LEICESTER returned to winning ways with a terrific effort to edge a close encounter 47-43 at King’s Lynn on Monday.
It was a first away win of the season in the league for the Watling JCB Lions, who were well worth their success having provided nine of the 15 race wins on the night.
Ryan Douglas and Dan Thompson, who were both hugely impressive, got them over the line with a 3-3 in the final race despite a brilliant ride by home captain Chris Harris, who went from last to first. But crucially the Lions duo kept Jan Kvech at the back to ensure an away win.
Manager Stewart Dickson was also kept busy with reserve Kyle Howarth taking six rides, and his 11+2 score proved vital to the outcome.
Whilst Harris was superb for the hosts, former Lions captain Max Fricke was seemingly still suffering after a big crash at the weekend in Wroclaw, and he was beaten by a distance by a very fast Douglas in Heat 1 as the Lions opened up with a 4-2.
Howarth won his first race with the home reserves packing in for a 3-3, and the Stars made the first big move when Harris came through from the back against Thompson and Nick Morris to join Ben Cook for a 5-1 in Heat 3.
Thompson finished last in that race but he would recover to great effect later on, whilst the next two races were shared with Kvech passing Sam Masters at the end of the first lap to win Heat 4 with Howarth in third place.
Douglas inflicted what would prove to be Harris’s only defeat in Heat 5, and the Lions added a key result in the next as Masters initially led ahead of the home duo only for Fricke to hit trouble on the exit of turn four with Howarth piling through inside both Fricke and Paco Castagna for a Leicester 5-1.
Thompson had to ride with eyes in the back of his head to keep Kvech at bay in Heat 7 and he did just that, whilst Drew Kemp took a good win Heat 8 whilst Joe Thompson was a little unlucky to miss out in the early stages after making a decent start.
With rain threatening the match moved on at pace, and an exchange of 4-2s followed with Harris catching Howarth on the last lap of Heat 9 to level the scores, only for Thompson to respond in Heat 10 by taking the scalp of Fricke with Howarth adding third place.
It was level again after Heat 11 with the Lions both going wide on the by now greasy opening bends to give the Stars a 5-1 position, before Douglas made his way back past Cooper Rushen to prevent a maximum to the home team.
But Lynn did go ahead with a 4-2 in Heat 12 as a battle for third place between Morris and Rushen ended with the Leicester man coming to grief, meaning it was 37-35 with three races to go.
Heat 13, however, went emphatically the Lions’ way with Douglas and Masters team-riding superbly in the early stages and then moving clear of Fricke and Kvech, and their situation grew stronger still in Heat 14 as Dan Thompson racked up his third win whilst brother Joe crucially held on for third place over Cook.
That meant the Stars needed a 5-1 from Heat 15 to snatch a draw, but Douglas and Thompson were excellent from the gate as they led away – and although the inspired Harris came through for the race win, the Lions were taking no chances and were not about to leave the door open for Kvech with overall victory on the cards.
Dickson said: “I think we thoroughly deserved the win. We do tend to go quite well at King’s Lynn, and we were good value for the result.
“Dan and Dougy were both very good, and the rest of the boys chipped in with some good points. Obviously there are still one or two positions where we need to get a couple of boys going a bit more, because there will be tougher challenges, but I cannot complain because it’s a good win.
“It probably makes up for the one that we didn’t win at Northampton, and I know I keep going on about that meeting! It’s also an important one for us with that being King’s Lynn’s second home defeat.
“I’m also very pleased for the supporters, we had a decent support there and it was nice to be able to reward them with something.
“I did say after last Monday that we’re not a bad side, one result doesn’t define us, and we proved that tonight.”
Lions’ busy week of away matches continues when they visit Sheffield on Thursday, before their next home fixture against Northampton on Thursday July 2.
ROWE MOTOR OIL PREMIERSHIP R1
KING’S LYNN 43: Chris Harris 14, Jan Kvech 8, Cooper Rushen 7+3, Max Fricke 5, Ben Cook 4+2, Jake Mulford 4, Paco Castagna 1.
LEICESTER 47: Ryan Douglas 12+1, Kyle Howarth 11+2, Dan Thompson 11, Sam Masters 7+1, Drew Kemp 4, Nick Morris 1, Joe Thompson 1.
Photo credot: DEREK LEADER
