Despite an afternoon of light rain, speedway went ahead as planned and regrettably for the home side a heavy defeat was meted out by the Kent Kings due almost entirely to their whirlwind start being 19 points to the good after only five races.
That advantage was achieved as a result of the visitors determined riding coupled closely to a catalogue of Warrior misfortune of almost every type imaginable with the inevitable consequence that there was no way back into the meeting.
Whilst Danno Verge (pictured) strived manfully for the home side and Josh Embleton did as much as could be expected of a junior rider, other Warriors struggled. Stand in number one Danny Ayres suffered two engine failures from winning positions, Scott Campos suffered shoulder damage in his first outing and had to withdraw from the meeting, Chris Widman and Shaun Tedham suffered falls and retirements and Ben Hopwood was controversially disqualified in heat four after a very close tussle with Kent’s Jack Thomas.
With visiting riders winning thirteen of the fifteen races and their heat-leaders particularly strong, it was no wonder that Warriors Team Manager Jackie Vatcher looked shell shocked as she said, “The first five heats did for us and cost us any hope of being able to compete tonight. I’ve never known a meeting where so many things went against us so quickly. Fair play to Kent who made the most of our problems, but we are better than we showed tonight – we must start showing it”.
Warriors – Danny Ayres 7, Danno Verge 8+2, Scott Campos 0, Chris Widman 4, Ben Hopwood 5, Josh Embleton 4+2, Shaun Tedham 4+1.
Kings – Luke Bowen 10, Anders Rowe 8+1, Nathan Stoneman 12, Taylor Hampshire 5, Jack Thomas 13+1, Nick Laurence 4, Alex Spooner 4+2.