The Kent SLYDE Kings grabbed an important point in their Friday night (28/8) trip to Brandon Stadium but were again left rueing some highly controversial decisions which surely denied the Central Park-based Speedway side what would’ve been a richly deserved first City Gearboxes National League [CGNL[] away win of the season.
It’s always a hard pill to swallow in a 15 heat Speedway match when your side records the majority of race winners (in this case eight to the home side Coventry Storm’s seven) but end up losing; and there was no question that this match turned on two catastrophic heats in the middle part of the meeting which effectively ensured the vital CGNL points awarded for a match win went to the home side,
Things didn’t get off to a good start for the SLYDE-backed Kings from a managerial and logistical perspective with team boss Chris Hunt stranded en route on the distant A34– his stricken vehicle awaiting recovery; in bank holiday weekend traffic that was never likely to be a speedy process and Hunt quickly realised he wasn’t going to make it to Brandon. Fortunately the meeting at Coventry was planned as a ‘double header’ with Mildenhall the second opponents for the home side and from the officialdom within the Fen Tigers’ ranks, experienced former GB international Kevin Jolly stepped forward to take the helm for one night only as the SLYDE Kings’ team manager. Massive thanks go to Kevin for helping out and for doing such a sterling job.
Stranded along with their boss on the Oxford ring road were the SLYDE Kings race jackets and so it was a case of wearing borrowed colours too for the sextet representing Kent: the stand-in race jackets bearing the legend, Mercia Vikings. Well, if Chris Hunt’s car was overheated then so he would’ve been himself at the events of heats six and seven, as the up to that point pillaging Kings called Vikings found their longboats well and truly shipwrecked along with their top four CGNL hopes.
When these two sides met at Brandon earlier this season in a Knock Out Cup quarter final tie, the meeting was notable for there being a remarkable 13 shared heats – resulting not surprisingly in a drawn result on the night. This meeting was really as evenly poised (seven more 3-3s being a higher than average quotient of drawn races) and thus it was as the first third of the match reached completion, the two well matched sides were deadlocked at 15-15.
Highlight of the opening salvoes of the match from the visitors’ perspective had been a maximum 5-1 in heat three delivered courtesy of ‘guest’ for the evening (replacing the absent Aaron Baseby), Ellis Perks and Danny Ayres – the 2014 Kings Rider of the Year again showing his liking for the Brandon circuit where just a week previously he’d made his Elite League debut for the hoist club, the Coventry Bees. The Storm had worked their way back to parity following that early breakthrough by the SLYDE Kings and all was level going in heat six, This saw James Shanes, who as a former Coventry rider is another guaranteed to score well at this track, partnered by newly-signed on as a club asset Ben Basford representing the visitors. All four riders were at the tapes awaiting to be called forward to get in order for the start, when Shanes hopped off his machine to make a slight adjustment to the grid. To the astonishment of all in the rather sparse crowd, the referee Ronnie Allan decreed this amounted to a breach of the two minutes allowance ruling and excluded the Kent teenager. Most referees regard the two minutes warning as being about getting to the start, from which point the starting marshal takes over but Mr Allan has a long established reputation of administering this rule differently and as a result Shanes had to start a drastically punitive 15 metres back. The handicap proved too much for even the hugely resourceful Shanes and it was especially galling for James and for the contingent of visiting Kent fans almost outnumbering home support in the stands that the beneficiary of this effectively gifted win was Rob Shuttleworth – who had clashed with Shanes when the SYLDE Kings were last here in the Fours to such drastic effect for the Kent’s side’s hopes in that competition. So suddenly Kent were behind for the first time in the match and things were about to get a whole lot worse in the very next race.
Heat seven saw the maximum men from their opening ride Perks & Ayres out again with room for optimism they could immediately peg back the homesters, who had a pairing of Martin Knuckey and the inexperienced Jamie Halder. Coming out of the first bend Halder locked up leaving Perks nowhere to go and the guest man tumbled off. Most times one would’ve expected the red lights to stop proceedings - but no, the race continued and lagging impossibly behind, Kent’s guest pulled over onto the infield. Knuckey led with the chasing Ayres in second – going into the final bend Danny made a dramatic dash through a gap on the inside. The Storm’s number five went down and as the race continued to a finish Ayres crossed in first with Halder the only other finisher. Cue deliberation in the box and Mr Allan’s eventual decision, to the pleasure only of the home club: an exclusion for Ayres and bizarrely a race win for Halder (a distant third at the point of the disputed last heat clash between Ayres and Knuckey) with second place awarded to Knuckey. Regardless of that utterly incongruous one-two, the outcome was the same: a 5-0 to the Storm and from parity two races previously, now the SLYDE Kings were looking at a nine points deficit to make up. And that in truth ended the match as a contest. In the remaining eight heats, Kent riders delivered six heat winners with Shanes, Ayres, Ben Morley and Perks again all getting in the winning act but the closest the gap ever got reduced to was the four points that was the Storm’s eventual winning margin.
Time for one more dramatic moment in heat 11. Knuckey in chasing down Morley hit the back wheel of the SLYDE Kings’ captain’s bike and both crashed at very high speed. In the wake of events which have left world Speedway stunned this week, a heavy pile up like this was bound to cause huge concern and it certainly was a bad one. So there was great relief when both protagonists arose to their feet. Morley was awarded the win in this one but it was to be this last contribution – forced out through injury from heat 13, which effectively ended any chance of a late Kings’ comeback. Fortunately through some bike damage will certainly be expensive, Ben himself was left battered and bruised but unbowed and will be fit to ride on Monday.
Going into the final race the gap was six points (it would’ve been eight but for Adam Sheppard’s vital pass of Conor Dwyer in heat 12) and so the nominated pairing of Shanes & Ayres knew they needed at least a share of the spoils in that heat to keep the losing margin to below seven and thus gain a much needed and hugely deserved bonus point. Both delivered on this - Shanes passing Dan Greenwood for a second race win of the night and Ayres matching that feat going past Darryl Ritchings: 4-2 to Kent and a four point defeat 42-46. When the fates conspire against you the expression is any port in a Storm... In this case it was one point at the Storm..! The late, great Hank Williams once famously sang, “I’ve had lots of luck and it’s all been bad..” – that’s become an appropriate theme song for the Kent side’s 2015 CGNL campaign for sure!
Next up for Kent is the County Fours at their Central Park, Sittingbourne home on Bank Holiday Monday (31/8 – 3pm start time); resuming CGNL action with two final away matches during the next week: at King’s Lynn on Wednesday (2/9) and at Eastbourne on Sunday (6/9). Nothing short of wins in both of those tricky away encounters will keep the side with any mathematical chance still of making the top four and Gold Cup qualification. Match details: Coventry Storm 46 Dan Greenwood 1*,2*,2,F,2 7+2 Rob Shuttleworth 2,3,1*,0 6+1 Mark Baseby 0,1,2,3 6 Darryl Ritchings 1,3,1*,2,0 7+1 Martin Knuckey 3,2*,F/EX,3 8+1 Jamie Halder 0,3,2 5 Conor Dwyer 3,1,2,0,1* 7+2
Kent SLYDE Kings 42 Ben Morley 3,2,3 Injured 8 Rider Replacement – Jamie Couzins Danny Ayres 2*,EX,3,2,1 8+1 Ellis Perks (Guest) 3,R,3,1,3 10 James Shanes 2,1,3,2,3 11 Adam Sheppard 2,0,0,0,F/EX,1*,0 3+1 Ben Basford 0,1*,0,0,1* 2+2