LEICESTER retuned to ROWE Motor Oil Premiership action with an emphatic 54-36 win at King’s Lynn to move to the brink of securing play-off qualification.
Flying Ryan Douglas struck a 14+1 paid maximum from five rides as the Watling JCB Lions put on a fast-gating show at the Adrian Flux Arena to sweep the Stars aside in what proved a very different meeting to the KO Cup Final first leg last week which had ended all square.
All six Lions riders put in quality performances, including at reserve where Drew Kemp banished the demons of last Monday with a paid-eight score, and Joe Thompson won his own individual battle throughout.
It was something of a drawn-out affair with the action not getting underway until 8.10pm due to track work following afternoon rain and concerns over the setting sun, and there were further lengthy grading breaks during the evening.
But after two shared races won by home riders, the Lions went ahead with a 4-2 in Heat 3 as Kyle Howarth re-passed Richard Lawson for third placed off turn four, having performed a similar move on Jan Kvech in the opening race.
Sam Masters team-rode with Thompson in Heat 4 but was almost caught for third place on the line by Luke Harrison, with Leicester just two points up at that stage.
But Douglas and skipper Max Fricke produced some expert team riding to keep Lawson at bay for a 5-1 in Heat 5, and after the Stars took two points back in the next, Howarth and Douglas also banked maximum points in Heat 7 with Douglas controlling things nicely after lifting on turn two.
Lions were then utterly dominant through mid-meeting, gating on a 5-1 again in Heat 8 before Niels-Kristian Iversen split Fricke and Thompson, and once again in Heat 9 with Lawson moving inside Kemp but being unable to get to grips with Masters.
After a third successive Leicester 4-2 in Heat 10, Masters and Fricke stormed to maximum points in Heat 11 as Nicolai Klindt lost ground on turn three, and the points were in the bag one race later thanks to Douglas and Kemp, despite the Stars bringing in Lawson as a tactical substitute to join Harris.
That was 47-25 to Leicester, before Lynn produced a mini response as Kvech popped up with a Heat 13 win over Fricke and Masters, and the home side collected a consolation 5-1 from Lawson and Tobias Thomsen in the next, whilst Fricke had the final say with a win in Heat 15.
Lions manager Stewart Dickson said: “Obviously there wasn’t the intensity and atmosphere of the Cup Final last week, but we still had a job to do, and we did it very well.
“All six of our riders performed well and it’s another big result for us especially when you look at the scores elsewhere tonight.
“There was some talk about Tom Brennan guesting last week and us being ‘lucky’ because he scored 12 from five rides; well, on this occasion our own riders scored 10+1 from four rides using rider replacement, so it does show that whether using a guest or r/r, we are a strong side.
“It’s not for me to speak too much about the opposition but clearly King’s Lynn weren’t the same team with Nicolai Klindt no longer at reserve, but I keep saying it’s all down to what we do ourselves.
“We need to keep this run going, the target is to finish as high as possible and that’s what we’ll keep trying to do throughout the remaining league matches.
“We had plenty of travelling fans there again tonight and we thank them for their support, and we’re pleased we were able to send them home happy.”
KING’S LYNN 36: Niels-Kristian Iversen 10, Richard Lawson 8+1, Tobias Thomsen 6+1, Jan Kvech 6, Nicolai Klindt 4, Chris Harris 2, Luke Harrison 0.
LEICESTER 54: Max Fricke 14+2, Ryan Douglas 14+1, Sam Masters 8+2, Kyle Howarth 7+1, Drew Kemp 7+1, Joe Thompson 4+1, Luke Becker r/r.
Leicester win the aggregate point
