LEICESTER let a six-point lead slip to go down 48-42 in their first-ever visit to Northampton International Shaleway on Thursday.
The Watling JCB Lions did leave the Brafield venue with the aggregate point, so at least added to their ROWE Motor Oil Premiership total, but there was undeniably a sense that they should have had more from the meeting.
Having made a whirlwind start to lead 15-9 after Heat 4, Lions were unable to completely put their hosts to bed, and the match then turned on its head with two shock 5-1s to Northampton in Heats 12 and 13, from which there was no comeback.
The match started in perfect fashion with Ryan Douglas taking a full second off the track record in Heat 1 with guest Lewis Kerr joining him for a 5-1.
Drew Kemp, who put in an excellent display, won the re-run of Heat 2 after Dan Gilkes had fallen on the second lap, but the Foxes gained a couple of points back when Kyle Howarth came to grief in Heat 3 enabling Jonas Jeppesen to take third place in a 4-2.
However, when Kemp and Sam Masters roared clear of home captain Nicolai Klindt in Heat 4 for another 5-1, the prospects for an away win in front of a large travelling support looked good.
Northampton then began to put a consistent run of race wins on the board, starting in Heat 5 when Douglas came down heading into the first bend and was disqualified, with Kerr splitting Niels-Kristian Iversen and Jeppesen in the re-run.
The next two races were shared, again with home winners, and the Foxes got closer when Troy Batchelor scored his only points of the night by winning Heat 8 with Sam Hagon third after Gilkes had fallen on the third bend.
They levelled up with another 4-2 in Heat 9 with Masters relegated to the back, and they could have gone ahead in Heat 10 only for Howarth and Nick Morris to quickly clear Batchelor and protect a 3-3 behind Jaimon Lidsey.
Douglas and Kerr then produced an excellent double move on Klindt to take a 5-1 from Heat 11 and make it 35-31 in Leicester’s favour, and that appeared to give them a winning position once more.
But Heat 12 changed everything as Morris and Kemp initially held another 5-1 only for Morris to go wide at the end of lap two and clip the fence, ending his race, whilst Kemp had been rounded by Kye Thomson and then was trapped by the inside move of Jeppesen.
There was another major blow in Heat 13 when Klindt and Lidsey fired out of the start to leave Masters and Douglas trailing, and suddenly it was the Foxes who were favourites.
Howarth did his best to keep the Lions in the hunt with a super ride to win Heat 14, holding off the hard-charging Thomson, but Iversen went inside Gilkes to leave the Lions needing a 5-1 from the last race to draw the meeting.
Away from the start they held a 4-2, which was at least set to make it a nervous conclusion, but as if to sum up the way the night had fallen away, race leader Douglas suffered mechanical trouble on lap two, enabling Lidsey and Iversen to take a 4-2 of their own and confirm the Northampton victory.
Leicester manager Stewart Dickson said: “I think we had a bit of bad luck, but if I’m honest I had a bad feeling from around Heat 6 or 7 as they were making gates and winning races, and we threw away several points from scoring positions.
“It’s one that has got away from us, and the bottom line is that whatever happened to the bikes, whatever happened to the riders falling off, we made the mistakes and Northampton capitalised on it.
“I don’t want to make excuses - fair play to Northampton who dug in and got the win, and they’ll be pleased with that, but to be six points up and lose by six is disappointing.
“Heat 12 is undoubtedly the one we will look back on because we were on a 5-1, and within 15 seconds it was a 5-1 to them, and that’s an eight-point swing, so that did plenty of damage.
“But when I look at our scores and I see Drew Kemp scoring 11 points away from home, and Lewi Kerr being a superb guest, we should not be losing.
“We had a big travelling support tonight and we came up short in front of them. We did get a point for the aggregate, but it was a match we had targeted to win, and I do have some thinking to do over the next couple of days.”
The Lions are next in action back at the Hydroscand Arena, Beaumont Park next Thursday (May 28) when they host Sheffield. Prior to that, the club stages the British Under-21 Qualifier on Sunday (3pm).
ROWE MOTOR OIL PREMIERSHIP
NORTHAMPTON 48: Jaimon Lidsey 12+1, Niels-Kristian Iversen 11+1 Kye Thomson 10, Jonas Jeppesen 5+1, Nicolai Klindt 5, Troy Batchelor 3, Sam Hagon 2+1
LEICESTER 42: Lewis Kerr 11+1, Drew Kemp 11, Kyle Howarth 6+1, Ryan Douglas 5+1, Nick Morris 5+1, Sam Masters 4+2, Dan Gilkes 0
Leicester win aggregate point
