LEICESTER opened their home campaign with a hard-fought 46-44 win over Birmingham as they comfortably progressed to the KO Cup semi-finals.
The Watling JCB Lions had all but done the job of qualification with their emphatic away win earlier in the week, but it was a very different story in the return as a revitalised Brummies side put on a great show at the Hydroscand Arena, Beaumont Park.
With the visitors’ top four all in the thick of the action there was some fabulous racing before the Lions edged through on the night thanks to superb team riding from skipper Max Fricke alongside Sam Masters.
Remarkably the Lions held 5-1 positions in each of the first three races, yet the score after Heat 3 was only 10-8 as Brummies captain Tobiasz Musielak split Luke Becker and Fricke in Heat 1, and whilst Drew Kemp and Kyle Howarth also registered early race wins for the Lions, the visitors again made passing moves to produce 3-3 outcomes – the latter after a ding dong scrap between Ryan Douglas and Keynan Rew for third place.
Matej Zagar was the first Birmingham winner in Heat 4 as he sliced inside Masters just as Sam Hagon got the better of Jason Edwards for third place, and the shared races continued in Heat 5 but only due to a last-bend move by Musielak to go around Douglas and snatch a win on the line.
Zagar defeated Fricke in Heat 6 and the Brummies then took the lead on the night with maximum points in Heat 7 as Rew and Michael Jepsen Jensen got the better of Masters on the opening lap.
Becker added his second win of the night in Heat 8, but it was the start of another run of 3-3s with Zagar making it three out of three in Heat 9 with a quality move to switch inside Douglas heading into the last lap.
Then it was Fricke’s turn to show his class as he used the outside to pass both Jepsen Jensen and Rew in Heat 10 as the Australian lifted, but Lions still trailed by two points on the night and they were grateful for Jonas Jeppesen pulling out of third place in Heat 11 with mechanical trouble otherwise the gap would have been four.
Leicester looked set to level in Heat 12 only for the rapid Jepsen Jensen to find a way past Douglas – but the meeting did turn on the events of Heat 13 where the previously unbeaten Zagar was timed out after suffering problems just before the start.
Fricke and Masters gated and rode together superbly to squeeze out Musielak, putting the Lions back ahead, but they were still taken to a last heat decider as Rew won Heat 14 ahead of Kemp and Howarth for a 3-3.
Heat 15 saw Fricke and Masters take on Musielak and Jepsen Jensen, and when Musielak gated the Lions immediately went on the defensive with Fricke blocking every attack of Jepsen Jensen to ensure the home riders came away with the 3-3 they needed for the win on the night.
Manager Stewart Dickson said: “It was a bit too close for comfort, but it was a very good meeting and it takes two teams to tango.
“I had a feeling it would be a lot more competitive than it was on Monday night, I’m not saying that was a freak result because we rode very well, but if we’d lost like that at home we would have been hurting and we would have wanted to come back for the second leg and show we were a better team.
“So fair play to them, but at the end of the day we got the win and I think that was important. I know we’re through on aggregate but it’s always pleasing to win on the night, and there was some really good racing.
“Being in the hat for the next round is all that matters but we’ve won both meetings, that’s the way we’ve got to look at it, and Birmingham will also take something from it.
“I do have a soft spot for them because I was there a couple of years ago, and it’s positive because nobody wants to see 63-27 sort of stuff, they want to see close, entertaining speedway. We also want our own team to win, and we managed to do that tonight.”
Lions will face Sheffield in the KO Cup semi-finals in early June, with their ROWE Motor Oil Premiership campaign set to get underway on April 10 at home to Belle Vue in a repeat of last year’s Grand Final.
LEICESTER 46: Sam Masters 10, Max Fricke 9+2, Drew Kemp 7+2, Luke Becker 7+1, Kyle Howarth 6+3, Ryan Douglas 6, Sam Hagon 1+1.
BIRMINGHAM 44: Tobiasz Musielak 12, Michael Jepsen Jensen 10, Matej Zagar 9, Keynan Rew 7+3, Jason Edwards 2+2, Jonas Jeppesen 2, Antti Vuolas 2.
Leicester win 103-77 on aggregate
