LEICESTER Lion Cubs moved back up to second place in the WSRA National Development League with a hard-fought 47-43 win over the Steelers on Sunday.
The Lion Cubs saw an eight-point lead whittled back in the closing stages of the meeting and could have been facing another Super Heat until the meeting took a final dramatic twist.
Steelers needed 5-1 from the last race to level the scores, and the Lion Cubs were tracking the unbeaten Cooper Rushen along with Ben Trigger who had won three of his four races.
But the visitors, represented by Luke Harrison and Ben Morley, gated on the maximum advantage they required, which could have seen the meeting go the same way as the recent home clash with Oxford.
However, this time the decisive moment went in the Lion Cubs’ favour as with Rushen throwing everything at Morley and seeming set to pass him on the last lap, Morley suffered mechanical trouble which turned the race into a 3-3 and meant Leicester were home and dry.
Rushen and Trigger aside, there were other stand-out performances for the Lion Cubs with Max Perry unbeaten from his final three rides in a confidence boosting display after he was disqualified from Heat 1.
In the final analysis it was a 5-1 from Perry and Rushen in Heat 10 over former Lion Cubs riders Vinnie Foord and Mickie Simpson which made a vital difference, after the two had also combined for maximum points over Morley in Heat 6.
At reserve, Ryan Ingram again showed great signs of progress with a confident effort to pass Luke Harris to win Heat 2, and he contributed eight points in total whilst Eli Meadows also chipped in with several important third places.
It was a tougher day in the middle order with guest Sam McGurk crashing out of the meeting in Heat 5 in an incident which also affected Lion Cubs captain Max James and Steelers rider Jamie Etherington, and James also could not take his final ride.
Manager Jen Crossland said: “The team really pulled together because once again we finished with only five riders, but we got the win and we’re delighted.
“We mucked in together, and we had to swap races around with Eli and Ryan coming in, and they did a great job.
“It’s great to get the win we all wanted, but the most important thing is this the foundation of British Speedway.
“We have the likes of Max Fricke in the Premiership but potentially we have riders here who could be stepping up into the Championship next year and going on to bigger things. This is where it starts for them, and we’ve got to all get behind them because these riders are the future.”
WSRA NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT LEAGUE
LEICESTER 47: Cooper Rushen 14, Ben Trigger 10+1, Ryan Ingram 8, Max Perry 7+2, Eli Meadows 4, Max James 2+1, Sam McGurk 2+1.
STEELERS 43: Luke Harrison 11+1, Vinnie Foord 9, Ben Morley 8, Luke Harris 6+1, Jamie Etherington 5+2, Mickie Simpson 4+1, Harrison Rogers 0.
