A superb evening’s entertainment of thrilling individual Speedway racing at Central Park in Sittingbourne culminated in the home side’s skipper Simon Lambert defending the Laurels crown he’d won last year and retaining the WJ Cearns Trophy.
The defence of this famous title, first contested for the trophy in memoriam to the pioneering Speedway stadium mogul back in 1953 and being competed on Monday evening (21/7) for a 40th time, saw Lambert having to face his predecessor as the Kent CTA Fire Kings’ skipper Steve Boxall no fewer than four times – and each race between the two masters of the Central Park circuit were classics in their own right: honours being even on the night in the sense of two wins each; but – as it was last year – when it came to the sudden death final it was Lambert who prevailed.
The format saw the 12 riders (five from the ranks of the CTA Fire Kings and seven visiting competitors) take four qualifying heats in pursuit of sufficient points to qualify for one of the two four rider semis; with the top two from each semi contesting a winner-takes-all Grand Final. And with £300 prize money as the reward for that overall winner, it was clear the big guys in the line-up had the spoils very much in their sights. In terms of the big guys these were very much Lambert, Boxall and the conversely diminutive Mighty Atom that is seasoned veteran of the National League, Jon Armstrong. The three main protagonists met as early as heat six, after all had safely negotiated their opening rides and it was a battle which brought the large Central Park crowd to its feet. Armstrong dominated the race and the way he held both Lambert and Boxall at bay for three and three quarter laps suggested that the rider who has won almost every title in the book at this level of the sport was out to gain the Laurels too. But a Speedway race is four laps long and somehow the super fast Lambert found grip going around the boards on the very last bend to roar past the Stoke man and claim the win by an inch or two on the line.
In fact Lambert had like as not taken his cue from an amazing performance the heat before from the ever-entertaining Marc Owen, who carried on where he’d left off from his last eye-catching visit to Central Park three weeks ago by another storming round the boards performance to go around former Kings man Luke Chessell in heat 5.
The fans were being treated to some spectacular racing and all this on a circuit which had been flooded the day before after a month’s rain fell in just one hour – the sterling efforts of track staff to pump the water off the circuit rewarded by one of the best meetings in terms of the quality of racing seen at the ever-improving Central Park track.
Owen was back to his buccaneering best in heat 8 but in his pursuit of Armstrong he actually fell victim to the very steady looking Jack Kingston – the former Kent rider showing just how much he has improved to actually finish fourth in the qualifying scoring: better still was to come for the Dagenham-born racer.
Lambert’s unbeaten run was ended by an extraordinarily dominant performance by Boxall in heat 9 and now the attention shifted to who would fill the other places in the top eight. Owen needed a good last ride and got it chasing home Armstrong and the rather out of sorts Benji Compton had the fortune of a relatively easy passage to the two points he needed in heat 12 to scrape a semi slot.
Semi final one saw Boxall on the outside, Lambert on the inside and the Rye House man stormed to victory. The other semi was altogether trickier to call and was to be far more dramatic. Outstanding favourite to make it through was Armstrong and though he missed the gate the veteran had rounded the others on the second bend but then he carried on too wide on bends three and four and made significant contact with the air-fence effectively halting his progress. Suddenly Compton who’d scored only four points in qualifying was race leader with the two young Turks, Kingston & Owen in hot pursuit. The King’s Lynn man Owen seemed to have the beating of Kingston, though cracker Jack was not giving up the fight and on the final bend with both as intent of overhauling the leader as battling for the second slot, there was a coming together with Owen a faller and Kingston somehow holding it together to reach the Final.
The draw for gate positions saw a reversal of how the big two had faced up to each other in the semi and it was to prove crucial. This time Lambert stormed from the outside gate and though initially outgated by Boxall, the Kent CTA Fire Kings skipper roared around his predecessor coming out of bend two and stormed home to complete an exact repeat of the result of last year’s Laurels championship. Kingston was a very deserved third and will see this as a significant step forward in his career.
Next up for Kent is a visit to take on the Arena Essex Hammers at Lakeside Speedway in Thurrock on Friday (25/7) when for the first time Lambert and Boxall will appear together in the Kent colours; Ben Morley, Adam Ellis and Kingston are among the ranks of the Hammers. Then next Monday it’s National Trophy business with the Leicester Lion Cubs first-time visitors to Central Park.
QUALIFYING SCORES: Simon Lambert 11, Jon Armstrong 11, Steve Boxall 10, Jack Kingston 8, Luke Chessell 6, Marc Owen 6, Danny Ayres 5, Benji Compton 4, Aaron Baseby 4, Ben Hopwood 3, Jason Garrad 2, Danno Verge 2.
