Already holding a 26 point advantage from the first leg, the Kart Raceway Cobras completed a smooth passage into the competition’s final four, and in the process also made their first away match of the year a winning one. With Lee Strudwick, Gary Cottham and Danny Halsey leading the scoring drive, and five different Cobras winning races, they never let their hosts get away on the score-chart, and ultimately pulled clear themselves in the final third of the meeting.

The Cobras trailed early on, when Terry Day fell after a lightning gate alongside Andrew Aldridge in Heat 3, and Jerran Hart and Dean Felton took advantage with a home 5-1 in the re-run. They were quickly level, though, following an identical score-line from Strudwick and Cottham in the next race, and took the lead for the first time, at 22-20, following another maximum, this time from Day and Aldridge in Heat 7.

The same pair were on the receiving end of a 5-1 from Felton and Harland Cook as the Crusaders regained the lead, at 31-29, after Heat 10, but Halsey and Cottham (in for the time-excluded Smith) returned the favour against Alex Cunningham and Aaron Baseby in the next race, to put Rye back in front – this time to stay.

Aldridge won Heat 12 from Hart, with Richard Franklin nipping past Baseby for third, as the Cobras’ advantage widened to 4, and Halsey and Strudwick produced another 4-2 by finishing either side of Felton in the following race. They were the only points dropped by Strudwick across both legs of the tie. 

The match was clinched when Jerran Hart lost a chain and fell while leading Heat 14. Although Terry Day also hit the deck in the re-run, the resultant 3-2 left Rye clear, at 44-39 with one race to go. That heat was shared following Strudwick’s fourth victory of the day.  

Rye House scorers:
Danny Halsey   9+1 (4 rides)
Rob Smith   2 (4)
Andrew Aldridge  6+1 (4)
Terry Day    4 (5)
Lee Strudwick   13 (5)
Richard Franklin  3 (4)
Gary Cottham   10+3 (5)

Sittingbourne scorers:
Dean Felton   13+2 (6 rides)
Harland Cook   6+2 (5)
Mark Baseby    R/R
Jerran Hart   12 (6)
Alex Cunningham  1 (4)
Aaron Baseby   7+1 (6)
Ricky Mullins   2+1 (3)