LEICESTER overcame their injury problems to complete the double over Edinburgh with a 53-37 win in Saturday’s NDL meeting at the Pidcock Motorcycles Arena, Beaumont Park.
Lion Cubs No.1 Dan Thompson scored a five-ride maximum and his successful combination with Ashton Boughen produced three 5-1s with the 15-year-old highly impressive once again as he scored paid-15 from six rides.
The result gave the Cubs three points as they had won the reverse fixture at Armadale one week earlier, and it moves them up to third in the NDL table after a big away win for Oxford at Workington earlier in the day.
An eventful start to the meeting saw the sides trade 5-1s with Thompson and Boughen getting the better of Max Clegg from the gate in Heat 1, before the visiting reserves hit back in Heat 2 with maximum points of their own.
Max Perry rode a smart first lap to edge inside Adam Roynon and take Heat 3 with Max James completing a 4-2, and Connor Coles – guesting for the injured Joe Thompson - defeated Jacob Hook in the next, whilst James was unlucky to lose out to Mickie Simpson as he had been challenging Hook for second place.
Thompson and Boughen put the Cubs six points up with a 5-1 over Hook in Heat 6, whilst mechanical trouble cost Simpson third place in Heat 7 as guest Kai Ward came through to share the race for Leicester.
Heat 8 was eventful with the Edinburgh riders tangling on the first bend, and the re-start saw both Boughen and James fight their way past Simpson – who fell and had to complete the race on foot for a point.
That put the Cubs ten points up and their victory was virtually assured when Boughen gated in Heat 10 whilst Dan Thompson passed Roynon on lap two to make it 37-23 in the home side’s favour.
The next four races were all shared with Clegg and Roynon taking wins for the Monarchs Academy, but with their team-mates at the back, before Thompson kept his unbeaten run going with a win over Clegg and Hook in Heat 13.
Boughen was beaten for the first time in Heat 14 with Hook just holding on for the win, and the Cubs then finished with a 4-2 as Thompson completed his paid maximum by quickly clearing Hook, whilst an excellent race for the minor places saw Boughen re-pass Clegg and almost get back on terms with Hook.
Cubs boss Dave Howard said: “The first few heats were really close and there was some brilliant racing all night, but everybody put everything in and we pulled away and it was a great performance.
“Ashton’s starting can be incredible sometimes, but also he’s coming from the back now and he’s coming on so much. He’s learning through the season and improving, improving and improving!
“The three 5-1s from paid maximum man Dan and Ashton riding together gave us such a boost towards the win.
“We’re up to third place now and it’s important that we get some more away wins. It was a really good win last week at Edinburgh so that also gave us the aggregate point tonight, and those are going to be so important for us to challenge Mildenhall and Oxford at the top.”
The Lion Cubs now have a break of a fortnight – with no home match next Saturday – and are next in action at Workington in the KO Cup on July 8, where they will hope to have reserve Vinnie Foord back from injury.
LEICESTER 53: Dan Thompson 14+1, Ashton Boughen 13+2, Max Perry 8+1, Connor Coles 7, Max James 6+2, Kai Ward 5+4, Tom Spencer r/r.
EDINBURGH 37: Jacob Hook 12+1, Max Clegg 9, Adam Roynon 9, Mickie Simpson 4+2, Dayle Wood 3, Kyran Lyden 0, Alex Spooner r/r.
