Poole Trent Comets take the victories at home in two action packed matches
Poole Trent Comets take the victories at home in two action packed matches
Division 1
The first home match of Poole’s 50th Anniversary Season took place on Sunday at Poole Cycle Speedway Club – Harbourside Park with the Poole ‘Trent’ Comets taking on a very successful team from Oxford, the Horspath Hammers.
Poole fielded the same team they took to Birmingham last weekend with Fez Langoo, Kenzie Bennett, Fraser Garnett, Greg Gluchowski, Josh Nottle and Alan Nation. Adding to the team this week multiple British Mens Finalist Aaron Smith and Highly talented GB junior rider Oliver Saunders returning back to the team. The side they faced had some great talented to boast as well with two former British Champions in Mark Boaler and Zac Payne.
The match was full of wheel to wheel action as well as some physical action that took place during the match after a couple of altercations between riders which was all part of the racing fire the all riders have burning inside them. At the end of the match Poole took a huge commanding victory finishing with 110 points to Horspaths 75 points.
There were two riders from Poole who finished on maximum score of 20 points, one being Pooles World Junior Champion Kenzie Bennett 18+2 and his World Team Champion teammate Fez Langoo 19+1 (combined 40 points, more than 1/2 of Horspaths total points) proving a point to all who watched that they were the two hardest to beat and fastest riders round the Poole track after their performances.
Kenzie was involved in a slight altercation with Horspaths George Horsley and still coming out on top. Both showing their experience from the World Championships in Australia in November-December 2023 which has helped catapult both to the top of the sport.
The remaining Poole riders put in an amazing shift with Captain Aaron Smith scoring an incredible 17+1 on his return to the team after the winter break.
Fraser Garnett scored a superb 14+3 on his return to the Poole track after 3 years away and Greg Gluchowski notched up a very impressive 14 in his first home match for 5 years.
Oliver Saunders scored a cracking 10 points in his first outdoor match since his Australia tour.
Reserves Josh Nottle and Alan Nation put in some hard fought displays scoring a really useful 5 points and 6 points respectively. Josh had a fantastic battle with Horspaths Jack Ellis claiming a super 2nd place on the finishing line and Alan Nation battling hard against his opponents including getting the better of the Horspath pairing in the much talked about heat 15 where he and Kenzie took maximum points together.
All in all it was a fantastic team performance.
Division 2/Development League
This year’s 2nd tier of regional racing opens up the match to 3 separate groups to allow riders of different levels to compete against each other.
In the first group Poole fielded the promising U14 talent of Teddy Curtis, newcomer and O40 Vet Aaron Laing, another promising newcomer Liam Bartlett and hard charging Vet Bob Hayward.
In a fierce battle with the Horspath riders in this group Teddy secured a maximum from his rides with 14+2 in a fine display of talent.
Aaron Laing in his first ever competitive match scored a 2 ride maximum bringing home 7+1.
Liam battled hard adding a very impressive 10 points from 3 rides including 2 wins.
Team captain Bob added a brilliant 9 points including a win in this section of the match.
All at Poole wish Horspath veteran rider Chris Ward a speedy recovery from his back injury sustained in a tumble in Heat 4A. Chris is a well respected rider within Cycle Speedway.
Group 2 saw our U12 riders compete and with an all girl line up of Lullah Curtis, Ava Chapman, Tilly Shear and Natalia Palka this shows just how strong Women’s racing in Cycle Speedway is in modern times.
Lullah scored a very impressive 13 points to top score including 2 great heat wins.
Ava and Tilly both secured a handy 4 points to the team total with Natalia adding another 2 points to the tally. Well done girls.
Group 3 had our U8 & U10 young Comets competing with the super quick U8 Izacc Laing leading the way with a 16 point maximum from his 4 rides.
Another fast U8 rider Oscar Bartlett added 9 points to the total including a heat win.
U10 racer Max Strong put in a great fight bringing home 7+1 and finally our little smiler U8 rider Olivia Reeman secured a fantastic 3 points.
Overall the match was a great watch and the new for 2024 formula worked well with competitive racing in all 3 sections.
Group A
Poole 40 – Horspath 20
Group B
Poole 23 – Horspath 37
Group C
Poole 35 – Horspath 25
Overall Poole took the win with 98 to Horspath 82.
After the 2 official matches, Poole’s younger riders also competed in a training match so that any riders who were not in the Division 2 match had a chance to race on what was a very busy day at Harbourside Park.
Poole’s next match will be another home meeting on Sunday 12th May when we welcome East Newport from South Wales. Come and Join us for another afternoon of great Cycle Speedway racing.
Division 1 match report by Ferose Langoo
Division 2 match report by David Strong
Photos from Arthur Lawrence
