The Paul Chapman and Sons Lions secured a 47 points to 43 win at Sheffield last night in the Inter-League Challenge return fixture.
It was a much closer meeting than the first match as the Tigers held onto Leicester’s tail right throughout the heats but inspired by a paid maximum from Josh Auty on his former track the Lions just had the edge when it mattered.
In the early stages the home riders pulled the scores level on two occasions until a 5-1 from Leicester’s most successful pairing of Josh and Grzegorz Walasek gave the team a four points’ advantage in the seventh heat. Sheffield halved their lead two races later but the Lions shared the points in the next five heats and went into Heat 15 needing a 3-3 to win the match.
Patrick Hougaard made the start and was leading until Kyle Howarth passed him on the pits turn but at the end of the straight Patrick immediately regained the advantage by passing the Sheffield heat leader on the inside. At the back Jason Doyle passed Grzegorz on the final bends only for the Lions rider to cut back on the inside and with his wheels in line much earlier he re-passed his former teammate for third place.
Scorers
Sheffield 43 points: Jason Doyle 10+1, Dimitri Berge 6, Kyle Howarth 10, Josh Bates 2+1, Jason Garrity 5, Richard Hall 7+1 and Nathan Greaves 3+2
Leicester 47 points: Patrick Hougaard 11, Nicolai Klindt 5+2, Grzegorz Walasek 9+1, Josh Auty 11+1, Sebastian Ulamek 6+1, Paul Starke 4 and Chris Widman 1+1
