Dan Gilkes carries the Kent Kings & Royals flags into this Friday’s (17/9) GB Under 19 Final looking to go better than last year when he finished runner up to former TouchTec Kings’ team mate Drew Kemp.
Double winner Kemp is back this year aiming to complete an unprecedented hat-trick. The event is being held again at Scunthorpe Speedway – after the first attempt at staging earlier this month at Mildenhall was abandoned after the track became unrideable due to rain. Unfortunately Kent’s other teenager Jake Mulford is not in the field.
The full line (in draw order) is detailed in our exclusive rider by rider preview.
1) Joe THOMPSON (Leicester Lions & Lion Cubs) It’s always nip and tuck between the siblings Joe & twin Dan Thomspon and last year whereas it was Dan who took the 500cc crown in the British Youth Championship, in the U19s Final Joe finished on 10 points one place above his brother. Remarkably both also appeared in the senior British Final in that most truncated of campaigns and they completed the hat trick of the major individual national events earlier this season in the GB U21s where Joe scored seven points. The 2015 125cc British Youth champion, Joe was a 2019 National League title winner with the twins’ local club Leicester Lion Cubs.
2) Ben TRIGGER (Leicester Lion Cubs) Talking of the Leicester Lion Cubs that’s the National League club where one will find 15 year old Ben Trigger plying his racing trade this term. It’s his first season riding at this level and a big step up for the rider who in 2020 was competing in the Youth Championships in the 125cc classification. If ever there was a sport which transcends British geography for those youngsters looking to succeed it must be Speedway because Devon-based Ben rode his junior league racing when still a schoolboy in Glasgow! A 950 miles round trip from his home! With such determination surely Trigger is aiming to shoot to the top!
3) Daniel GILKES (Kent TouchTec Kings & Iwade Garage Royals) Runner-up last year, Dan will be looking to follow in a well-established trend in this competition over the years of those finishing second moving onto the top step of the rostrum the following year. The 19 year old from Northampton is certainly keeping himself busy this term riding for both Kent clubs, absolutely storming the National League with the Royals side and having representing Team GB in the individual, pairs and team cups on journeys this year across the Continent at the European U19 & U21 levels. Dan finished third earlier this season in the GB U21 Final in Redcar.
4) Jason EDWARDS (Mildenhall Fen Tigers) The in-form Edwards was runner up from 2019 in this event. Hailing from Billericay in Essex. Jason was a graduate on the junior circuit at his local Arena Essex track and went onto be a three times runner up in the GB Youth Championship. It was when he entered the senior ranks that he made a huge impact – with debuts for his local club Lakeside Hammers in the National League Play Offs on his 15th birthday and in the second tier exactly a year later. The youngest ever GB U21 Finalist, Jason will be seeking that still elusive British title at Scunthorpe on Friday.
5) Kai WARD (Leicester Lion Cubs) In his debut season of league racing, 18 year old Kai Ward hails from Yaxley in Cambridgeshire and won the British Amateur Speedway Championship in 2020. Kai is in his first year in British Speedway’s Poultec Training Programme based at King’s Lynn
6) Dan THOMPSON (Leicester Lions and Leicester Cubs) Dan is the twin of fellow Leicester Lions rider Joe and the pair are following in an impressive tradition over the years of sets of racing brothers competing in British Speedway: the Boococks, the Collins, the Owens spring to mind. And of course they’re not the only set of brothers in action in this year’s GB U19s Final either! Dan has already two British titles tucked away in his riding bag: the 125cc & 500cc Youth titles in 2016 and 2020 respectively and like his sibling was an NL title winner with the Leicester junior side the Lion Cubs in the last completed league campaign in 2019.
7) Archie FREEMAN (Newcastle Diamonds & Armadale Devils) When supporters see a youngster coming out before racing or during the interval there’s always a thought, I wonder if in ten years I’ll be seeing him riding in a British championship? Well, Newcastle fans need to wonder no more about young Archie who’s very much one of their own and first appeared on the Brough Park circuit in that mascot role aged, remarkably, only six years. Freeman has gone on (mainly in his role as a member of Armadale in Edinburgh’s development squad) to become the record points scorer in the Northern Junior League, an NJL Riders’ champion and in 2018, British Champion in the 150cc class.
8) Drew KEMP (Ipswich Witches & Edinburgh Monarchs) Aiming to make history this afternoon, former Kent Kings; rider Drew Kemp has a prodigious list of titles to his name including of course the British U19s the past two seasons. No one has ever won three in a row in this competition, so GB World Team Cup rider Kemp will be looking on Friday for something without precedent. Drew won the 500cc Youth title in 2017 and when 15 was straight into the Mildenhall side, winning the National Trophy with the Fen Tigers in 2018 and repeating that feat with the Kings rider the following year, when he also took the NL Pairs title, partnering Anders Rowe.
9) Kyle BICKLEY (Berwick Bandits & Bullets) One title that young Master Kemp hasn’t though is a World title, so Kyle Bickley has some bragging rights there – winner of the FIM Gold Medal for the Youth Long Track title not once but twice: in 2014 & 2015. This Cumbrian teen also has three British titles at Youth level including the 500cc crown in 2016 and was third in the U19s the following year. Racing in the Borders this term for both Berwick sides, Bickley has previously enjoyed team success in the National League with Belle Vue Colts – could riding in a record fifth U19s Final be the next step in this talented teen’s progress?
10) Elliot KELLY (Mildenhall Fen Tigers) For 17 year old Kelly from North Yorkshire this is a second consecutive GB U19 Final – scoring six points at Scunthorpe last season. Kelly was reserve at the GB U21 Final earlier this season
11) Harry McGURK (Belle Vue Colts) The second set of brothers in the field this afternoon are the McGurks from Yorkshire and who both ride this season over the other side of the Pennines for the Belle Vue Colts in the National League. Harry is the older of the two brothers and has a remarkable five British titles – all gained in Grasstrack at Junior (a hattrick of wins between 2014 and ’16), Cadet (2013) and Autos (2012) level.
12) Nathan ABLITT (Mildenhall Fen Tigers) Ablitt won GB Youth titles in 2016 at 125cc and two years later at 250cc and in 2019 his long anticipated National League debut came with the Kent TouchTec Kings, winning the National Trophy before calling an early halt to his season.
13) Kyren LYDEN (Redcar Cubs) Very much the rookie in the field, this Teessider teen has yet to secure a National League berth but is a heavy points scorer for his home town club Redcar Cubs’ side in the Northern Junior League.
14) Jordan PALIN (Peterborough Panthers & Scunthorpe Scorpions) Making a return from injury in this meeting on his home track, the twice 500cc GB Youth champion Palin rose to being number one with Belle Vue Colts in 2019 and this season has secured himself a top division team berth with Peterborough. In his second GB U19 Final last season the rider from Beverley made the rostrum which in the history of this event always bodes well in terms of future progression and aged only 17 he does still have time on his hands. This term he’s already reached the Grand Final of the GB U21s finishing fourth.
15) Sam McGURK (Belle Vue Colts) Younger of the two McGurk brothers who ride this year for Belle Vue’s National League side, 15 year old Sam has had an excellent start to the season rising up the rankings from 3.00 point reserve to the very top of the Colts’ averages. Like his elder sibling, McGurk has a background in junior Grasstrack taking the national title at the schoolboys’ Auto class when aged just seven in 2013.
16) Leon FLINT (Wolverhampton Wolves & Berwick Bandits) There are a large number of British Youth Championships shared among the competitors in this year’s GB U19 Final that’s for sure and Northumbrian Leon Flint certainly keeps the averages up, having three to his name between 2015 and 2017. This hat trick of national titles consisted of the 125cc event in 2015 followed by two successive 250cc titles. In 2018 at Ipswich, Flint made the rostrum in the GB U19s and last year at his home track in Berwick he achieved a career best so far performance by taking second place in the U21 Final, dropping just a solitary point to the winner Dan Bewley. Flint will be looking to improve still more on those performances and climb this time onto the top step of the rostrum.