Blazing conditions and chaos on the roads surrounding Central Park left Stoke Potters without Luke Chessell who was caught in the middle of the road hold ups en route. It was a closely fought contest to finish the Trophy competition with the home fans hopeful of a fight back to overhaul the visitors who had led all meeting. It didn't quite go their way, the Potters bagged a heat 14 advantage to put the score out of reach of the Kings going on to win 45-48.
Chessell missed his first programmed ride while battling through the slow moving mass of traffic but arrived in time to win heat 8! Kyle Hughes started off strong with three wins but tailed off as the meeting continued finishing with 13 points. Shaun Tedham was in the right place picking up valuable minor places throughout the meeting finishing with 8+3 for his efforts.
Disappointments for the Kings as Ben Morley shed a chain in heat 7 while in a comfortable first place, Adam Kirby's heavy fall in heat 14 after suffering a puncture. Add on Benji Compton failing to beat the two minute time allowance in heat 3 after arriving on track without his dirt deflector and was unable to make an impact from the 15 metre handicap and also a big impact through the third turn fence in heat 9 when trying to round Hughes.
Solid scores from Ben Morley 10+2 and Adam Kirby 10+1 backed up skipper Boxall 15 helping to keep the Kings in contention. Boxall's only defeat coming when he fell on the second lap of Heat 6, he looked to be easing away for to another victory until the uncharacteristic fall. The Kings skipper went for double points in heat 10 and then combined with Morley for two maximums in heat 13 and 15 only for the Kings to miss out by a mere three points on a home win.
KENT CTA FIRE KINGS 45 STOKE POTTERS 48 (National Trophy) Monday 15th July 2013
KENT CTA FIRE KINGS 45 1. Steve Boxall (C) 3, 0, 6^, 3, 3, = 15 2. Connor Coles R, 2, 0, 1, 1, = 4 3. Sam Woods R/R 4. Ben Morley 2, 1, 3, 2', 2', = 10+2 5. Benji Compton 0, 2, FX, 2, = 4 6. Adam Kirby 3, 1, 1', 3, 2, 0, FX, = 10+1 7. Jack Kingston 0, 0, 2, FX, = 2 Team manager: John Sampford
