Hammers take sensational victory over the Eagles.
The Thurrock AsMatt Ltd Hammers pulled off a sensational 47-43 victory over the Eagles ‘Watling Tyres’ Eagles in a competitive and entertaining meeting at Iwade speedway.
In front of a good crowd, the Hammers got off to the best possible start with Alfie Bowtell and Jack Kingston delivering a 5-1 heat advantage over the Eagles in the opening race, before Ben Morley and Jason Edwards took victories in shared heats for the 2nd and 3rd.
Scott Nicholls & Nathan Ablitt delivered a 4-2 over Bowtell and Kingston in heat 4, before the Hammers repaid the compliment in the 5th with Morley and Naylor taking with a 4-2 of their own, to establish a 4 point lead.
The Eagles hit back with 4-2 heat advantages in the 6th and 7th, to level the scores, which remained the case following shared heats up until heat 12, setting up a nail biting conclusion to the meeting.
With the Nora league system, the bottom two scorers, the middle two scorers and the top two scorers from each side met in the remaining three heats.
The Hammers edged ahead again in the 13th with Jack Kingston and Jacob Clouting taking a 4-2, before extending the lead further with a further 4-2 from Alfie Bowtell and Rhys Naylor in the penultimate heat, to set up a last heat decider.
Jason Edwards gated in heat 15 and delivered a stunning ride, holding off everything Scott Nicholls and Paul Starke could throw at him, to take the checkered flag and deliver victory for the Hammers.
To top off the afternoon, Ben Morley also took victory in the John Ling Memorial Trophy.
Hammers team Manager Mark Sexton commented:
“I don’t think anyone could say that they weren’t entertained! A fantastic day and a famous victory for our Hammers against an Eagles side we were given virtually no chance of beating before tapes up!
How good was Jason Edwards? 14 points at a track he’d only ridden once before & an absolutely stunning ride over Scott Nicholls and Paul Starke in heat 15 to seal the win was just amazing to watch.
Alfie Bowtell and Ben Morley were also brilliant but every Hammer contributed to the victory in one way or another. Pitting our wits against a team, and a team manager, with so much experience and ability was a real challenge but one every one of the boys rose to superbly.
10 heat winners and picking up several points from the back meant we were never behind in the match and I think we fully deserved to win.
I’d like to thank Michael Gray and David Graveling from the Sussex Eagles Motorcycle Club for the vision of putting on this meeting and for the gracious way they took what must have been an unexpected result!
Thanks also to Graham Arnold and his team at Iwade who prepared a brilliant track which everyone could trust and to Dave Francis from AsMATT for sponsoring the team today.
Special thanks as well to all the fans who came along to Iwade and who really made the event the spectacle it was.
Russ, Ian and I hope that today’s meeting will be a further springboard for our campaign and we look forward to being back on track in 2025!
Thurrock AsMatt Ltd Hammers 47
1. Alfie Bowtell. 3.2.2.3.3. 13
2. Jack Kingston. 2′. 0.0. fx.3. 5+1
3. Ben Morley. 3.3.2.2.0. 10
4. Rhys Naylor. 0.1.1′.1′.1. 4+2
5. Jason Edwards. 3.2.3.3.3. 14
6. Jacob Clouting. FX.0.0.0.1. 1
Eastbourne ‘Watling Tyres’ Eagles: 43
1. Scott Nicholls. 1.3.3.3.2. 12
2. Aaron Butcher. 0.1.0.0.0 1
3. Nathan Ablitt. 2.1.3.1′.2. 9+1
4. Edward Kennett. 1′.1.2.2.0. 6+1
5. Paul Starke. 2.2.3.2.1′. 10+1
6. Henning Loof. 1′.0.1′.1′.2. 5+3
Image: AsMatt Ltd Sponsors Dave & Kim Francis