An afternoon of high drama at Central Park, as the Kent SLYDE Kings stole a last gasp victory in the very last inches of this Travel Plus National League [TPNL] match.
The visitors, the Mildenhall Fen Tigers put up a resilient and much improved showing from their National Trophy [NT] display just three weeks earlier; the away side strengthened by the return of Jon Armstrong, and new reserve signing Chris Widman. Whereas the hosts were weakened by the loss of Danny Ayres (on Premier League [PL] duty with Glasgow at Newcastle) and a certain amount of ring rustiness after a two week break between fixtures. ‘Rider Replacement’ covered for Ayres which produced a return of 7+2. This was a close tense encounter which produced a shared heat every other race for the first 13 heats.
The meeting got underway with the visitors’’ newly-installed number one, Connor Mountain gating and winning the first race in a quick time of 57.7 - just three-tenths of a second outside the track record, Luke Bowen and David Mason packed in the minor places. A dramatic heat two saw both Kent reserves fall in separate third bend incidents; Danno Verge was quick to remount but Jack Thomas didn't and was excluded from a rerun which resulted in a 5-1 to Mildenhall. Mildenhall had extended this lead to six points after heat four. The home team had to wait until heat six for their first heat winner - this also produced the first home heat advantage as skipper Bowen won from the pressing veteran Jon Armstrong with Verge holding on for third. A shared heat followed before a rerun heat 8 after James Shanes picking himself up from the deck won convincingly and with Thomas third the Fen Tigers lead was trimmed to just two points.
Heat 10 saw the home side take the lead for the first time with a 5-1 to make the scores 31-29. The inspirational skipper Bowen (in hot water a couple of races earlier, so keen was he to help his charges, when his presence at the starting grid to advise young Thomas was viewed unsympathetically by the meeting referee) gated and rode as perfect a four laps you will see. Former NLRC winner Dan Halsey pressed hard until he went to go big around the outside;, sadly for the Fen Tigers stalwart he only succeeded in going under the air fence on bend four and Luke Clifton was happy to receive the gift paid win: the only home 5-1 of the match.
Heat 12 saw the Fen Tigers get a 5-1 themselves to put the visitors into what looked initially a likely to be deceive two points up with just three heats to go, as Halsey and Widman gated and held off Thomas. A shared heat in the 13th left the home side trailing by two points with two heats to go. Heat 14 was crucial and the gap was removed as David Mason won the race and team mate Verge got a vital third to tie the scores 42-42 going into Heat 15.
So to the last heat decider. The first attempt saw the domino effect with Halsey being the unfortunate faller. The rerun saw Bowen make a start but Halsey made a pass around the outside to lead, with Shanes holding third and Connor Mountain all over him. It appeared to be set for a draw when on the last few yards Luke Bowen found extra drive and stole the win, with Shanes holding on to the all important third place point to give the Kings a 46-44 win and spark unrestrained elation in the stands.
A breathless Chris Hunt, the SLYDE Kings’ Team Manager commented, “ The final race – where Luke B. & James turned a 2-4 (and defeat) into a 4-2 on the most incredible of last bends will live long in the memory and was surely the greatest heat of Speedway yet raced at Central Park! We have a team which just don’t know when they’re beaten and are utterly determined to a man to avoid defeat and – inspired on and off the track by the greatest captain in the sport, Luke Bowen - we got over the line and retained our proud unbeaten record!”
If the SLYDE Kings had a spell of relative inactivity before this dramatic win, then the opposite is true this coming week with four matches in seven days: starting with home and away fixtures against the Isle of Wight [in the NT on Monday (6/6) at Central Park and then away the following evening (7/6) in the Knock Out Cup second leg]. Provided the Sittingbourne-based team hold on to win that cup tie (they take a 24 points lead from the first leg over the Solent with them), it’ll be Second Round action away at Coventry on Friday (10/6) and then it’s back to TPNL action away at Buxton on Sunday evening (12/6)
Kent SLYDE Kings 46 1. Luke Bowen 2 3 3 3 3 14 2. Danny Ayres R/R 3. Luke Clifton 2 1' 1' 2' 0 6+3 4. David Mason 1' 1' 2 2 3 9+2 5. James Shanes 2 2 3 2 0 1 10 6. Danno Verge 1 1 1' 1' 1 5+2 7. Jack Thomas x 0 1 1 2
Mildenhall Fen Tigers 44 1. Connor Mountain 3 3 3 1' 0 10+1 2. Alfie Bowtell 0 0 2 x 2 3. Dan Halsey 3 3 f 3 2 11 4. Connor Coles x 0 1 2 3 5. Jon Armstrong 3 2 3 2 10 6. Luke Ruddick 2' 0 0 2+1 7. Chris Widman 3 1 f 2' r 6+1
