Drew's historic hat trick

NEWS Sunday 19th September 2021, 8:51pm

by Mike Hunter

  Edinburgh Monarchs

Monarchs' recent acquisition Drew Kemp had a big date last Friday at Scunthorpe as he tried to win, for the third time in a row, the British Under-19 Championship. Clearly it is quite a feat to win any title three times running, but for this one it requires the successful competitor to be 16 at the start of the year of his first victory!

His previous victories had been at Redcar in 2019 and Scunthorpe in 2020, one of the few meetings staged last season.

Drew said "I was obviously pretty young the first time. When I won it the first time I didn't think I'd be here now, winning it for the third time in a row!"

Looking back on Friday night's meeting he added "Certainly it's enjoyable when you are winning races, but it is more enjoyable when you've crossed the line in first place. A couple of times I had to come from behind and pass people.

"In my first race I passed Dan Thompson, I was the only one to beat him. In my third race I passed Jordan Palin on the line and honestly in that race I nearly crashed. I hit his back wheel with my hand and all sorts.

"Then in the last race there was a rerun needed when I had been winning the race. You can imagine what I was thinking at that moment! But it all turned out right in the end.

"To be honest I haven't really been in the best of form going into that meeting and some of the other riders such as Leon Flint and others were high on confidence.

"It is a meeting with a good field which never gets any easier so I have to be pleased to have won it."

The victory lets him look forward to a good end of the season with the Monarchs. "I hope this meeting will help me find consistent good form. To be honest I've been more consistent with Edinburgh than I was with Eastbourne. Coming into Edinburgh's team at the end of the year was like hitting the reset button almost, I've enjoyed it again and I always find I ride better when I'm enjoying my speedway.

"Hopefully after winning on Friday I can enjoy my racing, my confidence will build up and I can ride like I know I am capable of. There's a reason why John brought me into the Edinburgh team and that's because he knows I can do a good job. It's down to me now to prove him right and show I was the right rider to bring in this late in the season.

"I was quite surprised really, even after that terrible meeting I had guesting for Edinburgh at Armadale, when I signed for them I didn't read any bad comments, everyone seemed real happy with me riding for them. That gives me another confidence boost.

"I'm enjoying my time with Edinburgh at the moment; it's a shame obviously that it is so far away but the team Edinburgh have and the team atmosphere makes up for that long old journey and especially if you have a good meeting. I'm sorry it's such a long wait till the next match but once we get going we'll be all right."