Lady Luck clearly missed the ferry across the Solent on Thursday (22/6) when the Kent SLYDE Kings suffered the most unfortunate of defeats against the home side Isle of Wight Warriors at Ryde in the Travel Plus National League [TPNL] – losing their number one rider, ‘Guest’ Liam Carr to injury on the very first lap of the first and yet taking the closely contested match to a hugely dramatic last heat decider.
Having lost both Lukes (reserve Clifton and number one Bowen) to injury at Wolverhampton against Cradley on Monday, the fates conspired against Chris Hunt’s charges for the second time in just four days when the long travelling Carr crashed out heavily in the opening heat. It was an incident as controversial as it was calamitous. With the homesters’ number one Ben Wilson out in front (he was destined to reel off five wins for the Warriors), Carr was battling for second with new IOW signing Kelsey Dugard in very close quarters. Indeed, going into the third bend of the opening lap close quarters became far too close quarters, with the two machines locking together and the two men and machine combos smashing at high speed into the air barrier. It looked a ‘racing incident’ but with Dugard the man on the inside who by virtue of getting entangled with the man on his outside sending Carr into the air fence it was no surprise that – after a lengthy spell before both riders rose gingerly to their feet – the referee Willie Dishington made the call to disqualify the Warriors no. 2 from the rerun. The damage wasn’t just to men and bikes but also the the air fence – gashed along two panels. It took a while for the necessary replacements of air barrier sections to be fitted in and inflated and then came an announcement which took the wind out of the visiting fans’ sails… The referee from Aberdeen (on a rare southern sortie) had apparently had contact from either the stricken Carr or someone acting on his behalf, to say actually the incident shouldn’t have been regarded as Dugard’s fault but in fact that Carr was asking to take the rap. To the astonishment of all, the decision was then indeed reversed with the Tweedsider Carr excluded and Dugard reinstated. It was for Carr entirely academic as the Guest (he rides for Birmingham normally where one senses it's unlikely he’d have made such an apparently altruistic gesture…) was laid up with a suspected broken arm and his night was over before it had properly began. For the visitors though a certain 3-3 at worst became a 2-4 with Wilson imperious in the rerun and Bradley Andrews easily holding at bay a brave but struggling Dugard, who then promptly joined Carr in withdrawing from the meeting.
It was for Kent yet another example of the awful jinx of the ‘Guest’ at number one – and the four rides at that position on the race card was ultimately to deliver just a solitary point. That the Central Park-based team were to run their hosts so close that they went into heat 15 level on points is testament to a brilliant all round team performance from the six fit men. There may be a distinct lack of luck but there’s a massive excess of pluck in this side!
First to step up to the plate in heat 2 was debutant George Hunter – pulling away from the man he’s replaced in the Kings’ line up and in the affections also of a very large traveling contingent of Kent fans, Alex Spooner. The diminutive Anders Rowe tucked in for the first of five scoring rides on the night – an impressive showing by both young reserves. That heat advantage tied matters up and it stayed that way until heat 5 which was to be the first of a total of two 5-1s for the hosts which ultimately proved the difference. The surprise winner was a jubilant Chris Widman partnered by the ever-reliable James Cockle – with Andrews and Hunter unable on this occasion to stem the flow.
The Kiwi Andrews though was the hero in heat 8 – thriving in the wide-open spaces of the large Smallbrook circuit to take a second Kings’ heat win on the night and the margin was down to a two points deficit. Cockle and Widman increased that again to four in the next ride with former Warrior Nathan Stoneman trying everything he could to make a move past the leader. Two more shared heats followed, before a twelfth heat which brought the crowd to their feet. It was a modern-day classic – with the other former Islander in the SLYDE Kings’ ranks Ben Hopwood finally coming to the fore, overtaking Cockle of the final lap to win the race and with Hunter taking the third place suddenly it was all to play for with three heats remaining. Heat 13 actually then outdid even the thriller that had preceded it. Former Kings’ man Connor Coles trailed off at the back (sad for the Devonian who’d looked hugely impressive with three wins up to this juncture); but it was the battle at the front engaging the crowd, as the other unbeaten man Wilson came under huge pressure from the flying and, as eve,r hugely assertive Stoneman. On the third lap, the Welsh wizard Stoneman finally reeled in his man but the manoeuvre to do so took him just a bit too wide, he hit the fence and was down. Remounting to finish third his side were still in it but an opportunity to draw level had gone. That was to be the outcome in the next race though, with the penultimate heat going to Jack Thomas holding off the always honest Widman.
So there it was, despite having the huge handicap of no number one, the visiting Kings went into the final heat dead level at 42-42. Hunt’s choice of nominated riders was Hopwood (after his heat 12 heroics it was a no brainer to include the stand in skipper) and fresh from that heat 14 win, Thomas.
Sadly there was to be no miracle in the final heat. Gating the stronger, the Kings’ pairing though were overhauled by Cockle and Wilson coming out of bend 2. The 5-1 was to do for the oh -so-brave visitors and there was sportsmanship too when Hopwood fell in his efforts to get back into contention and he quickly cleared the track, rather than emulate the antics seen by some visiting riders to Central Park in recent times to get races not going their side’s way stopped. Stopped though had been the King’s awe-inspiring comeback and it was a case of accepting that the mistress Lady Luck is capricious indeed and being thankful in such adversity for the TPNL bonus point.
Next up for the Kings is a Four Team Tournament at Central Park on Monday (26/6) with the USA World Cup side joining Lakeside Hammers as competitors.
Isle of Wight Warriors 47 1. Ben Wilson 3 3 3 3 3 15 [M] 2. Kelsey Dugard 1 (inj. -withdrawn) 1 3. James Cockle 3 2* 3 2 2* 12+2 4. Chris Widman 0 3 1 2 6 5. Connor Coles 3 3 3 R 9 6. Jamie Sealey 0 0 FX M 0 7. Alex Spooner 2 0 0 2 0 0 4
Kent SLYDE Kings 43 1. Liam Carr (G) FX (inj. -withdrawn) 0 2. Bradley Andrews 2 1 3 2 8 3. Ben Hopwood 2 1* 2 3 F 8+1 4. Jack Thomas 1* 2 1* 3 1 8+2 5. Nathan Stoneman 2 2 2 1* 7+1 6. George Hunter 3 0 1* 0 1 2 7+1 7. Anders Rowe 1 1* 1 1* 1 5+2