News

23 May 2022

Berwick Bullets v Kent Royals 21.05.22

The Kent ‘Iwade Garage’ Royals went down to their first league defeat of the season at Shielfield Park in the National Development League, against the side who are arguably the favourites to finish top of the table, the Berwick Bullets. The 16 point margin of defeat (53-37), doesn’t reflect the effort The Royals riders put in on track. One or two questionable refereeing decisions that went against the visitors, coupled with some engine issues conspired to reduce the scoring for the Royals. However the Bullets were good value with an all round team performance.
After a flying start by Bullets number 1 Kyle Bickley, which saw him win the opening race in a time only 0.4 of a second outside of his NDL track record; the incidents started in Heat 2. Firstly, Berwick reserve Ben Rathbone obliterated the starting tapes to earn a 15 metre handicap, then in the re-run he got past Royals reserve Chris Watts and set after Sam Woolley. Sam appeared to slow a little whilst leading Rathbone and drifted into his path which forced the Bullets number 7 into the fence.
The third race provided some joy for the Kent fans, as second string Joe Alcock continued his fine start to the season by grabbing the first of his two wins. But it was his second race win that will get fans talking in heat 10. Joe gated over Bickley and made a terrific move to get by Berwick second string Mason Watson, Bickley also got the better of Watson before Watson fell. And Kent were awarded a 4-2 their only Heat advantage of the meeting, with skipper Danno Verge grabbing the third place point. This was Bickley’s second loss of the evening, following on from his defeat to Morley in Heat 6 after recovering from a 15 metre handicap after a tapes infringement.
Once again the leading light for The Royals, was Essex born Alfie Bowtell. He recorded three wins on his way to a score of 13. His first win in Heat 5 came in a thrilling battle with the Berwick Heat leader Ace Pijper, the two passed each other before Alfie went through the eye of the needle, between Pijper and the home straight fence. Alfies’ second win was more conventional, a tapes to flag to win by the length of the straight.
Alfie and Ben were involved in a sickening Heat 13 crash. The duo were racing side by side when Kyle Bickley thundered underneath Morley, which even if there was wasn’t contact clearly unsettled the Kent rider and he fell into the path of his team mate Bowtell, and was harshly disqualified. Initially Berwick rider Luke Crang was also disqualified for not being under power at the time of the stoppage, amazingly though, referee Dave Watters reversed his decision. Both riders felt the force of the impact, with Morley suffering a dead leg and Bowtell taking a blow to his stomach.
So an unfortunate night for The Royals, who will wait with baited breath for the chance of revenge on July 10th in the reverse fixture at The Old Gun Site. It’s a four week gap for the side now before their next fixture away at Leicester on Saturday 18th June.

16 May 2022

Meeting Report – Kent Royals v Leicester Lion Cubs

Andrea Sterry News Leicester 0

It’s two matches and two wins in the National League for the Kent ‘Iwade Garage’ Royals, as they claimed a ten-point victory over 2019 League Champions Leicester Lion Cubs 50-40 this afternoon (15/5) at The Old Gun Site. It’s a victory that puts Kent into second place in the NDL table, as The Royals head to league leaders Berwick next Saturday (21/5).
An action-packed meeting was marred by an unfortunate injury to Leicester reserve Max Perry in Heat 2. Perry sustained a suspected shoulder injury after a nasty spill. The 15-year-old was holding a third place in the reserves race when he caught the back wheel of home reserve Chris Watts and went over the high side. That meant a busy afternoon for fellow reserve, former Kent Royal Vinnie Foord who took the full quota of seven rides.
For the Royals though it was the brilliance of heat leaders Alfie Bowtell and Ben Morley which led to the final margin of victory being so great. After heat 12 there were only two points between the sides with the hosts leading 37-35, but a final blast of heat advantages in the last trio of races started with a 5-1 from the brilliant Bowtell and Morley in Heat 13. A race that had to be re-run after Leicester’s Joe Thompson took a tumble on the second lap, as the Royals were sat on a 5-1. Joe was inevitably disqualified but the re-run turned out to be the one of the races of the season at The Old Gun Site. Bowtell gated and the Leicester number 1 Dan Thompson initially split the Kent duo. However, Morley stalked his prey like a lion toying with a gazelle to send his man wide going into lap three and then fire up his inside, down the back straight to give the hosts a maximum heat advantage to move the lead to six points. Heat 14 provided a fantastic moment of action as the sensational Joe Alcock missed the start but took to the outside line and passed Lion Cubs Tom Spencer for his third successive race win. Sam Woolley took the third place point and the 4-2 sealed victory for the hosts.
That, however, was just the warmup for the Final Act… Heat 15. Bowtell, Morley and Dan Thompson. What followed was a passing fest between Morley and Thompson, this time Thompson held on to take the second place.
The match started with Kent’s very own Alfie Bowtell once again breaking the track record that he set a fortnight ago. This time he took 0.4 of a second off, to set the new time at 57.1. It was another high scoring afternoon for second string Joe Alcock, he suffered a fall the first time out when he ran out of room heading into the third bend. He bounced back though with wins over both Dan and Joe Thompson – afterall, it’s only fair to treat twins equally! Leicester did play their part in a thrilling contest. Connor Coles took two brilliant heat wins in heats 3 and 12, and Dan Thompson took a heat win in Heat 11 which spoiled the maximum hopes of Ben Morley.
The NDL match was followed by a great display of the future of British Speedway in the British Youth Championship Round 1 which showcased the 250cc and 500cc. The 250cc class was dominated with a sublime display from Luke Harrison who was a class above his compatriots. The 500cc class saw a great scrap throughout between Sam McGurk and Jody Scott, both of whom won two heats in the qualifying heats each. It was down to the winner takes all final and it was Sam McGurk who took the spoils

Glenn Collins – Kent Royals Press Officer

Image courtesy of Geoff Young – Oddshots Speedway Photography

11 May 2022

Kent Royals v Mildenhall Fen Tigers 01/05/22

Andrea Sterry News Kent Royals, Speedway 0

This semi-final clash between the Kent ‘Iwade Garage’ Royals and Mildenhall ‘Manchetts’ Fen Tigers went all the way to the 30th heat of the tie before it was settled at The Old Gun Site this afternoon (01/05). Kent were eight points up in the match and four behind on aggregate, so it was 5-1 or bust to keep the tie alive for the hosts.

Then the unbeaten Alfie Bowtell missed the two-minute time allowance for Heat 15 and had to start off a 15metre handicap, this handed a significant boost to the visitors for the last race as all they had to was avoid conceding a maximum heat advantage. Step up Jason Edwards, who took the heat win for the visitors seal the overall victory and book the Fen Tigers place in the final and with former Royal Ryan Kinsley taking the third place point the final score was a 48-42 victory on the day for the Royals, but a 93-87 victory for the Fen Tigers.

The match itself was an intriguing contest as soon as one side got a foothold in the match they were pegged back by the other. Alfie Bowtell lit the touchpaper in the very first race by taking half a second off the long-standing track record lowering the figure to 57.5. Kent had the best of the opening third of the meeting by being six points up after the fifth race through the Bowtell inspired 4-2 in the first race, and after three successive shared heats, Kent captain produced a sublime piece of team riding to usher partner Joe Alcock around the outside and really leave this contest open with 10 heats to go.

However, it was the Fen Tigers who then held the ascendency at the halfway stage, as they took back-to-back heat advantages in Heats 7 and 8 to level the match on the afternoon and restore the overall 12-point lead. Heat 7 saw former Iwade graduate Jack Kingston take a win over one-time Kent teammate Ben Morley and another former Kent rider Alex Spooner claimed his only but vital point of the match. The initial staging of the eighth heat saw Jamie Halder fall on the first turn to earn a disqualification. The restart saw another former Kent rider the on form Josh Warren take a win over team mate Sam Beebe who inherited second place after home reserve Sam Woolley fell but remounted to take the point.

The hosts had a glimmer of hope with five heats to go after Alfie Bowtell took his third win but it was Jamie Halder’s surprise second place over the previously unbeaten Kingston which put the hosts four in front (32-28) with five to go. Two time NLRC winner Ben Morley and Royals skipper Danno Verge took heat wins to maintain the Royals hopes, but the visitors packed the minor placings in both races to keep the scoreboard ticking over.

The Royals raised hopes of a remarkable comeback with Bowtell and Morley taking a 4-2 to cut the deficit to 6 points in Heat 13, before an eventful Heat 14. Alex Spooner hit the front and was leading tenacious Kent second string Joe Alcock. The pair were virtually side by side exiting bend 2 for the final time when Alex Spooner locked up and Joe Alcock came down. Referee, Si Humphrey-Kennett adjudged the situation as the fault of spooner and awarded Kent a 4-2 which set up that final race show down.

It was the second string and reserves that were the difference in the end, or rather one reserve was the difference, as Josh Warren for the Fen Tigers outscored three of the hosts on his own. That being said there are plenty of reasons for optimism as the Royals embark fully on their league journey, the main being this is a side that will grow together.

By Glenn Collins