Kent TouchTec Kings aim to get back to winning ways in the National League [NL] when Cradley Heathens visit Central Park Stadium on Monday 15th. July.
And the good news is that provided he gets through a weekend of extensive track practice back on a bike after a long lay off with a broken pelvis, highly-rated teen Dan Gilkes will be returning to the Kings'’ line up in one of the reserve berths. Gilkes crashed out in what is to date his only NL appearance for his first senior side back at Stoke in May and his return will be a huge fillip for Kent who can now see the light at the end of the tunnel of an injury crisis which has curtailed their progress so far this term.
Not quite over with yet though as hugely frustratingly, the 23 days racing ‘ban’ being served by Gilkes’ reserve partner Nathan Ablitt after suffering mild concussion in a crash at Swindon last month lifts the day AFTER the Heathens visit and so he’s unavailable still. And with new averages applying for a number of the side including Jacob Clouting it means Clouting no longer is able to deputise on the basis of being a ‘two pointer’ so after weeks of ably standing in for Gilkes he can’t stay in the side on Monday to cover this time for Ablitt.
Higher up the riding order, in-form Anders Rowe moves into the number one race jacket. Drew Kemp will be keen to score heavily to seek to take back that honour next time the averages are reassessed and will do so as World Championship silver medallist after being a part of the GB team who took an excellent second place behind Poland in the World U21 Cup Final at Belle Vue on Friday night.
The visitors from the West Midlands come with a predictably strong line up including two former NL Riders’ Champions in Max Clegg and Dan Halsey. There’s also the return of a former King in Londoner, Luke Harris – who made his NL bow in the Invicta race jacket back in 2014 the same year he took the British Youth title in the 500cc class. Plenty of Central Park experience in that trio but considerably less so from some other members of their septet including Sheldon Davies, Tom Spencer and 2019 newcomer, Harry McGurk. Their side is expected to be completed by recent addition to their ranks, Jack Smith. The GB U21 international hasn’t always enjoyed his visits to Central Park which were stormy when with Birmingham Brummies and increasingly rare, since so it will be interesting to see how the son of three times British Champion, Andy Smith fares this time.
Of this latest encounter Kent team boss comments, “One thing no-one can accuse us at Kent Speedway this season of is having boring meetings – our last heat decider last week was for the third home match in a row! That’s resulted in one defeat, one win and last week against the Isle of Wight, a draw. The injury crisis we’ve suffered has certainly paid a heavy toll with the Cup exit to Belle Vue Colts and, with all due respect to the IOW, I really don’t think that at full strength we’d have realistically envisaged getting just a solitary league point from away and home fixtures against the Warriors. But for us it’s about ensuring that we have no more slip ups in the NL at home especially .
“We are boosted on Monday by the return (provided all goes well with final race fitness testing and practice over the weekend) of Dan Gilkes. Having Dan back is almost akin to having a new signing – it’s incredible to think that so far he’s actually failed to complete a single NL match in his Kent career – getting injured in his very first league outing for us. The other changes are ordering ones due to the new ‘Green Sheet Averages’ for 2019 which take effect after riders complete four NL matches. This sees Anders moving up to number one – so well done to him in reaching this milestone for the first time in his NL career. I’m pretty certain that Drew will see this as an incentive to score heavily to get back to number one! And Rob [Ledwith] has had his eye on that race jacket since coming back to the sport too! So with such healthy competition among our ranks AND Jordan [Jenkins] coming right back to form – well, some opponents are going to cop for it soon! “
Kent fans will be hoping that the visitors from the Black Country are that team on Monday when the action gets underway with a parade at 6.10pm and the tapes up at 6.30pm