Louis beaten

Football Boxing

The Southern Counties East season gets under way this weekend with some big name signings along for the ride. Hollands & Blair surprised many with the signing of former Gillingham front-man Danny Kedwell. They start their league campaign away to newboys Balham.

Sheppey United will hope to be involved in the mix this season and they’ve quietly gone about their business, with manager Ernie Batten picking up a couple of key signings.

Batten won’t be able to rely on hotshot striker Dan Bradshaw for the goals anymore following his switch to Chatham Town.

But they hope to have filled the void by the arrival of another former Football League player, Jack Midson. The 36-year-old has played for the likes of Oxford United and AFC Wimbledon - where he topped the scoring charts in League 2 during the 2011/12 season - and he’ll be in a freshened up squad that also includes Warren Mfula. In defender Matt Bourne they also have a player who has been there and done it. Aged 34, he has experience playing at a higher level. Batten’s men are away to Erith Town on Saturday. Chatham Town boast a wealth of riches on the pitch, bolstering their squad with some eye-catching signings. Along with former Sheppey star Bradshaw, they’ve added former Dartford players

Andy Pugh and Ryan Hayes to their forward line. Former Gillingham and Swindon midfielder Luke Rooney has also joined, while they’ve kept hold of inspirational captain Jack Evans.

Chats start their challenge at Erith & Belvedere.

Another of the Premier Division’s newcomers are Tower Hamlets and they visit Bearsted on Saturday.

Glebe are at home to K Sports while Lordswood face their former manager Richard Styles and some familiar players when they host Tunbridge Wells.

Kent’s veteran bowler Darren Stevens has signed a new contract with the county. The 44-year-old has shown no sign of slowing down in the past month, taking 20 wickets in the Bob Willis Trophy at an average of 19.

Stevens said: “I’m thrilled to commit another year to Kent. I love playing for this county and it’s no secret that I didn’t want this shortened season to be the way I finished up. So I’m delighted that my recent form has shown I still have a lot left to give to the club.

“I’m feeling great at the moment and really driven. We have a great squad here at Kent, and it’s definitely an exciting place to be.

“I’d also like to thank the members and supporters for their continued support. We’ve definitely missed them at the ground this year and I look forward to being able to play in front of them again as soon as possible.”

Stevens, who is not playing in the T20 format this year, remains an important part of Kent’s red ball side.

He looked to be on his way out of the county just over a year ago after Kent said they’d not be renewing his deal.

But his form meant Kent were left with no option than to perform a u-turn and keep the popular Stevens in their ranks. Stevens his a career-best 237 against Yorkshire and took seven wickets including 5-20 in the second innings of that match, just a week after taking 10 wickets and scoring 88 against Nottinghamshire.

Stevens was one of three Kent bowlers along

Rory Butcher clinched victory for Kent team Motorbase Performance in the British Touring Car Championship at Knockhill.

There was plenty of drama in Sunday’s final race, which was red flagged after a crash involving fellow Motorbase driver Ollie Jackson, but Butcher built a sizeable lead from the restart to take the chequered flag.

Scottish racer Butcher had started second on the grid in race three. A great start saw him lead on lap one but an incident at the chicane ended Jackson’s race and the red flag meant a restart.

While Jackson underwent precautionary checks at the medical centre, Butcher once again led the way in his home race to claim a second win of the season. He sits third in the driver standings.

The rear-right wheel of Jackson’s Ford Focus had locked, leading to a spin into oncoming traffic, and while he came away relatively unscathed, race rival Mike Bushell dislocated his shoulder as well as suffering ligament damage to his wrist. Butcher’s previous win at

Oulton Park came when on-track victor Josh Cook was later excluded from the result after his car failed a post-race ride height check. It meant promotion for the Motorbase driver but he was glad to have won under his own steam this time around.

He said: “I felt after Oulton, Josh drove so well in that race and I got handed the win; I didn’t want to take my first victory in the new car in that way. So to do what we just did on home ground has made up for it.”

Third on the podium in race one was Kent’s Jake Hill, bringing in his Honda Civic in behind race winner Ashley Sutton and second placed driver Colin Turkington. Butcher made a good start in the second race, starting in P5, but came off worse following a move on Hill and dropped to 13th.

Neate ended up with another DNF after an off in the gravel while Jackson took 13th and Butcher climbed his way back up to 10th.

Maidstone’s Team HARD weren’t able to compete following incidents in the previous round at Oulton Park.

Driver Ollie Brown withdrew on medical grounds after sustaining a hairline fracture of the rib in an incident with Nicolas Hamilton and Stephen Jelly on lap 10. Hamilton’s car sustained substantial chassis damage during the incident and it couldn’t be fixed in time. The Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship now enjoys a three-week break before resuming at Thruxton on September 19-20.

Brett Lidsey has claimed his first podium finish of 2020.

The Northfleet racer clinched a second place Cup 5 finish for Sorg Rennsport during round five of the Nurburgring Endurance Series.

Lidsey, with co-drivers Ivan

Berets and Israeli racer

Moran Gott, took the flag in third following the six-hour endurance race, but were elevated to second following a post-race protest.

The trio had been leading the Cup 5 class briefly into the final 30 minutes of the contest. Impacted by a traction control issue with the BMW M240i late in the last stint, Lidsey did a terrific job to overcome the problem and hold on to third place.

The winning No.650 car was penalised for not adhering to the rules during one of the pit-stops and so Lidsey, Berets and Gott were elevated into the runner-up position.

Swale Combined AC’s Harrison Patching-Scott set two personal bests and club records in both the 100m and 200m at the Canterbury Track Athletics Open.

The under-17 athlete was one of two competing from the club. He finished second in the 100m heat in a wind assisted time of 11.80secs, improving his best by a massive 0.35secs. That was shortly followed by more success in the 200m, where he again massively improved on his best to break his own club record set last year of 25.0secs, with a time of 24.35secs.

Amelia Williams also raced for the first time this summer in the 100m and finished fourth in her heat with a time of 14.03secs.

Mike Farrell, meanwhile, competed at Hexham in the M55 discus in his first event of the year, throwing 25.99m.