A night of high drama and many thrills and spills ended with former Kent King’ skipper Simon Lambert winning the Laurels for a third year running – clinching a historic hat trick of titles and taking home the coveted WJ Cearns Trophy.
It was an impressive piece of silverware he had to rise gingerly from a stretcher to receive though – crashing out in a rerun high-octane Grand Final which saw him sent crashing heavily into the fence courtesy of main rival Daniel Greenwood. Having won all four of his previous rides and leading the Grand Final after a spectacular passing manoeuvre to get to the front, there was no-one in the stadium who could disagree with the decision to award victory to the prone Lambert – the curfew allowing no time for a second rerun in a twice interrupted final.
The meeting saw a number of high profile casualties. Kent SLYDE Kings’ latest hero, young James Shanes had travelled for hours across Continental Europe to be on duty here – this after finishing second in the European Grasstrack Championship in the Netherlands on Saturday evening. The ‘Boy Wizard of Balance’ showed no signs of fatigue though, storming to a heat one victory in by far the fastest time of the season so far at Central Park: clocking 58 seconds dead whilst leaving the strongly fancied Bradley Wilson-Dean in his wake. A second race win followed, this time holding off the challenge of Greenwood and it seemed this could well be Shanes’ night. However disaster struck in heat 7: Shanes and Daryll Ritchings got entangled going into the first bend, both going to ground at the entrance to the turn, the slow-starting Central Park-debutant Charley Powell then appeared to run straight over Shanes’ head but, as brave as ever, the pocket dynamo from Dorset rose albeit gingerly to walk away from the incident. The removal of his race jacket told a tale though – with his bike taking some major damage the teenager was to play no part in the proceedings.
Meanwhile in the other opening salvoes of the qualifying heats, Shanes’ Kent team mate Aaron Baseby was showing his best form of the season: beating both of the other two SLYDE Kings in the field Danny Ayres and a tape offence penalised Ben Morley in heat 3; clocking up a convincing second race win in heat 5; and then claiming the notable scalp of the Kiwi star Wilson-Dean in his third ride, passing the highly rated Eastbourne Eagles man in a superb race. Morley and Ayres were having far less of a good time. After demolishing the tapes in his first race Morley was an uncharacteristic faller in heat 4 and sat amazingly bottom of the pile at this juncture. The SLYDE Kings skipper burst back with a win over Ritchings in the rerun of heat 7 and then took second behind the now dialled-in Greenwood to complete his qualification. Ayres, meanwhile, had clashed with the Coventry Storm man in heat 8 – a hard racing manoeuvre coming up heavily on the inside of Greenwood being deemed unlawful by the referee.
Through the carnage around him at times, Simon Lambert cut an imperious figure – untroubled as he swept to four straight wins in qualification. Going into the semis it was clearly the Peterborough Panther’s title to lose. Lambert was in the first semi and swept around the outside to claim victory – the major surprise (and disappointment for the home fans) being that Baseby failed at the penultimate hurdle, falling at the death in a vain attempt to get past major surprise packet Chris Widman.
The second semi had all the drama one could want packaged into it. Greenwood vs. Ayres round two; Morley in there too. The former GB Under 15 champion Greenwood trapped this time with Morley in hot pursuit. Ayres was clearly hugely fired up in pursuit of a place in the Final and was all over his club captain waiting for a moment to strike: bend two of lap 3 was that moment and Ayres went for the smallest of gaps. Whether there was contact or it was just extreme pressure it was extremely difficult to spot, but Morley fell for a second time on the night (one he’ll not remember fondly) – the referee called it in favour of Ayres who was Final bound alongside his fierce rival Greenwood.
Showing that same determination to win, Ayres gated superbly in the Grand Final – meanwhile on the outside of him Greenwood and Lambert were having their own personal battle. On bend two Greenwood left Lambert with literally nowhere to go. All four back into the rerun was the ref’s verdict. It was to be a fateful decision. At the second time of asking Ayres gated again but the twice winner and holder Lambert was not to be denied exercising a superb around the boards effort on bend two to take the lead with Greenwood joining him in hot pursuit. Entering the fourth bend Greenwood clearly overcooked it and sent Lambert hurtling into the air barrier in a sickening clash. There was no question that this time it was Greenwood’s fault and he was excluded. Sadly Simon was down prone and the paramedics, after lengthy treatment, called for the stretcher – bravely the popular lad from Lincolnshire, who is established for ever as a Central Park legend, was able just about to rise to his feet to take the rapturous applause of the large crowd and receive his spoils as Laurel champion again. The race awarded saw Ayres as runner-up and the impressive Widman a happy third.
No home meeting at Central Park next Monday with a trip to Widman’s home track Stoke coming up on Saturday (25/7) and the next home meeting vs. Mildenhall Fen Tigers in the City Gearboxes National League on August 3rd.
Picture: A brave but certainly battered Simon Lambert receiving the WJ Cearns Trophy from Roger Cearns - shown with runner up (left) Danny Ayres and third placed (right) Chris Widman.