LEICESTER Lion Cubs showed their strength once again with a 61-29 dismantling of Buxton at the Hydroscand Arena, Beaumont Park on Sunday.
Rocket Ryan Ingram raced to a paid maximum from five rides, whilst fast Freddy Hodder supplied plenty of entertainment with some excellent passing moves.
Meanwhile Tom Spencer finished directly behind his team-mate in all five of his rides, and four of them were in Lion Cubs 5-1s as the hosts dominated, scoring one more point overall all than in their recent challenge match win over the same opponents.
Max Perry was absent following his SGP2 commitments on Saturday but just as last time when Spencer was the missing rider, the Lion Cubs covered well as a six-rider outfit.
The visitors only enjoyed marginal respite during the afternoon with four 3-3s the best they could register, including two race wins for Alfie Bowtell, although there were encouraging signs that Jack Roberts will be competitive when he has overcome mechanical issues.
For the Lion Cubs it was full steam ahead, with Ingram and Hodder combining for their first maximum advantage in Heat 3, and Hodder then superbly sliced between Roberts and Jack Smith on the back straight of Heat 4 for his second win.
Back-to-back 5-1s followed, first from Ingram and Spencer as Bowtell ground to a halt early in Heat 5, whilst skipper Ben Morley and Spencer overcame Bulls skipper Smith in Heat 6.
Youngster Seth Norman secured a 5-1 with Spencer in Heat 8, but there was nearly an awkward moment for Spencer in Heat 10 as Roberts suffered bike trouble heading into turn three forcing the Leicester man into some wide avoiding action. That briefly allowed Luke Harris into second place, but Spencer quickly switched back inside the away rider for another 5-1 with Morley.
Hodder dropped his only point when he couldn’t quite catch Bowtell in Heat 11, but he did so in fine style in Heat 13 which was the race of the day as he found great speed to blast around the Buxton No.1 on the exit of turn two.
That was one of three successive 4-2s for the Lion Cubs as Ingram completed his paid maximum in Heat 14 with a solid Eli Meadows in third place, and they duly went through the 60-point barrier as Morley won Heat 15 with a fast start from the inside ahead of the Bulls’ top two.
Manager Jen Crossland said: “What a performance from all of them. I’m so pleased with everyone.
“I took the decision for Heat 15 that we’d go with Ben and Eli so that everyone had five rides, so that made it fair, and it was a great team display.
“We’ve got some tough matches coming up, especially the week after next with King’s Lynn and Middlesbrough away and then back home against Oxford, so that’s three tough matches. But they can do it, and they’ve proved today that nothing fazes them at all.
"A big thanks to Sam (Gutteridge) and the track staff because conditions like this are so challenging. When you get this weather with a warm wind on top the water just dries instantly, but I’d like to thank everyone for their patience.”
Next up for the Lion Cubs is a trip to King’s Lynn on Wednesday July 8, in a vital period of three matches in five days.
WSRA NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT LEAGUE
LEICESTER 61: Ryan Ingram 14+1, Freddy Hodder 14, Ben Morley 12, Tom Spencer 9+5, Seth Norman 8, Eli Meadows 4+1, Max Perry r/r.
BUXTON 29: Alfie Bowtell 9+1, Jack Smith 7, Luke Harris 6, Jack Roberts 4+1, Arran Butcher 2, Jack Shimelt 1, Ryan Ashcroft 0.
