More than 3,000 fans were at Central Park for the Kent Kings' first speedway meeting against the American Touring Team on Bank Holiday Monday.

Among the highlights was a thrilling heat 13 that saw Steve Boxall tussle with American star Jason Garrity before a dropped chain ended the Kent No 1's challenge on the final lap of four.

Boxall took nine points from five races but star of the show for Kent was Ben Morley, who top-scored with 11 points, including three heat victories.

The Americans won 49-41 but it was more about the occasion for Kings co-promoter Roger Cearns.

He said: "After an awful lot of hard work and many years in the difficulty of getting planning permission, we’ve got it off the ground at last.”

I don’t expect that we will get the crowd we have tonight on a normal night but hopefully a lot of them will come back and follow the team."