and water in others to leave us at the end with only three working bikes! I congratulate them on their success - it was well deserved. We must now knuckle down and not slip up again if we are to keep our title hopes alive.”
Kent Iwade Garage Royals 39 Dan Gilkes 3, 3, 3, 1, 3 = 13 Jacob Clouting F, R, 2, M = 2 Ryan Kinsley 2, 3, 1', 2, M = 8+1 Alex Spooner 1', 2', 2, 1 = 6+2 Jake Mulford 3, FX, EF, NS = 3 Nick Laurence 1, 1, 0, M, 0, NS = 2 Vinnie Foord 3, 2', EF, M = 5+1
