LEICESTER face a catch-up task in the second leg of the ROWE Motor Oil Premiership Grand Final after going down to a 54-36 defeat in Monday’s opener at Belle Vue.
It means the Watling JCB Lions need to pull back an 18-point deficit when the sides reconvene at the Pidcock Motorcycles Arena, Beaumont Park on Thursday.
And whilst that is a greater margin than would ideally have been the case, past results between the sides in the East Midlands do give cause for optimism as the Lions have raced to 53-37 and 55-35 home wins over the Aces this season.
But the Manchester side will go in as favourites after a late flurry of scoring in a meeting which was significantly affected by the weather.
The Belle Vue track staff had done a superb job to get the track into raceable condition following the weekend deluge, but when rain returned midway through the match it made matters extremely difficult, and with the contest being pushed through at fast pace it offered little opportunity for riders to make set-up changes.
That said, after going eight points down after five races, Lions held things at that level all the way until Heat 13, as seven successive heats were shared, but there was plenty of damage done late on by the Aces’ big guns.
Dan Bewley raced to a 15-point maximum for the hosts and Brady Kurtz recovered from a last place in his first ride to go unbeaten thereafter, and Jaimon Lidsey dropped only one point in four rides.
Lions did have the advantage at reserve where Lewis Kerr won Heat 2 and Sam Hagon contributed a battling six points in his best display for the club, but overall they only had two race wins out of 15.
Kurtz lifted violently at the start of Heat 1 which also affected Lions captain Max Fricke as Norick Blodorn raced to the win, but it was the Lions who gated in Heat 2 only for Antti Vuolas and Jake Mulford to both find their way past Hagon for a 3-3 behind Kerr.
Aces guest Niels-Kristian Iversen hit the front in Heat 3 and whilst Sam Masters briefly moved into second place, a strong move by Lidsey into turn three saw him secure the first 5-1 of the night.
Ryan Douglas charged inside Bewley and Mulford to briefly take the lead in Heat 4 only for Bewley to sweep back around the outside, and the Aces made it 19-11 with another 5-1 in Heat 5 as Fricke was relegated to the back, with Richard Lawson splitting Lidsey and Iversen.
The run of 3-3s began with an excellent ride by Hagon in Heat 6 to use the outside to get the better of Blodorn, with Douglas waiting for his team-mate rather than make a fruitless chase of leader Kurtz, whilst Masters gated in Heat 7 but Bewley again showed immense speed on the outside to go ahead on lap two.
Lions had a potential opening in Heat 8 with Lawson and Hagon both making good starts but Blodorn pulled off a fine ride for the Aces, moving inside Lawson and then quickly switching for the outside to get the better of Hagon for another 3-3.
Douglas grabbed Leicester’s second win in Heat 9, defeating Lidsey and Iversen, and they looked to have another chance in Heat 10 when they again gated on a 5-1 with Luke Becker well clear only for Kurtz to find incredible drive on the very inside and move past both Lions riders in turn.
Bewley and Lidsey added clear wins in Heats 11 and 12 with the Lions packing the places both times, leaving the scores at 40-32, but the final section of the meeting always looked promising for the Aces.
That was how it turned out as Kurtz just got the better of Fricke into the first bend of Heat 13 leaving the Lions’ No.1 in mid-track and being swamped either side off turn two for a 5-1, and guest Iversen showed plenty of experience as well as commitment to reel in Becker in Heat 14 and pass him on the second lap with Vuolas third for a 4-2.
Lions selected Douglas and Lawson for Heat 15 but it was largely a repeat performance from Heat 13 with Douglas this time finding himself the man in the middle as Kurtz and Bewley took charge to increase the lead one final time.
Leicester manager Stewart Dickson said: “Eighteen points is a lot when you hear it out loud, but the boys battled away in tough conditions and I can’t point fingers at anybody.
“The home riders managed to cope better than us, they had their tails up and Heats 13 and 15 hurt us tonight unfortunately.
“We threw a few points away, we made the gate in a couple of races and then by the second lap the home rider was in front again, so credit to them.
“It’s been a difficult night for us but we’re not throwing the towel in, I can assure you. We’ll give it a go on Thursday and we’ll see what happens.
“We need to come out all guns blazing there, and after six or seven races we’ll know if we’re in with a chance.”
ROWE MOTOR OIL PREMIERSHIP GRAND FINAL, 1st leg
BELLE VUE 54: Dan Bewley 15, Brady Kurtz 10+2, Jaimon Lidsey 10+1, Niels-Kristian Iversen 8+1, Norick Blodorn 6, Antti Vuolas 3, Jake Mulford 2+1.
LEICESTER 36: Ryan Douglas 7+1, Richard Lawson 6+2, Sam Hagon 6, Sam Masters 5+2, Luke Becker 5+1, Max Fricke 4+1, Lewis Kerr 3.
Photo credit: IAN CHARLES
