Kent Eagles 51 - Isle of Wight Warriors 39
South Coast Challenge 2nd Leg. Iwade Stadium. 6th September 2026.
The Wightlink Warriors brought their season to an end with a 51-39 defeat at a sun drenched Kent on Sunday afternoon. On a track which with the heat, meant dust was a slight issue and passing was not the easiest, it was full praise therefore to the track staff who worked hard to keep control of this. With their top stars absent due to various reasons, the Warriors tracked a youthful line up, with an average age of just 19 years. Kent were able to bring in teenage hotshot Ryan Ingram to replace former Grand Prix race Edward Kennett who was racing in New York, Were otherwise unchanged from the team that won at Smallbrook last Tuesday.
The home side took an early lead with a 4-2 in heat one, and then added a 5-1 in heat two with Charlie Wood falling early on in his first ride. Heat three was restarted twice after home rider Nathan Hargrave was disqualified was an overzealous 1st turn bringing down Warriors Mickie Simpson. Simpson made a dream start third time of asking but the Eagles Ryan Ingram stormed past for a split heat to make the scores 15-9.
Heat 7 saw Mickie Simpson make a great again, but as the riders came off of turn two, the exciting Jack Kingston flew past everyone with a daredevil ride. The Warriors then lost the service of Seth Norman with a reoccurring back issue from a crash earlier in the season, Simpson replaced him in heat nine and again made a fast start only to see Ben Morley dive by on turn 3 in a third shared heat. There was something for the Warriors fans to cheat in heat nine when teenage tearaway Ollie Binns rode a race way above his years to beat Kingston with Arran Butcher taking third to bring the visitors with six at 30-24.
Another home two 4-2s saw the home side back in command before Butcher then pulled out leaving just 4 of the six starters to take on the challenge. Kingston then gained revenge beating Binns before Charlie Wood snatched 2nd place in a thrilling finish in the twelfth. Binns won heat 13 with Harrison Rogers taking third to make it 44-34. Kingston and King then hit a 5-1 after Charlie Wood bit the dust whilst chasing hard gifting King second.
The final heat saw both Morley and Ingram unbeaten taking on Binns and Simpson, a 5-1 was 99% of people predictions, But Simpson rode a brilliant race holding off Morley and Binns kept Ingram at bay for a 2-4 finish.
Scorers.
Kent: Ingram 12, Chadd 2, Hargrave 2+1, Kingston 14, Morley 14, King 5+1.
IOW: Simpson 13, Rogers 3+2, Wood 6+1, Norman 1, Butcher 3+1, Binns 13.
Team manager, Andy Hawthorne said "Once again when the going got rough the riders stepped up to the plate. Seth and Arran did their best to ride through the pain but had to pull out.
Charlie looked like the rider we know he is and Harrison, once again showed great promise and commitment- especially after that nasty fall but Mickie and Ollie? Absolutely super efforts from them both, a number 6 doing a job a number 1 would be proud of and a number 1 being just that.
Thanks to everyone at Iwade and to everyone associated with Kent Eagles Speedway Club for a great afternoons racing and a very warm welcome we will see you again in 2027".
Martin Widman was pleased with the performance of the team who never gave up trying on a track where passing was really difficult due to the track conditions. Losing Seth Norman was a blow but he clearly hasn’t recovered from his crash earlier in the season and Arran battled away with a broken hand so overall it was a good effort. I would also just like to thank the Kent management and staff for their warm welcome to us.
Pictures by Tiffani Graveling
Ken Burnett
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