LEICESTER extended their 100 per cent home record this season by defeating league leaders Belle Vue 49-41 in a cracking contest at the Hyroscand Arena on Monday.
Flying Ryan Douglas and Nick Morris combined for a 5-1 over the Aces’ top duo of Brady Kurtz and Jason Doyle in a last-heat decider to ensure the Watling JCB Lions took the two league points, with the Aces taking the aggregate point.
The result moves the Lions closer to confirming second place in the standings ahead of the play-offs, which would enable them to stage the second leg of their semi-final at home.
In a meeting where the Aces’ heat leaders were always likely to win plenty of races, it was a night where solidarity proved crucial as the Lions limited last places to just four on the night.
Douglas gave them the punch required in the No.1 berth with three race wins over Kurtz, and the rest of the team all chipped in with decent points throughout the encounter.
Once again it was a fast start from the home side, who achieved the notable feat of a 5-1 over Kurtz in Heat 1 thanks to Douglas and Drew Kemp, the latter holding position well when the World No.2 attacked on the inside.
The visitors clawed a couple of points back in Heat 2 with Joe Thompson splitting Tate Zischke and Will Cairns on the opening lap, before Sam Masters and Dan Thompson gated to another 5-1 in Heat 3 with the Aces’ Peter Kildemand sliding off as he looked to close in.
Former Leicester No.1 Doyle started off well with a fine move to go between Morris and Joe Thompson in the early stages of Heat 4, although Dan Thompson nearly improved on that in the next race when he went up against Kurtz and Norick Blodorn, only for Kurtz to power back past on the outside.
Douglas held off Doyle in a high-speed battle for the lead as Heat 6 was again shared, as was the case in Heat 7 with Morris unable to quite land a blow on Kildemand, although his forceful first bend had generated a gap for guest Jordan Jenkins to move inside Zach Cook.
The run of 3-3s continued in an excellent Heat 8 where both Kemp and Joe Thompson fought their way past Cairns to prevent an Aces 5-1, Thompson switching through on the inside on the run to the line, before Doyle notched another win as Heat 9 also ended in a 3-3.
But the Lions got a great result out of Heat 10 with Douglas continuing his winning ways from the outside gate whilst Kemp put up a super defence of second place ahead of Kildemand, and it gave the home side an eight-point lead.
Kurtz showed his class in Heat 11 as he reeled in Morris over the last couple of laps before finally making the move stick on the outside of the last bend, but Jenkins held a good third place over Blodorn, and even when Kurtz took a tactical substitute ride in Heat 12 and duly won it, his team-mate Kildemand was kept at the back by Masters and Joe Thompson.
Douglas was finally beaten in Heat 13 as Doyle rode an excellent first lap to make it around the outside, but this time it was Kurtz at the back as Douglas and Morris settled for a share of the spoils.
That looked like almost game over with the score at 43-35, but the Aces weren’t finished as Cook passed Jenkins to lead Heat 14 whilst Zischke made it past first Dan Thompson and then Jenkins for a shock 5-1 which cut the gap to four points and meant the Aces could draw the meeting with another maximum in the finale.
The visitors had choice of gates and elected for one and three, but in a dramatic opening to the race Douglas crucially got ahead of Doyle who looked to move his opponent wide – but in doing so he also interfered with Kurtz, and Morris shot through into second place with Doyle subsequently retiring and Kurtz unable to threaten the Leicester duo, whose 5-1 was greeted with great acclaim.
Lions manager Stewart Dickson said: “We knew it was going to be a tough one but we got off to a decent start, not quite as good as last week, but it was still good and that’s important at this level of speedway.
“From a Leicester point of view I look at the scorechart and I see there’s points throughout the team. We’re still searching for that consistency for all seven riders to have a good night on any one night, but I think all Premiership managers would tell you the same.
“We knew they would come back at us and they had a slight incident on the second bend of Heat 15, but all in all I’m pleased and I don’t feel a score of 49 points flattered us.
“We deserved 49, they had a tactical which they didn’t get a heat advantage from so I was pleased to nullify that, although Heat 14 was disappointing from the position we were in.
“Credit to their riders for that as well, Lemo (Mark Lemon) made a change that worked out there whereas I didn’t make a change because I didn’t feel it was necessary – but Dougy and Nick bailed us out you could say in Heat 15, and sent everyone home happy.”
The Lions have two more matches to go before the play-offs get underway, and the first of those is at King’s Lynn – who still have a faint play-off chance – on Thursday.
LEICESTER 49: Ryan Douglas 14, Nick Morris 9+2, Drew Kemp 6+2, Dan Thompson 6+2, Joe Thompson 6+2, Sam Masters 6+1, Jordan Jenkins 2+2.
BELLE VUE 41: Brady Kurtz 11, Jason Doyle 11, Tate Zischke 6+2, Norick Blodorn 4, Peter Kildemand 4, Zach Cook 4, Will Cairns 1.
Belle Vue win the aggregate point
