LEICESTER came back from 12 points down to edge out leaders Belle Vue 46-44 in a thriller at the Hydrsocand Arena.
The ROWE Motor Oil Premiership’s top two fought right down to the wire with home No.1 Ryan Douglas splitting Brady Kurtz and Norick Blodorn in Heat 15 to seal victory for his side.
Douglas had earlier overtaken Kurtz on the run to the line in an epic Heat 13 as the Lions clawed themselves level having been adrift 9-21 after five races.
Kurtz (13+1) and Blodorn (13+2) combined for three 5-1s for the Aces, but Jason Doyle was withdrawn after a fall in Heat 6 which saw him aggravate rib injuries.
Douglas finished last in Heat 1 but then scored 14 from five rides to anchor the Leicester win.
Lions boss Stewart Dickson said:
“Sometimes you have to give credit to the opposition, and for the first five races we never had an answer, which is unusual for me to say as a team manager.
“I’m sure Belle Vue will be gutted that they never won, I would be, but for Leicester we were only getting two league points tonight and 46 was the perfect score.
“There was some really good racing again, and obviously the highlights show will be Dougy in Heat 13 passing someone of the stature of Brady, and that really built up Heat 14 for us.”
Aces manager Mark Lemon said:
“The Premiership is a tough league, and as much as we wanted to win and we certainly tried, it’s not always going to be the case.
“Fair play to Leicester, they came back strong, and obviously we did miss Jason who took another blow to the ribs which left him feeling violently ill in the pits from the pain, which wasn’t nice and we wish him a speedy recovery.
“The rest of the guys stepped up, and Norick was very impressive. He got the rider of the night from BSN which was well deserved, Brady was class again, and the boys chipped away.”
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Photo credit: MIA DURKIN
Courtesy of BRITISHSPEEDWAY.CO.UK
Photo Courtesy of BRITISHSPEEDWAY.CO.UK
