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Kent Kings 2017


Dave Stummings

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Think I'll make one of my occasional trips down the A2 to Sittingbourne this evening to see the Americans. Looks like they did very well

at Mildenhall yesterday so must be worth watching. Our team ( The Hammers) look to have a good chance and will be interesting to see

how Alfie gets on, he's been steadily getting better and is one of the reasons that we will make the Play-Offs..

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Think I'll make one of my occasional trips down the A2 to Sittingbourne this evening to see the Americans. Looks like they did very well

at Mildenhall yesterday so must be worth watching. Our team ( The Hammers) look to have a good chance and will be interesting to see

how Alfie gets on, he's been steadily getting better and is one of the reasons that we will make the Play-Offs..

 

Thought about this after the positive reviews from Mildenhall yesterday but the opposition was stronger which made it a better spectacle i suspect.

I did initially think the Hammers would do ok if they fielded there top 4 but as they are not and theres no Bowen i suspect the Dream Team will run riot so going to save my pennies.

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Well, Claret73, I was present at the track for the USA 4TT as opposed to looking at pictures. Plenty of shale about as I could see and

a blue groove appeared, like on many tracks, because the riders were using full throttle on the inside line which, of course, moved the

shale to the outside which became very grippy indeed. All the Americans seemed to love it as did Jack Thomas and Ben Hopwood for

Kent, and in the later races by our own Ben ( Morley). The USA team were too good for most of the opposition but were worth watching

simply because they were spectacular. Caught sight of Jon Cook in the stadium, so he was obviously keen enough to support the

Hammers quartet even though it was not the strongest 4 we could have sent. On paper to start with we looked to have similar strength

to all except the Americans, so it was fair enough I suppose. Wish Lakeside was as plush as Sittingbourne.

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What a shame that the very attractive USA quartet were not given the respect of having decent opposition from the Lakeside or Kestrels fours. With all due respect to William O'Keefe, another national League rider of heat leader quality was needed, and although Connor Locke and Jamie Couzins tried hard, they were never going to be on the pace with any of the USA World Team Cup lads.

Jack Thomas certainly gave them a run for their money, and would have had a maximum had Tom Brennan not fallen. Ben Morley got a little bit of a nudge on the outside of Luke Becker out of bend two in heat 5 and lifted alarmingly into the boards - thankfully he was able to continue.

As for the Americans, Dillon Ruml was worth the admission price alone just for way he attacked the track in his first two rides; Gino was smooth and classy; Broc Nicol lost out to Jack Thomas and was behind Ben Hopwood in his first when he slid off on the last bend last lap, and Luke Becker looked good, losing out only to Ben Hopwood. These lads are obviously progressing, and look to have decent equipement and support. Gino and Ruml on this showing are Championship standard - lets hope they don't get beaten up in the World Cup.

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Actually the Americans were far better than I had expected, but I must admit that I had not done any homework before going to the meeting to

find out about them. Pity that Kent's missing injury riders almost certainly lowered the standard of opposition to them. None the less, the riders

who attacked them gave us some excellent racing. Agree with Hawks 1975 on his comments.

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Really? Thought Coles was declared in the IOW side? Unless there are changes on the Island also?

I might not be a huge fan of Stoneman but would hardly be enthused about this move.

It was meant in terms of a guest as Stoneman has now signed for Sheffield and Sheffield have a meeting on Saturday so Coles is guesting for him.
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Actually, for me, it's the guests who make this meeting worth watching. Ayres is always entertaining and Coles has something to prove

I guess it depends on your point of view. For neutrals like us, it looks like the guests even it up a bit more with 2 riders who know Arlington. But for a Kent fan you want to see Kent riders.

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Well, while the BSPA have the policy of priority of riders going to the senior club, National League sides will always have to use guests from

time to time. That's a fact of life. It at least enables teams to retain their power at a more or less comparable level to normal, so although

guest riders are condemned by all and sundry ( including myself in the pure sense), no one has ever come up with a better solution. The

heavy injury rate in our sport has to be taken into consideration. We take for granted that riders stick their necks out, but, because they do

so, they sadly get hurt. We all applaud the air fence introduction ( should have happened years earlier when Bouncy Castles were first invented)

but, although they clearly help in some situations, injuries are still part and parcel.

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