Eagles take the KenEx Trophy
The Kent Eagles secured the inaugural KenEx trophy with a 52-37 victory over the Thurrock AsMATT Ltd Hammers, at a hot and dry Iwade speedway.
With heat leader Matt Marson stepping down due to personal reasons, the Hammers ran rider replacement against a strong looking Kent side, which included Nathan Ablitt and Hammers favourite Ben Morley.
The Hammers number one Alfie Bowtell started the meeting as expected, winning with a tapes to flag victory. Heat two saw three reruns with Hammers reserves Kenzie Cossey and Harrison Rogers both involved with first bend tussles with Hargrave and Watts.
The Eagles took initial control of the meeting with two heat advantages in the third and fourth, before Bowtell and Luke Harris teamed up for a maximum Hammers heat advantage in the fifth, to bring the scores back to a point.
Heat 6 saw the Hammers Ben Trigger and Eagles Number 1 Nathan Ablitt involved in a competitive battle, with the Hammers rider eventually coming to grief on the third bend of the second lap.
With Trigger excluded, the Eagles were awarded a 5-1, and extended their advantage further with a second maximum heat advantage in the 7th, when Trigger was excluded and forced off 15 meters for failing to make the 2 minutes.
A further 4-2 to the Eagles in heat 8 was followed by extensive track work, after which the Eagles picked up where they left off, with Etherington and Foord delivering a 5-1 in heat 9 to extend the home advantage by 15 points.
Trigger got the better of Ablitt in a shared heat 10, with the Hammers pairing of Harris and Bowtell packing the minor places in heat 11. Both teams traded heat advantages in the 12th and 13th, before Cossey and Eli Meadows secured another shared heat in the penultimate race.
The nominated heat 15 saw Bowtell deliver another victory, in a competitive encounter with Foord and Ablitt to finish with 13+1.
As the dust settled on a well attended clash, Hammers Team Manager Mark Sexton commented:
“First off, our thanks to the Kent Promotion of David Graveling and Michael Gray for the invitation & congratulations to the Eagles on the win, after what was a very challenging day for both teams.
Running with rider replacement away from home is always a challenge and, in the end, we just didn’t have enough to cover for Matt Marson’s late withdrawal.
The meeting was effectively decided as a contest during a 3 race pre-interval burst that saw the Eagles outscore us 14-4. Ben Trigger found himself on the wrong end of a couple of situations/decisions but he certainly showed character to take 5 points from his next two races.
Alfie (Bowtell) with paid 14 was as good as advertised and did exactly what we expected him to do, but everyone else had the odd issue with track conditions.
Unfortunately, the meeting failed to get into any kind of rhythm although the hardworking track staff did their best to mitigate for the sun and drying wind.
Overall, all the boys got something out of the day and it was especially satisfying to see Kenzie Cossey score 5 in his first ever National Development league standard fixture.
We look forward to the next time and send our thanks to all the riders and to the Hammers fans for their support!”
Scores and heat results
Kent Eagles = 52
1. Nathan Ablitt – 2, 3, 2, 2, 2 = 11
2. Mickie Simpson (G) – 1’, 2’, 3, 1’ = 7+3
3. Vinnie Foord – 3, R, 2’, 3, 1’ = 9+2
4. Jamie Etherington – 1, 1, 3, 3 = 8
5. Ben Morley – 3, 2’, 3, X = 8+1
6. Nathan Hargrave – X, 3, 0, FX = 3
7. Hayden Watts (G) – 3, 1, 1, 1 = 6
Thurrock Hammers = 37
1. Alfie Bowtell – 3, 3, 1’, 3, 3 = 13+1
2. Luke Harris – 0, 2’, 2, 1, 2 = 7+1
3. Ben Trigger – 2, FX, 1, 3, 2, 0 = 8
4. Eli Meadows – 0, 2, 0, 0, 1’ = 3+1
5. Matt Marson R/R
6. Harrison Rogers – FX, 1, FX, 0 = 1
7. Kenzie Cossey – 2, F, FX, 1, 2 = 5
Heat Results
Heat 01: Bowtell, Ablitt, Simpson, Harris 3-3, 58.9
Heat 02 Re-Run x3: Watts, Cossey, Rogers (FX), Hargrave (X) 3-2, 6-5, Awarded
Heat 03: Foord, Trigger, Etherington, Meadows 4-2, 10-7, 61.3
Heat 04: Morley, Meadows, Watts, Cossey (F) 4-2, 14-9, 62.8
Heat 05 Re-Run: Bowtell, Harris, Etherington, Foord (R) 1-5, 15-14, 62.0
Heat 06: Ablitt, Simpson, Rogers, Trigger (FX) 5-1, 20-15, Awarded
Heat 07 Re-Run: Hargrave, Morley, Trigger, Meadows 5-1, 25-16, 64.2
Heat 08 Re-Run: Simpson, Harris, Watts, Cossey (FX) 4-2, 29-18, 66.0
Heat 09: Etherington, Foord, Harris, Rogers (FX) 5-1, 34-19, Awarded
Heat 10: Trigger, Ablitt, Simpson, Meadows 3-3, 37-22, 61.4
Heat 11: Morley, Harris, Bowtell, Hargrave 3-3, 40-25, 61.5
Heat 12: Foord, Trigger, Watts, Rogers 4-2, 44-27
Heat 13 Re-Run x2: Bowtell, Ablitt, Cossey, Morley (X) 2-4, 46-31, 62.6
Heat 14: Etherington, Cossey, Meadows, Hargrave (FX) 3-3, 49-34, Awarded
Heat 15: Bowtell, Ablitt, Foord, Trigger 3-3, 52-37, 62.6
Results: Speedway Updates
Image credit: Tiffany Graveling
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