Simon Lambert regained the Bronze Helmet Match Race Championship on an evening otherwise to forget for an under-strength Kent CTA Fire Kings outfit missing vice-captain David Mason due to illness and Danny Ayres who was caught up in shocking traffic on the roads leading from his Newmarket home due to the Tour de France road disruption.
The visitors Mildenhall had National Trophy qualification on their minds, whereas for Kent, who’d bowed out of any contention for the fringe event due to a defeat the afternoon before, this was effectively a scratch event and the highlights had eventually to be another amazing performance all-round by captain fantastic Lambert and a further promising route back to full match fitness by Benji Compton.
With Mason and Ayres absent, things certainly could not have got off to a worse start for Kent in front of another good-sized Central Park crowd as the CTA Fire Kings quickly found themselves trailing by an unprecedented score of 15-2 after only three heats. Skipper Simon Lambert did at least give the Kent faithful something to cheer about, returning double points in heat five over his counterpart Dan Halsey. Led by GB U-21 champion Josh Bates and perennial Sittingbourne guest-appearance man Ben Wilson the visitors always had too much fire power for the Kings. Wilson who’d scored a maximum against Kent for Stoke on Saturday night repeated the act, only being put under pressure by Lambert who fell heavily when looking to cut inside the Fen Tigers guest on the final bend of Heat 7. The homesters’ number one Morley’s second place behind Bates when introduced for double points in Heat 10 effectively sealed a well deserved victory for the visitors. There was still plenty of action to come though, with the hard working Lambert producing the ride of the night coming from behind to roar round Halsey on the final lap of Heat 11. Halsey was then lucky to walk away from a horrible looking crash as his bikes straightened and ploughed through the first bend air fence in Heat 13. The Kings achieved their only maximum of the night in the re-run giving the crowd a hint of what might have been. There was though no denying the Suffolk side with the immaculate Wilson and Bates ending the evening as it had begun with a 5-1.
Team boss John Sampford was sanguine in defeat, “In all my years in Speedway being 13 points down after only three heats is something I have never experienced. To say everything that could go wrong did go wrong is an understatement. To have David missing to start with was a big blow as he has been in such fine form all season. Losing Danny left us with the prospect of three heats where we could only track one rider. We were able to cover one of his rides but as he was declared in the starting line-up we were unable to cover the others which immediately left us at a disadvantage. Then both Benji and Ben blew engines which left them struggling. I’m particularly grateful to Simon for lending Benji a bike all evening. Unfortunately it took him a while to get used to it because it is set up for Simon who is one of the tallest riders in the league but to his credit he did pick up a heat win. We did rally towards the end and pulled a few points back but Mildenhall are a very good side and credit to them once they had a stranglehold on the match they weren’t going to let us back into it. Everyone did their best until the end young Luke Harris got stuck in and earned three points on a very tough night having just come back into the side. It was fitting that having given 110% all night Simon managed to regain the Bronze Helmet. He has proved an excellent captain and has impressed everyone with how committed he is to the cause”.
Next up at Central Park is the visit of current league leaders and reigning champions, Cradley Heathens in National League action – 6.30pm on Monday 14th. July.
KENT 38: Simon Lambert 15, Ben Morley 8+1, Benji Compton 7, Aaron Baseby 5+1, Luke Harris 3+1, Adam Sheppard (No.8) 0, Danny Ayres DNR, David Mason R/R.
MILDENHALL 56: Ben Wilson 15, Josh Bates 11+2, Danny Halsey 7, Jack Kingston 7, Connor Mountain 6+1, Connor Coles 5+4, Brendan Johnson 5+2.