The Kent Royals (formerly Kings) are a British

speedway Speedway may refer to: Racing Race tracks *Edmonton International Speedway, also known as Speedway Park, a former motor raceway in Edmonton, Alberta *Indianapolis Motor Speedway, a motor raceway in Speedway, Indiana Types of races and race cours ...

team formed in 2013. Through 2021 they competed in the

SGB Championship The Speedway Great Britain (SGB) Championship is the second division of speedway league competition in the United Kingdom, governed by the Speedway Control Bureau (SCB), in conjunction with the British Speedway Promoters' Association (BSPA). It ...

but also run a junior team in the

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

. They were based at

Central Park Stadium Central Park Stadium formerly Sittingbourne Stadium is a greyhound racing track, and speedway track and former football stadium located in Murston, Sittingbourne, Kent, England. Greyhound racing takes place every Friday evening in addition to ...

Sittingbourne Sittingbourne is an industrial town in Kent, south-east England, from Canterbury and from London, beside the Roman Watling Street, an ancient British trackway used by the Romans and the Anglo-Saxons and next to the Swale, a strip of sea separa ...

, with a track laid inside the greyhound racing track, but moved to the

Iwade Iwade is a village and civil parish north of the town of Sittingbourne in the English county of Kent. History Iwade was established in the late Medieval period, when it was a settlement linking Watling Street to the coast via Key Street (a s ...

track and operated solely as a NDL team starting in 2022.

History

The Kings joined the

(third division) in 2013, with the backing of sponsors CTA Fire.

Len Silver Len Silver (born 2 February 1932, east London, United Kingdom) is a former speedway rider and is former promoter of the Rye House Rockets. Racing career Silver stopped racing in 1957 but returned to the Ipswich Witches in 1960 after a layoff d ...

co-promoted the team with Roger Cearns. Their participation during the

2013 National League speedway season The 2013 season of the National League, the third tier of British speedway was contested by eight teams. Summary Scunthorpe Saints and Rye House Cobras were missing from 2012, and replaced by Coventry Storm and Kent Kings. The Dudley Heathens we ...

saw the return of professional speedway to Kent for the first time since

Canterbury Crusaders The Crusaders (formerly Canterbury Crusaders and BNZ Crusaders due to sponsorship by the Bank of New Zealand) are a New Zealand professional rugby union team based in Christchurch, who compete in the Super Rugby competition. They are the mos ...

closed in 1987. The first match for the team was a challenge against the American Touring Team in May 2013, attended by more than 3,000 spectators.Tucker, Craig (2013)
Fans turn out in force for opening Kent Kings speedway meeting at Central Park
, Kent Online, 8 May 2013. Retrieved 16 May 2013 The Kings finished seventh out of eight teams and bottom of the National Trophy. However, the debut season for the Kings at Central Park saw some achievements, including second in the NL Fours (Steve Boxall, Benji Compton, Ben Morley and David Mason), third in the NL Pairs (Boxall and Morley), and third in the British Under 19 Championships (Ben Morley). Steve Boxall won the National League Riders Championship and finished as holder of the Bronze Helmet. In 2014, the Kings finished third of the nine teams competing in the

2014 National League speedway season The 2014 season of the National League, the third tier of British speedway was contested by nine teams. The Cradley Heathens won the title. The Isle of Wight Islanders were missing from 2012, and the Scunthorpe Stags and Devon Demons have joine ...

. This was enough for a play-off place, and in the home first leg of the semi-final against

Coventry Storm Coventry Bees were a motorcycle speedway team that existed from 1929 to 2018. They raced at Brandon Stadium, Brandon near Coventry, England. History A Coventry team was first formed in 1928 and competed in the inaugural season of the Southern ...

, the Kings ran out 49–44 winners. In the away leg, the Kings were beaten 54–39, with Coventry progressing to the final against Cradley. In the National Trophy, the Kings finished last of the four teams competing. Lambert and Morley finished third in the National League Pairs, and Morley finished third in the National League Riders Championships. In the National League Fours, Lambert, Morley, Ayres and Baseby fell agonisingly short in a last heat decider in the Semi-Final group. From 2016 to 2019, a gradual improvement was experienced by the club, with three consecutive semi final play off appearances in 2016, 2017 and 2018. During the

2019 National Development League speedway season The National League speedway 2019 now known as the National Development League for the 2019 season was the third tier/division of British speedway. There were several team changes for the 2019 league season with reigning league champions and KO cu ...

the team reached the play off final for the first time, losing to Leicester Lion Cubs in the final. For the 2020 season Kent Kings entered the

(division 2) for the first time and the club formed a junior team called the Kent Royals to compete in division 3 but the season was cancelled due to

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. However the following season the Kings started in the

SGB Championship 2021 The SGB Championship 2021 was the second tier division, called the SGB Championship, of the British speedway championship in 2021. Changes from the last edition of the Championship (held in 2019) were the addition of three teams and the loss of ...

and Royals competed in the NDL. In 2022, the team competed solely as the Royals in the NDL.

Season summary

Riders

2013 team The team manager was John Sampford. David Mason was signed as captain, but lost his team place, with Steve Boxall taking over the captaincy.Miles, Greg (2013)
Sacked Kent Kings captain ‘disgusted’ with treatment
, kentnews.co.uk, 16 May 2013. Retrieved 16 May 2013 * * * * * * * * 2014 team The original 2014 line up was Simon Lambert, Luke Chessell, Ben Morley, Benji Compton, David Mason, Daniel Blake, and Brandon Freemantle. John Sampford was to remain in charge, but the highly respected former Isle of Wight manager and former rider Chris Hunt was appointed assistant manager. Simon Lambert took over the captaincy from the returning David Mason and went on to score heavily throughout the season with a cavalier and exciting style. Daniel Blake retired after two meetings and was replaced by Luke Harris. Luke Harris was himself dropped from the team in June and was replaced by Jason Garrad. Brandon Freemantle was forced to bow out of the Kent Kings side in early May and his place was taken by a former

motocross Motocross is a form of off-road motorcycle racing held on enclosed off-road circuits. The sport evolved from motorcycle trials competitions held in the United Kingdom. History Motocross first evolved in Britain from motorcycle trials competi ...

rider making his debut in speedway,

Danny Ayres Danny Ayres (16 August 1986 – 1 February 2020) was a speedway rider who rode in Great Britain. Career Danny Ayres began his career in motocross and converted to speedway relatively late, in 2014. He rode for various teams, including Kent Kin ...

. The team was further disrupted when Benji Compton injured his hand as was ruled out in June. His place was taken by newcomer to the Kent side, Aaron Baseby. Compton made his return in July, with Luke Chessell being dropped. * * * * * * * 2022 team & average * 12.00 * 10.30 * 10.00 * 8.19 * 6.14 * 5.55 * 4.22 * 3.52 * 2.61 * 2.00

References

{{Speedway National League Sport in Sittingbourne National League speedway teams 2013 establishments in England Sports clubs established in 2013