With a powerful heat leader trio now in position the Kent Eagles management team continue to build what they feel sure will be an equally solid engine room of the team that will set out in pursuit of the National Development trophy in Season 2025.
Next in line to put pen to paper to represent them in the forthcoming campaign is highly rated Charlie Wood.
By his own admission Wood has been around the sport and racing virtually all his life, his earliest memories include being transported around the country by his dad and elder brother Georgie, watching them ride which in turn instilled an obsession with bikes within him.
Around the age of 5 or 6 Wood sat on a bike himself, a peewee 50 which he feels sure that many other riders can relate to and from there his confidence grew riding motorcross bikes around nearby fields.
In 2015 Wood’s interest renewed somewhat after brother Georgie signed for Eastbourne, starting at reserve and swiftly rising through the ranks to become a major performer for the Eagles. That year also saw the younger Wood first compete on a speedway bike of his own, his first proving to be a birthday present from his Mum.
Like many others he entered the British Youth Championship system, rising through the ranks in the coming years on the back of some good and notable performances.
In 2021 Wood entered a grass track meeting for a bit of fun, and though a few tumbles disclosed that it was not entirely fun, still he wasn’t daunted, the seasons spanning 2022 and 2024 seeing him concentrate more on the grass track discipline of racing.
He remained in touch with Speedway attending a handful of meetings each season to keep him in the loop, however a crash on the Isle of Wight at the tail end of 2023 set him back, leading him to question his continued participation in that area of the sport.
Wood attended a few practise days in 2024 to see if his passion for Speedway would return and admits that it did, a first league level meeting in May in which he scored a paid maximum for the Hastings Saxons against the Cradley Heathens proving a large factor in that.
Beyond that however Wood, still only 16, continued to focus more on the grass, a successful year, against increasingly tough opposition, though nothing he couldn’t handle, unfolded, one that proffered some inspired results at the top level.
A conversation with Kent Eagles club owners David Graveling and Michael Gray convinced Wood that a highly promising speedway career could yet exist alongside that of an already successful grass track operation.
The realisation that the speedway fixtures could work well in tandem with his grass track commitments sparked a much-renewed interest in the former and Wood swiftly agreed to sign on the dotted line and commit to the forthcoming National Development Trophy campaign on their behalf.
‘I’m really looking forward to riding for the Eagles in 2025 as it is a new challenge for me’ Wood commented.
‘We have set some good targets, and my machinery will be the best to suit me and my team who will be as good as they always are’ he continued.
‘I’m really pleased to have been asked by David (Graveling) and the team and I can’t thank them enough for the opportunity to show them and the fans what I can do. See you in the 2025 season’ Wood concluded.
Words and Images by Kent Eagles
