It’s National League [NL] action from now on Tuesdays at Kent Speedway for the rest of this season – with the Iwade Garage Royals going for glory with their five home matches, having completed their away programme.
Put in simple terms, if the Royals win all five of their remaining matches they’ll finish on 25 points.
The current leaders are Mildenhall on 19 points with two matches remaining (one obviously at Central Park, next month) and in second place lie Berwick Bullets, the Royals’ opponents this Tuesday (28/9).
The match against the side from the Borders is an absolute must-win affair for the visitors and really has identical status for the home side also – it is the epitome of an old-fashioned “six pointer”!
And both sides come into the match somewhat battered and bruised from their last NL meetings over the weekend.
The Iwade Garage Royals finished their match at Leicester on Saturday with just three riders. Already using Rider Replacement for new British 250cc Grasstrack champion Jake Mulford (Jake was away winning that title!), illness and injury respectively saw Alex Spooner & Josh Warren side-lined for the closing stanza of the match in the East Midlands. And a battered bike meant that Vinnie Foord was unavailable to take his last programmed ride or replace the missing pair in the final heats of the match that Kent managed, despite such adversity, to snatch a draw in.
For the NL encounter against the Bullets on Tuesday, Warren has to sit it out as his injury was concussion and new rules on that mean a 10 day suspension from racing. Team Manager John Sampford will need to find an unallocated rider to come in to replace Warren in the reserve berth; but is heartened by news coming from the camp of the other two, that Spooner and teenager Foord (making his Central Park debut) will be available.
For Berwick, they suffered a heavy defeat at title rivals Mildenhall on Sunday – at least in part the size of the reverse there was down to losing heat leader Luke Crang and fellow Bullets’ team mate Ben Rathbone to hand injuries in a heavy crash after a coming together in heat three of the match at West Row. Crang is confirmed as being out with no word as yet on Rathbone’s availability.
‘Guests riders’ from teams already competing in the NL are only permitted this season for an absent no. 1 and so Crang’s place will need to go to a rider not currently allocated to an NL side.
The Bullets have led the league for much of the season and even with absentees pose a threat to the Royals’ chances – the Kent team knowing that despite their title destiny being effectively in their own hands, there’s literally no margin for error in this period of ‘catch up’. Berwick’s number one is former World & British Youth Champion Kyle Bickey and they have plenty of experience in their ranks with Greg Blair and Ryan MacDonald.
The action gets underway at 6.30pm (gates open at 5pm) with a Press Conference to follow the action in the Central Bar.