The much anticipated local match-up on Monday (17/8) between the Kent SLYDE Kings and their local rivals Eastbourne Eagles (the two sides’ first ever meeting in the City Gearboxes National League [CGNL]) became something of a 'Destruction Derby' for the home side as the visitors from Sussex comprehensively outscored their hosts returning a decisive 55-37 victory.
12 of the 15 heats were won by Eastbourne riders which really suggests that the victory was hugely emphatic out on the track which is how things should be decided in a Speedway encounter ;but there nonetheless a strong feeling that the destiny of this match was decided actually in the boardroom of the sport’s administrators after allowing the visitors to bring in 2013 World Junior Champion Daniel Spiller into one of the reserve berths.
The rider who held a German racing licence right up until late last week scored an unprecedented paid 20 points from the seven rides he could take as a reserve: headed only once by a SLYDE Kings’ rider. It was an amazing second only appearance on a National League track for the rider who is based in Vilsheim in Germany and rides also in the German First Division. Having ridden in German national championships since his very earliest junior days in 2007 up to an appearance in the Under 21s there last year and riding under a German licence, the initial decision when the Eastbourne club sought to add the Maidstone-born racer to their squad at this relatively late stage of the CGNL campaign was to say he was not eligible. An appeal though saw the British Speedway Promoters Association’s (BSPA) Management Committee overturn that decision and so the 17-year-old has been able to make this sensational mark on British third tier racing in his first two matches for the Eagles.
Kent co-promoter Len Silver commented, “I intend to point out to the Management Committee when I attend their meeting later this week the consequences of their decision. One which I don’t think is consistent with the rules and how they’ve been applied in other cases. It was highly debatable if young Daniel was eligible at all considering the licence he held and that he has consistently ridden in the national championships for the country where he held that licence – in this case Germany. But if one accepts that he is eligible to appear in the CGNL, we feel that he should’ve been treated the same as the other national champion from another country appearing in the division this year, ironically also an Eastbourne Eagles man, Bradley Wilson-Dean. As NZ Under 21 champion Wilson-Dean was given an assessed average of five points – whereas Spiller has been able to ride at reserve. Having seven rides and scoring 17 points (paid 20) has had a devastating effect on what otherwise showed every likelihood of being a close match. Nothing against young Daniel who was quite superb out there tonight and looks an exceptional talent, a rider who hopefully will play a significant part in the future of British Speedway – but we expect a level playing field when it comes to the application of league rules and we don’t feel that’s what we’ve seen here with this decision”.
Notwithstanding the controversy, Spiller’s impact was literally sensational . His opening ride in heat two saw the youngster storm to a season’s best time around Central Park of 57.8 – only the third rider ever to break the 58.0 second barrier and actually only track record holder former Kings’ skipper Stevie Boxall has ever ridden a faster four laps. All this on his first ever ride around the traditionally difficult to adapt to Central Park circuit was a simply amazing feat. That anchored a 5-1 which saw the visitors take the lead after a controversial opening heat.
Facing top of the averages Wilson-Dean, the SLYDE Kings’ numbers one and two, skipper Ben Morley and Aaron Baseby stormed away from the start of heat one to leave the Kiwi in their wake. It seemed the perfect start but at the rear Luke Chessell fell on his own and didn’t get up – the race was stopped and it seemed very much like the ‘guest’ Chessell, a former Kings rider himself but who’s last visit with his current team Rye House had led to him being excluded in disgrace for pushing the start marshal, had “taken one” for his team of the night: Chessell’s exclusion equalling another chance for Wilson-Dean. At the second time of asking Morley was again showing lightning fast reflexes but was called back. It didn’t appear that a warning had been issued by referee Daniel Holt (certainly nothing was made ‘public’) but later events suggested this had been the case. No matter for now, for though Ben didn’t gate as well at the third time of asking but got past the Kiwi and was followed then by Baseby; Wilson-Dean re-passed the Sevenoaks speedster but a 4-2 was a good start.
It was a false dawn really for though James Shanes won heat four (destined to be the only time the prodigious Spiller was headed by an opposing rider), the Eagles has heat advantages either side of that and were clear by six going into heat six. The crowd had been lifted though by Shanes’ heroics in heat four and even more so when Danny Ayres came from behind on the final lap to out-muscle bogeyman Chessell and prevent a further Eagles 5-1 in heat five. Heat six saw Morley & Baseby resurgent, holding off Ben Hopwood and the tentative-looking Kelsey Dugard: it was a 5-1 to the homesters and the gap was just two points. However that was the false dawn before an almost never-ending storm - for remarkably, all of the remaining nine heats saw Eastbourne riders take the chequered flag in first place, with four of those further heat advantages and thus building up to a decisive 18 points victory
There some moments to savour for the home fans – Adam Sheppard holding the tenacious Marc Owen at bay in heat 7 (the scalp of Central Park track expert Owen being no small feat for Adam); an incredible ride by Shanes donning the black and white helmet colour in heat ten when only all his ‘Wizard of Balance’ attributes kept him on his bike as he was buffered from pillar to post by the Eastbourne number one, Wilson-Dean getting past Shanes on the final bend; and then in the very next race, an absolute classic with Spiller, Owen and Ayres swapping positions before Spiller pipped the Kent man literally on the line to follow home his team mate for as closely a contested 5-1 as one could ever see.
There was huge frustration to cap off the evening when despite not seemingly having been warned before (though it transpired a directive about his behaviour at the starts had been issued) Morley was sent back 15 metres in heat 13 after seeming to anticipate perfectly the tapes at the first time of asking.
Ultimately then, though the meeting was hugely exciting, on an excellently well-prepared racing strip, it was cold comfort for a packed Central Park grandstand that the dramas on and off ‘stage’ had led to a derby day defeat. A top four position (the Sittingbourne-base team’s remaining ambition for the campaign) hangs very much in the balance now after this defeat.
Next up for the Kent SLYDE Kings is an away trip to Mildenhall on Sunday (23rd.) in the final National Trophy match of the campaign, before hosting Arena Essex in the Tunnel Trophy at Central Park next Monday (24th.). The Young Hammers who won the competition against Kent last October come with a strong looking outfit in this special 40th. anniversary staging of the traditional south of the Thames versus north of the river crossing battle. The Essex side include Lakeside Elite League rider Adam Ellis, Aaron Baseby’s elder brother Mark plus former Kings’ man Jack Kingston and making a quick-fire return Marc Owen. The Tunnel Trophy match gets underway at 6.30pm at Central Park in Murston, near Sittingbourne (Sittingbourne Greyhound Stadium) on Monday August 24th.
Match details: Kent SLYDE Kings 37 Ben Morley 3 3 1 1*♢ 1* 9+2 Aaron Baseby 1 2* 1 0 4+1 Danny Ayres 2 2 2 1 7 Jamie Couzins 0 0 1* 0 1+1 James Shanes 3 2 4^ 2 2 13 Adam Sheppard R 1* R 1 2+1 Ben Basford 1 R 0 0 1
Eastbourne 55 Bradley Wilson-Dean 2 3 3 3 3 14 Luke Chessell (Guest) X 3 1 3 1 8 Rider replacement - Georgie Wood Marc Owen 1 0 2* 3 2* 0 8+2 Ben Hopwood 2 1 3 0 6 Kelsey Dugard 2* 0 X 2+1 Daniel. Spiller 3 1* 3 2* 3 2* 3 17+3