flipper11

Well that was a bit tense. Excellent meeting, fast times shows the track was in good shape. Ayres was untouchable. Fish n chips not to bad. Great result. All in all a great day out.

Kent missing Drew Kemp, Alex Spooner & Dan Gilkes will do well to get anything from this match.

Record it & watch both.

Rotator cuff. I think he has torn the muscles around his shoulder.

He is very enthusiastic and his swash buckling style is what won him Kent supporters rider of the year last year. I spoke to him at Stoke on Sunday & he is still not sure how long he will be out but the specialist said between 2-4 weeks, Kent are certainly weaker without him.

Interesting you say the cambers are all wrong on bend 2, for the last couple of seasons there has been some fantastic overtakes on bends 1 & 2 particularly as the meeting progresses & the dirt moves out, who can forget Kemps swoop round Thomas & Stoneman at the tail end of last season. I don't remember any comments about adverse camber on that bend until now has Len put this in over the winter? You say there should be 3 more air bags on bends 1 & 2 has Len changed the finished position of the bags this year, as again i don't recall any comments from anyone in seasons gone that there is not enough bags & they look to me to finish in the same position as last year. Surely there must be a safety regulation for where they finish which is checked by the referee before meeting starts?

I went to the opening match Swindon v Poole & as I'm sure you noticed the pits seemed to be in someones garden & I'm sure people were watching the speedway from their bedrooms. The tannoy was like a nightclub yet at Kent we a tannoy nobody can hear & a 6pm curfew on a bank holiday, the country is barking mad.

It seems a shame that as a fairly regular visitor to Kent you now have such a negative view of Kent & seem to have stopped going. However, i do understand that to travel from London to Kent not knowing if there will be a complete meeting would put you off. The damn curfew is a pain in the rear! Hopefully when the Kent riders have found their feet & there is more chance of a complete meeting you may take it a bit more than leaving it. On the subject of track grading. Its damned if you do & damned if you don't. If there is a track grade regularly & a hold up later on as per yesterday everyone would say why grade & not push on with the meeting. If there is a grade while riders are laying on track people would say the noise could hinder the paramedics, if you grade 1 end & not the other that would be viewed as wrong. All the hold ups yesterday bar Alex would not have allowed enough time to grade before the restart. As i said damn curfew.

I wonder why it seems most of the criticism is coming from people that either never go to Kent or weren't there yesterday. Why would things at Kent bother people who don't intend to go? They actually missed for the most part an excellent meeting with some good racing. In front of a surprisingly healthy crowd for a meaningless meeting. With 5 members of the Kent team having very little experience of the Kent track & with an average age of 16 (Ledwith apart) & no possibility of any practise falls are inevitable until they work out the track & set up. Gilkes winning time in heat 2 was .9 of a second faster than (the excellent) Bowtells winning time in heat 1 & that sums up the total commitment of all the young Kent team. Its not the managements fault there is a 2 hour curfew & when there is a serious accident as with Alex yesterday time will always be against them. The main hold up yesterday was the length of time it took to get Alex comfortable & packaged up on track ready to go to hospital, it would have made little or no difference if there had been another ambulance, so again not the the managements fault. I understand there are people who are not willing to pay to go to kent knowing the meeting may not go the distance but as Tai said "it is what it is" & unless the curfew is changed that will always be the case. But why go on as if its the managements fault just don't go there are plenty of other people who are very happy with the racing & the team/management at Kent that do go.

He misses Stoke & both trips to Mildenhall but as far as i can see that is all the away matches he misses & he will make all the home matches, so it not to bad. He also misses the NL pairs & 4s. Of course the main problem will be in the play offs. I just hope Ben Morley is available.

I have never doubted Kents riders desire to win, but Lens decision to have r/r at No1 in the 1st away match of the season sends out all the wrong vibes to the riders/supporters & other NL teams for the year ahead. Hopefully this will change when we visit Stoke & Mildenhall in the next 2 away matches without Drew.

Have to agree with you, was a big gamble by Len that didn't pay off. Having said that to win away without a No 1 would have got the rest of the league worrying. To lose by 2 points with the heat leaders 1,3 & 5 only scoring 3+1 points between them shows the strength of the Kent team.

1. Max Clegg. 8.63. Cradley H 2. Rob Ledwith. 3.50. Kent 3. Ja Edwards. 6.73. Mildenhall. 4. B Woodhull. 4.86. Belle Vue. 5. Dan Hume. 8.10. Leicester 6. Dan Gilkes. 2.00. Kent 7. Jord Palin. 2.00. Belle Vue Total: 35.82.

Not everyone buys a season ticket to save money, it could be a gift, to budget for the year or as I do with mine to gain entry through the pits. If you are a supporter of a club I would think you would go to as many matches as possible whether they are stocking fillers or not i certainly do, in which case it makes economic sense to buy one. As for the recently announced match against Swindon I have no doubt there will be a big crowd, with Anders riding for Swindon and Kent’s best ever rider and legend Luke Bowen making a come back to ride for Kent, I’m looking forward to that match now!!

No, if you go to 17 or more fixtures it’s worth it.

Good Friday, it will be more than 18hrs by car!

If he was responsible the plot thickens as the Kent stadium owner & main promoter of Kent speedway roger Cearns family built Wimbledon stadium!! :)

Why would you think that is strange?! It is Kent’s speedway stadium. Roger is the speedway promoter and stadium owner.

Google Swale Council Planning, then click on search for or comment on an application, then click on comment or object to a planning application (its in brown) then at the bottom where it says enter keyword reference number or post code you put Central Park and bingo it comes up. Yes very long winded and there may be a quicker way of getting on their planning site but this is the only way i no! I think the 1st meeting is on Easter bank holiday.

The application is on Swale council planning site as from 13/12/18. Just go on their planning site & put in Central Park. There is no doubt that Roger would like as many people as possible to write in/email in support of the application even if they reside outside the Sittingbourne area.

Well done Mr Pipe that was a welcome bit of interest for the boring close season. There are lots of ways the draw can be improved for next year but I'm sure Jason no's that.

Ledwith maybe old in speedway terms but he is determined to get as far as he can with his chance in the NL, he is as fit as a butchers dog & has been to Denmark to get some bikes off Niki Pedersen so he will be on the best equipment he can possibly be on. Anyone who was at Kent at the end of the season & watched him will no why Len had him signed up pretty quick for this season.

Obviously Ledwith is the teams mature rider but the average age of the other 6 riders is under 17, should be an exciting season.

So Kent No1 is Drew Kemp. That makes a really strong side.

Kent tried to get him as a replacement for Bowen/Boxall when Bowen was injured this season but couldn't agree a deal which was a real shame, as you say he would have been great at Central Park (and at eastbourne at the end of the season!) this may have put Len off asking him again. Not sure about the 4 point average.