KENT EAGLES 47 – LEICESTER FOX CUBS 41

Kent Eagles overcame the stern challenge of the Leicester Fox Cubs recording a 47-41 victory to open their National Development Trophy account at Iwade’s Old Gun site on Sunday afternoon.

The sun shone, the crowds came, and some close fought racing kept them thoroughly entertained throughout the afternoon. All in all, it proved a celebrated opening for the newly formed Kent outfit.

For the Fox Cubs top trio, William Cairns, Sonny Springer and in particular guest Cooper Rushen combined to keep the Eagles septet honest throughout the fifteen heats but in the final reckoning a superb top scoring performance from Jamie Etherington, a double figure return from Vinnie Foord and solid support throughout the order won the day for the home side.

Though a day of largely positives there were a couple of unfortunate drawbacks, for the Eagles Charlie Wood was forced to withdraw following an awkward looking tumble in heat two, a badly broken collarbone seeming set to sideline him for six to eight weeks. For the Fox Cub’s Max Broadhurst was also a casualty, a fall in race nine seeing him sit out the remainder of the meeting. Needless to say, all in attendance sent out good wishes to both riders for a speedy recovery.

Rushen marked his debut ride with a flying win and a new Iwade track record ahead of Nathan Ablitt and Nathan Hargrave in heat one but hopes of a greater return for the visitors were dashed as number one William Cairns machine failed coming out of the start.

The Eagles opened up a five-point lead (11-6) following race three, but this was reduced to a single digit as Cairns and Rushen combined to good effect, leading home Foord in the fifth.

A trio of 4-2’s secured in heats six, seven and nine saw the Eagles six-points, 29-23 to the good and might have set them on course for overall victory but Leicester responded, bagging a brace of 4-2’s of their own in the next two to reduce the difference to a mere 2-points, 33-31.

The latter of these realised a second race win for Cairns but also spelled a first defeat for the impressive Rushen at the hands of home Captain Ben Morley.

Foord and Etherington paired up for maximum points to spread the margin to half a dozen (38-32) in the twelfth but this drew an immediate response, Springer rounding both Morley and Ablitt on the run in to lap two to join Cairns for a 5-1, the progressive score of 39-37 keeping the Fox Cubs well and truly in the hunt.

The match looked to be moving towards a last heat decider, but Etherington rounded off a superb performance combining with Jacob Clouting for a 5-1 ahead of Stene Pijper in the penultimate race, one that proved decisive and drew them 6-points, 44-38 clear of the visitors.

Though the match was won, heat fifteen proved another cracker however as Rushen set the seal on a powerhouse paid 13-point display but behind him it was all going on with both Foord and Morley coming from the back to defeat the highly rated Cairns.

As the dust settled on an enthralling contest skipper Morley commented on his teams hard fought victory ‘They’ve got a good team with some really good youngsters so to pull off the win like that is really quite good’ Reflecting on the all round team performance he remarked on Etherington’s input in particular as ‘a massive positive for the team and a great way to start the year’

The final word came from Eagles Man of the meeting Etherington. Commenting on the all important heat 14 he recalled ‘We needed that to win I think so I got out of the start and won it’ He also emphasised the teams solidity through the order ‘We pulled off the win today, it was alright’ he concluded enthusiastically.

Scorers:

Eagles: Jamie Etherington 12+2(7), Vinnie Foord 12(5), Ben Morley 9+1(5), Nathan Ablitt 7(4), Jacob Clouting 5+2(4), Nathan Hargrave 2+1(4), Charlie Wood 0(1) (Withdrawn following heat 2). – 47

Fox Cubs: Cooper Rushen 12+1(5) (Guest for Mason Watson), Sonny Springer 9+1(4), William Cairns 9(5), Ace Pijper 5(4), Stene Pijper 3(4), Max Broadhurst 2(3) (Withdrawn following heat 11), Caydin Martin 1(5) - 41