Newcomer sets standard

Table tennis

Division 3 of the Ashford & District League this season is likely to involve at least one Ruckinge side fighting for promotion and relegation, with four out of seven teams coming from the club.

Now in the third week of competition, home advantage was key to all of the results.

Early pace-setters Ruckinge D maintained their unbeaten start with a a 7-3 win against Ashford TT C.

New boy Dan Dacey won all three of his singles matches and teamed up with Michael Butcher to take the doubles.

Ashford TT C find themselves already 13 points off the pace in fourth, and looking over their shoulders with the teams below all having a game in hand to make up ground.

Ruckinge C, looking to gain promotion straight back into Division 2, are only two points behind the leaders.

They chalked up an 8-2 win over Challock D.

The Ruckinge trio of Richard Wright, Jane Lovick, and Clive Devlin dropped just five legs on the way to an 8-0 lead.

The result leaves Ruckinge C two points behind leaders Ruckinge D, while Challock D find themselves bottom without a win so far this season.

Challock C defeated Ruckinge F 6-4. With an amalgamated team this season Challock C have a good chance of getting into the promotion mix.

Darren McCulloch-Smith is gradually rediscovering his old form and had comprehensive wins over Ian Bewick, Stewart Turley, and Trevor Heales for the loss of just one leg.

This result leaves Ruckinge F in a three way fight at the bottom, and Challock in a three way fight at the top.

For all the results and tables visit ashford.ttleagues.com Brad Ray was unable to build on the two secondplace finishes he achieved in the British Superbike Championship at Oulton

Park last time out, finishing outside the podium places in Holland at the weekend.

After the confidence boost at the Chesire circuit, the 22-year-old from Lydd finished ninth in race one and 10th in race two at Assen. Ray, who rides for Buildbase Suzuki, said on Twitter: “Not the easiest weekend in Assen but we dug in and learnt a lot. Re-charge and come back fighting at Donington in two weeks.”

Scott Redding completed a double victory at Assen to move himself to the top of the standings ahead of his Be Wiser Ducati team-mate Josh Brookes.

Ray is now 11th in the overall standings.

Round 11 of the championships, the showdown, takes place at Donington on October 4-6. Training at Ashford Town SC has cranked up a gear now that the club are getting back into the competition season. Head coach Dan Jacobs has been meeting with swimmers to discuss their goals, commitment to the sport and most of all to encourage them and give them positive feedback, with parents also involved.