LEICESTER’S Dan Thompson secured an excellent runners-up spot in Wednesday’s British Under-21 Final at Birmingham.
Thompson finished second to Leon Flint, who delivered a faultless performance in taking the title having been unbeaten throughout the evening, whilst Connor Bailey was third.
Both Thompson twins qualified for the closing stages, with Joe winning Heat 12 when they met with a fast start from the outside.
Joe scored 12 points from five rides with Dan on 11, and they were joined in the semi-final by Bailey and Nathan Ablitt.
This time Dan got the better of things from the inside as Joe missed out from gate three, with Bailey taking second in the race as Ablitt fell.
The Final was highly dramatic with Flint in the lead until defending champion Tom Brennan lost control on the back straight and crashed after hitting the fence, with the incident also bringing down Bailey.
Flint made no mistake in the re-run and dominated the race, but Dan could still be pleased with second place, as he took advantage of Bailey sliding wide at the end of the first lap.
Dan said: “It was a good night. I struggled out of the starts quite a bit, but we changed quite a few things on the bike and I’m just enjoying my racing.
“It’s going to be a busy time ahead with both Leicester teams, and I’m doing the European Under-19 event on Saturday so that will be good experience as well.”
Meanwhile Max Perry acquitted himself well with five points against riders far more experienced, and emerged unscathed from two alarming moments – first in Heat 1 when his Lion Cubs’ team-mate Vinnie Foord fell on the third bend, causing Perry and Jody Scott to take avoiding action.
And Perry also needed quick reactions to prevent a major pile-up in Heat 15 when Bailey spun on turn one right in front of him.
Foord was unable to fully recover from that first race spill when he had been holding second place, and he picked up further disqualifications for bike trouble in one instance and another when he brought down Sam Hagon on the last bend of Heat 9.
Qualifying scores: Leon Flint 15, Tom Brennan 13, Joe Thompson 12, Dan Thompson 11, Connor Bailey 10, Nathan Ablitt 9, Jason Edwards 8, Henry Atkins 8, Drew Kemp 7, Ace Pijper 6, Sam Hagon 5, Max Perry 5, Harry McGurk 5, Jody Scott 3, Sam McGurk 2, Vinnie Foord 1, Jack Shimelt (res) 0.
Semi-final: D.Thompson, Bailey, J.Thompson, Ablitt (f)
Final: Flint, D.Thompson, Bailey, Brennan (f.dq)
