LEICESTER had to settle for fourth place in Thursday’s Premiership Pairs as Belle Vue took the honours at the Pidcock Motorcycles Arena, Beaumont Park.
The Aces defeated surprise packages Peterborough in the Final having overcome Sheffield in the semi, as Dan Bewley and Brady Kurtz hit top form in the closing stages.
The Panthers had qualified direct for the Final thanks to an inspired performance from former Watling JCB Lions rider Richie Worrall, who collected an incredible score of 23 out of 24 points from his opening six rides.
The Lions themselves fell three points short of the semi-final after getting ahead of Ipswich on countback during the final phase of the meeting, but being overhauled themselves by fast-finishing Sheffield.
In the final analysis a 6-3 concession to eventual basement side Wolverhampton in their first ride was costly as Max Fricke just missed out on passing Steve Worrall on the line.
Rising Star Drew Kemp took his compulsory ride in Heat 6 and rode a stormer to collect a 5-4 with Fricke over the Belle Vue duo with Kurtz at the back, and that performance led to Kemp receiving the nod for the final two races as Justin Sedgmen was unable to show his recent fast-gating form.
Kemp also held second place behind Fricke for a time in Heat 17 before King’s Lynn’s impressive Nicolai Klindt came through, but he still took third over Thomas Jorgensen as a 6-3 kept Leicester in touch.
It came down to a head-to-head between the Lions and the Tigers in Heat 21 with both sides on 23 points, and Sheffield’s Tobiasz Musielak won the race after a spectacular battle with Fricke, with Jack Holder supplying third place for a 6-3 which took the Owlerton side through.
The next meeting at Beaumont Park is next Thursday (July 6) when the Lions host Peterborough, which means a rapid return for Richie Worrall on one of his favourite tracks.
PREMIERSHIP PAIRS, Leicester
QUALIFYING SCORES:
PETERBOROUGH 33: Richie Worrall 23, Ben Cook 8, Jordan Jenkins 2.
BELLE VUE 32: Dan Bewley 20, Brady Kurtz 12, Jake Mulford 0.
SHEFFIELD 29: Jack Holder 16, Tobiasz Musielak 13, Dan Gilkes 0.
LEICESTER 26: Max Fricke 19, Drew Kemp 5, Justin Sedgmen 2.
IPSWICH 26: Danny King 18, Erik Riss 8, Dan Thompson 0.
KING’S LYNN 22: Nicolai Klindt 22, Thomas Jorgensen 0, Anders Rowe 0.
WOLVERHAMPTON 21: Steve Worrall 16, Sam Masters 5, Leon Flint 0.
SEMI-FINAL: Kurtz, Bewley, Holder, Musielak – [Belle Vue beat Sheffield 7-2].
GRAND FINAL: Kurtz, Bewley, R.Worrall, B.Cook – [Belle Vue beat Peterborough 7-2].
