LEICESTER advanced to second place in the ROWE Motor Oil Premiership with a hard-fought 53-37 win over Birmingham in their final regular home league fixture.
The Watling JCB Lions are now guaranteed to finish third at the lowest after Belle Vue were beaten at King’s Lynn, and they appear to be favourites for second - although that may depend on whether the Sheffield v Ipswich fixture, postponed due to rain, can take place before the cut-off.
Thursday’s meeting at the Hydroscand Arena, Beaumont Park did escape the downpours crossing the country, and although conditions were dustier than usual as the club had held off on the normal level of watering due to the forecast, it was still a competitive spectacle.
The Brummies put in plenty of effort, and not for the first time this season they performed far better at Leicester than in their equivalent home fixture.
Lions looked set for a big win when they raced into an early eight-point lead as Max Fricke held off Tobiasz Musielak to win Heat 1 whilst Luke Becker moved inside Jonas Jeppesen for third place.
Reserves Drew Kemp and Joe Thompson raced to a convincing Heat 2 5-1, and Kyle Howarth retrieved third from Paco Castagna in Heat 3 as Ryan Douglas took the win.
But Birmingham gained a couple of points back in Heat 4 when Sam Masters fell on the last bend when chasing Matej Zagar, and a surprise 5-1 followed with Jeppesen driving inside Douglas off turn four in Heat 5 to link up with Musielak for maximum points.
Zagar made a fast start from the inside in Heat 6 to take the scalp of Fricke, and a trading of 4-2s followed with Kemp and Masters split by Keynan Rew in Heat 7 whilst Jeppesen re-passed Becker in Heat 8 to leave the scores at 25-23.
Douglas ended Zagar’s unbeaten run in Heat 9 as Leicester took a 4-2, and the Lions seized control of the meeting when Fricke and Becker gated to a 5-1 over Rew and Castagna in the next.
But it still took some time to put the meeting to bed, with Masters having to work hard to defeat Musielak in Heat 11, whilst the next was also shared as Douglas took the win to prevent Zagar from scoring big as a tactical substitute.
Fricke showed his usual class to win Heat 13 as Masters was squeezed out in a tight first bend at the expense of Musielak and Zagar, leaving Leicester eight points up with two races remaining.
The match was secured in Heat 14 with Kemp charging to his third win of the night whilst Howarth cleverly cut back from the outside to join him for a 5-1.
But the race of the night was Heat 15 as Musielak looked set to sign off for the Brummies with a win by fending off the outside challenge of Douglas, only for the Aussie to switch back to the inside and execute a terrific pass, with Fricke then following him through on the last lap for another 5-1.
Rider of the night Kemp said: “I feel like tonight showed my capabilities of what I can do. I’ve had a few problems with clutches and engines but tonight I tried to simplify everything, do something different and it seemed to work.
“Touch wood it’s going to work every time, and it’s come at the right time in the last home match before the play-offs, so if we can keep this going and take it into the play-offs we’ll see where we end up.
“When me and Joe are scoring it takes the pressure off the top boys, it makes everyone’s life ten times easier and the whole morale is a lot better.
“If we can keep that up now, the whole team is pulling their fingers out effectively, so going into the play-offs we can hopefully come away with a couple of wins.
“I think we are capable of beating anybody on our day. Anythjng can happen in speedway, but I’m sure whoever we’re against we’ll put on a good show, and I know we’re capable of winning.”
The Lions round off their regular league campaign at Oxford next Thursday (September 4) with the play-offs to follow on dates to be confirmed across the following two Mondays and Thursdays.
Their likeliest semi-final opponents at this stage are Sheffield, but the position could yet change depending on next week’s results.
LEICESTER 53: Ryan Douglas 13, Max Fricke 12+2, Drew Kemp 9, Luke Becker 7+1, Kyle Howarth 4+1, Joe Thompson 4+1, Sam Masters 4.
BIRMINGHAM 37: Matej Zagar 10+2, Tobiasz Musielak 10, Keynan Rew 7, Jonas Jeppesen 6+2, Sam Hagon 2, Paco Castagna 1, Simon Lambert 1.
Leicester win the aggregate point
