Kent Eagles rounded off their home National Development Trophy fixtures with a 54-35 win over Birmingham Bulls – and leapfrogged their visitors into second place courtesy of an aggregate point after June’s 44-44 draw.
Eagles’ 15-year-old Cooper Rushen, more usually seen in the colours of the King’s Lynn Young Stars, stepped in for Vinnie Foord and dazzled, equal top scoring with captain Ben Morley – both riders being paid for 17-points.
Kent Eagles’ star guest Cooper Rushen shows commitment against Birmingham Bulls. Picture: Tiffani Graveling
In the process Rushen knocked a staggering 1.2sec off of Jody Scott’s track record, lowering it to 56.2sec. Such was his pace he also lopped nearly a second from Alfie Bowtell’s track record, 57.1, set in May 2022 and prior to work that altered the Iwade circuit.
Rushen opened the show with that track record-busting effort, winning at a canter ahead of Tom Spencer.
The visitors found themselves level in heat two as Ryan Ingram harvested his first win ahead of another Eagles guest in Kenzie Cossey, while Jacob Clouting and Luke Harris combined for maximum points in the third.
Morley proved an all-the-way winner in race four, Ingram bagged a second win in the fifth and with that the home lead remained at six points with a third of the contest done.
A brace of 4-2s either side of a 3-2 between heats six to eight established a double-figure lead, 29-18, but confusion reigned in the first of these. Spencer was excluded after he and Clouting came down entering bend three. Then Clouting was ruled out having exceeded the two-minute time allowance but, as Rushen lined up to take on Ingram the pit gate opened, allowing Clouting to take his place off the 15m mark.
As the race got under way Rushen outpaced Ingram, Clouting following on in third for the 4-2 that extended the margin to 22-14.
Heat seven had two finishers as Morley saw off Summers before the eighth heat’s 4-2 saw Rushen collect his third win in three. Ingram returned to winning ways in the ninth but Rushen and Morley then combined for a big 5-1 ahead of Summers, Eagles’ second 5-1 of the meeting seeing them 15 points to the good.
Morley again defeated Summers in the next and with Cossey snatching the odd point for the 4-2 and an overall 41-24 lead it was the Iwade outfit who edged ever closer to overall victory.
Kent claimed the win in heat 12 but again it was Ingram who was first to the flag as he headed home both Harris and Hargrave but it hardly held a candle to what was soon to follow.
Kent Eagles’ star guest Cooper Rushen excelled against Birmingham Bulls. Picture: Tiffani Graveling
With Rushen and Morley both as yet unbeaten by an opponent, few could see past a further maximum in favour of the home side – but Ingram rode the perfect race, making a sharp start and doing all that was necessary to keep the chasing pair at bay.
The second successive share of the spoils saw the scores stand at 47-30.
The penultimate heat proved controversial. Clouting reared alarmingly and fell coming out of the second bend of the final lap. The race continued and those with a Kent bias felt it was Cossey who led over the line. However, match official Christina Turnbull saw things differently and Summers was duly awarded the win.
Heat 15 belonged to Morley while Rushden came from behind to secure the closing 5-1.
Kent team manager David Graveling said: “What a great way to end our home season with a convincing win. Our thanks go out to Cooper and Kenzie for guesting and to the other riders on show today.
“It was a nice gesture that fans stayed to hear the riders’ thoughts on our last home team meeting of 2025.”
Next up at Iwade is the National Development Pairs on October 5.