The Kent SLYDE Kings delivered what they hope to be a knockout blow to their Cup opponents, the Coventry Storm on Monday evening at Central Park as they sped to a 14 point first leg lead in this KOC quarter final tie.
On a night when the whole team clicked and battled hard in some very close on track encounters, a 52-38 score line was hugely heartening; and now the Murston-based Speedway side can set off to one of the sport’s most famous venues on Friday night (15 May) with certainly some degree of confidence that a first ever semi final berth in the National League’s knock-out cup can be achieved.
The impressive victory was given the perfect start when firstly skipper Ben Morley raced off to a heat one victory in the fastest time of the 2015 season around the circuit at the Sittingbourne Dog Track followed immediately by a first 5-1 of the campaign by the SLYDE-backed Kings’ two reserves Adam Sheppard and Jamie Couzins. The two newcomers to the side in the crucial no 6 and no. 7 race jackets have in truth had a tough start to the season, with previous visitors boasting some impressive talent in the reserve and second string berths. This time up against Central Park first-timers Callum Walker and Conor Dwyer, the two Kent men were in no mood to make any mistakes and the 5-1 was so rapturously received even the stadium PA seemed to have got overheated, briefly losing sound!
It didn’t need an announcers’ acclamation to greet a marvelous strong-arm performance by the increasingly useful pairing of Danny Ayres and Aaron Baseby in heat 3: with Ayres bullying his way to the front in a hugely impressive first bend and Baseby barging his way past the Storm’s Shuttleworth down the back straight. Three races down and a six point lead already: the Storm looking really rather becalmed at this juncture.
Enter onto the scene Dan Greenwood for the first of four oh-so impressive race victories on the evening, which at times it seemed almost single-handedly kept his side within some kind of touching distance: his home rider’s opponent in this one was the newly-crowned Master of Midshires, James Shanes who tried literally everything in his gravity-defying power to get past the one time GB Under 15s champ Greenwood to no avail.
The setback for the semi-final chasing SLYDE Kings was but temporary, for that pairing of Ayres and Baseby were bossing it again in heat 5 – with the Storm’s skipper Luke Crang the ‘victim’ this time. The lead was eight points and courtesy of Morley chopping Greenwood down to size in heat six and the plucky Verge taking third it was now of double figure proportions.
Being a Cup tie of two legs the tactical rider rule does not apply and so there was limited recourse to the Storm management to mount a comeback and three shared heats, though they steadied the Coventry ship from the Stormy ‘weather’, did nothing to lessen the Kings’ supremacy shown on the scorecard. Praise is needed though to Martin Knuckey – the Cornishman has been a very good value visitor for three years now with the Storm and his heat 8 win was another splendid from the back effort by the lad.
Daryll Ritchings was looking strong too and his win in heat 10 did reduce the homesters’ lead to just eight points.
Shanes and then Baseby followed by Morley (beating Greenwood again) though ensured victory on the night by wins in the next three races, with Shanes passing a rather out of sorts Crang in heat 13 to take the lead out to a hitherto unreached level of 12 points.
It got even better in heat 14 with Ayres again dominant and Couzins taking what yet may end up being a vital point and suddenly the margin was 14.
Greenwood finally added the scalp of Morley to those of the Kings’ other two top men Ayes and Shanes in heat 15 but with Ritchings out of contention it meant a final and healthily looking score line of 52-38 to the home side.
One more bit of business: Kent skipper Ben Morley defending the Bronze Helmet NL Match Race Championship against Greenwood. In the match it had been 2-1 to the Kent skipper in his personal duel with Greenwood but the Storm man has already held the Match Race title for some weeks this campaign and he was in determined mood to regain possession of the iconic skid-lid, clamping down on the home star in a thrilling first bend and hanging on to win.
The second leg up at the famous Brandon home of the Storm promises much for a now altogether stronger looking Kent septet on Friday. Meanwhile the next home match is on Monday 18th. May taking on a side representing one of the sport’s most famous club names the Wimbledon Dons in the annually-contested John Cearns Cup.
Kent SLYDE Kings 52 Ben Morley 3,3,2,3,2 13 Danno Verge 0,1,2,0 3 Aaron Baseby 1,2*,1*,3 7+2 Danny Ayres 3,3,2,3,1* 12+1 James Shanes 2,3,3,1 9 Jamie Couzins 2*,0,F,1 3+1 Adam Sheppard 3,0,1*,1 5+1
Coventry Storm 38 Luke Crang 2,1,1*,R 4+1 Martin Knuckey 1*,0,3,2 6+1 Darryl Ritchings 2,2,3,F,0 7 Rob Shuttleworth 0,1*,1,2 4+1 Dan Greenwood 3,2,3,2,3 13 Callum Walker 0,0,0 0 Conor Dwyer 1,1,0,2,0 4