Rye House pushed Kent all the way in this hard fought curfew curtailed Travel Plus National League match at Central Park on Monday night (11/7).
The Raiders took the chequered flag in 10 of the 14 heats, however key heat advantages in strategic races and supplying only 2 last places was what tipped the balance in favour of the Kings. Kent’s heat winners Danny Ayres (2) David Mason and Danno Verge all resulted in heat advantages to the Kings. However Rye House’s heat leader trio was a constant thorn in Kent’s side. Raiders duo Ben Morley and Rob Branford had the unfortunate anomaly of being unbeaten by an opponent and ending up on the losing side.
It started in Heat 1 when former Kent King Ben Morley won in commanding style from young Kent reserve Jack Thomas and guest Georgie Wood. The first attempt to start the reserves race saw Connor Locke and Jack Thomas have a nasty coming together in the first corner which was one of the delays that led to the curfew being reached. The second attempt saw Danno Verge make a lightning start to lead from tapes to flag, Macauley Leek took second place with Jack Thomas third it gave Kent their first heat advantage and moved them in front for the first time in the evening.
The Raiders took a heat advantage in heat 4 to level the scores at 12 apiece when Danny Ayres piled into the turn 3 fence at high speed in a win it or bin it attempt to pass former British Under 21 Champion Robert Branford on the last lap. This was followed by a series of 3-3 shared heats with wins for Morley, Branford and Luke Priest. Although a mention for Danno Verge in heat 6 he held off Rob Branford for 3 laps before the Raider stole the lead away.
Heats 7 and 8 were where Kent pushed on with back to back heat advantages, first a 4-2 in Heat 7 when Danny Ayres and Danno Verge gained a 4-2 over Luke Priest, this was followed by a 5-1 in Heat 8 from Danny Ayres and Jack Thomas opened up a 6 point lead for the Kings.
Heat 10 saw a very nasty crash for young George Hunter going through the backstraight fence on the opening lap.
Kent maintained there 6 point lead until heat 13 when the duo of Branford and Morley gained the Raiders only 5-1 of the evening over Danny Ayres and the disappointing Georgie Wood.
Heat 14 proved to be the final and David Mason lived up to his Magic moniker has be produced a start like the proverbial rabbit out of the hat with Danno Verge settling in for a second place the Kings ended the night with a 5-1 and still unbeaten at home in the league.
