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Post by wantagekings on Jul 15, 2015 11:02:18 GMT
PRE SEASON NEWS It's been a busy few weeks in Wantage, with lots of comings and goings, but now the serious business starts. This week sees the first official UL competition start as the Kings take on the Warriors of Wolston.
All riders have had good track time with some very competitive action in the friendlies. Aberavon and Kings Lynn provided excellent competition and really gave everyone a taste of things to come. All the new boys seem to be getting used to the new surroundings and are gelling well.
SQUAD NEWS Great news over the close season in that all Kings squad members have been fixed up at other clubs. We're delighted with the rides they have got and we're sure they'll all benefit hugely. Matt Le Saux has got himself a PL place with Thornaby, Scott Salkeld rides for Southside in the Evolution league, linking up with his old friends and youngsters Jamie Airey and John Stroud have both got Academy league berths at London and Rowley respectively. It's great news for Airey who was unfortunate to miss out last season.
JJ NEWS elsewhere Brian Broadbank will be representing the Kings in the JJ. In the restructured format he will be in the Midlands North section, but other than that we will have the same setup that worked so well for John Stroud last year. Captain Lars Meldgaard has once again offered to help in the pits whenever his schedule allows. Brian is chuffed to bits having got to meet the lads recently. He saw the effort we went to with John, and he knows how seriously we take the junior events.
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Post by wantagekings on Jul 28, 2015 21:15:05 GMT
OFF THE MARK
The Kings got off to a winning start in the league with a 48 42 victory over the Kings Lynn Lightning. Overcoming an early deficit the Swedish duo of Jonus Sandin and Lennart Levin lead Wantage to an excellent victory. An excellent team performance saw all riders contribute, 6 of them picking up a heat victory. Craig Richardson was satisfied with the start. "That's a nice solid start for us, with everyone getting points. We can settle down now we're off the mark and we can go to Workington full of confidence."
BRIAN BROADBANK
Wantage representative Brian Broadbank made an excellent start to his JJ career with 11 points in the first round. Brian is following in the tracks of John Stroud and Jamie Airey and hoping he can be as successful.
Brian, who is 15 and from Wantage is really looking forward to the rest of the season after a great start. "I'm really happy with the start - I've been looking forward to getting on the track, the build up seems to have gone on forever! So to get a big score first up, I'm really happy with that."
Like all riders Brian hopes its the first step in a long and successful career, but is already living the dream. "Just to rub shoulders with Jonus Sandin in the pits and to be able to talk and listen to riders of his quality is amazing. I've been watching Jonus on TV for years, so it was unbelievable to share a track with him at the practice days."
he went on to explain how he got into speedway. "I've been riding bikes since I was 8 or 9, and my parents used to take me to Blunsdon & Reading to watch speedway. I loved it, and wanted to get into it. And when Wantage started up it was like fate - so after going to some training days I got my first 250cc bike and it all went from there.
And of course the Kings have been flying up the league, so it just keeps getting better!"
Its a long JJ season, but everyone connected to the club is looking forward to seeing Brian progress and keep up the Kings tradition in the competition.
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Post by estuarywhales on Aug 14, 2015 18:24:34 GMT
Kings disappointed
To lose on the raceoff with the scores level at 90-90, but Braxton McChesney out gunned Lennart Levin in a super finale to a hard fought 31 heats.
The American was almost unbeatable on the night, whilst Levin put in two very good efforts over the two legs.
We wish Whitby all the best in the competition.
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Post by wantagekings on Oct 10, 2015 7:26:13 GMT
Kings win away
The Kings recorded a first ever UL away victory at Kings Lynn with a magnificent all round performance. Lennart Levin, who's been struggling for a number of weeks suddenly came back to life and clinched the win with a heat 15 victory.
it was a hard fought match with never much between the sides and it was the Kings strength in depth that just saw the over the line leaving boss Craig Richardson delighted. "we all know how rare away wins are, especially in this league, so to get a win here is great. I'm not reading anything into the fact that this puts us top though - there's a long way to go, but if we keep doing what we're doing well be ok.
Under Fred's stewardship we had steadily improved, and the only thing lacking in recent weeks was Lennarts form. I had a chat with him this week and it was great to see him bounce back in style. Roll on the 3TT!"
Broadbank marches on Another fine performance from Brian Broadbank in the JJ this week. Another podium and his season continues to go from strength to strength. He can start looking towards qualifying with confidence now.
More success for Chong Meanwhile the amazing season for Filippe Chong continues with a qualification for the World Under 21 final. The way he is riding, who knows what he may achieve?
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Post by wantagekings on Nov 3, 2015 19:29:31 GMT
As the season moves into the final stages the Kings remain unchanged at the latest average change. It's the first time in their history that the Kings have gone this far without making changes and is testament to the 7 riders signed at the beginning of the season as boss Craig Richardson explains...
"it's by no means been a perfect season, but we're pretty happy right now with where we are. We sit in 3rd and have a great platform to really push on to the end of the season.
Despite averaging nearly 6.5 Lars will remain at reserve and give us real strength. Where we have struggled has been at the top end and in our last 2 matches Workington and Aberavon have had 3 riders between them to score maximums. It has cost us valuable points.
Jonus really hasn't hit the heights he would like and is working round the clock to try and solve his problems. It's not only for us where he's struggling as his GP form has suffered as well. But we're confident in his ability and hopefully he can lead us onto big things for the rest of the season.
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Post by wantagekings on Nov 14, 2015 20:06:59 GMT
Kings take a battering...
Wantage suffered a heavy defeat at the hands of Tunstall, to take another dent in the points difference and lose another bonus point. It was actually a decent performance in the second half of the meeting but sees the Kings drop down the table.
"That was an ugly performance and one I want to forget about - Tunstall were to good for us. So now we have 5 matches left and anything could happen. Find our form and grab a couple of BPs and we'll be sitting pretty, but we have to be very careful not to get sucked into a relegation fight. We have strength in depth and I'm confident that we can pull ourselves together, forget about this and move on. A win next week against Wolston will hopefully be the start of us kicking on."
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