Peterborough Panthers v Leicester Lions

Report

MAX Fricke pulled off a vintage Heat 15 ride to see Leicester to a 47-43 win at Peterborough on Bank Holiday Monday – their first victory on the road since re-joining the Sports Insure Premiership.

The Panthers needed two 5-1s in the last two races to set up a Super Heat and they were halfway to doing so with maximum points from Richie Worrall and Hans Andersen in Heat 14.

And they briefly held the position they needed in Heat 15 before Fricke managed to pass both Michael Palm Toft and Niels-Kristian Iversen to secure the result for his side, who go third in the league table.

Fricke won four races to finish on 13 points whilst Richard Lawson returned from injury with 9+1 and Justin Sedgmen was involved in two 5-1s, scoring 7+2. Reserve Dan Thompson was withdrawn following a crash after the end of Heat 8.

Iversen racked up 14 from six rides for the Panthers but they were hampered by the withdrawal of Benjamin Basso who suffered a hand injury in his first outing.

Leicester manager Stewart Dickson said: “Max will get the plaudits for winning Heat 15, and we knew gate three wasn’t great and Peterborough would go for two and four.

“The plan was to put our strongest rider off the inside gate and get the win, but for the first lap or so it looked rather interesting!

“But we got there in the end, and Richard scored well and got us paid 10 despite not being fully fit. All round it was a really good performance and a deserved win.”

Panthers boss Rob Lyon said: “The boys fought hard, and losing Ben Basso cost us. He’s a main player for us, we missed him, and that was the difference in my opinion and it was why we didn’t win the meeting.

“It appears that it was flying shale that took out his knuckle, it’s a strange one really but it’s one of those things, and it was a blow so early on to lose him.

“Apart from that, the boys battled hard – we were inconsistent at times but we’ve been like that all year, and fair play to Leicester, they’re a strong outfit with a proper No.1 and it showed tonight.”

PETERBOROUGH 43: Niels-Kristian Iversen 14, Richie Worrall 8, Hans Andersen 7+3, Michael Palm Toft 6+2, Ben Cook 4+1, Jordan Jenkins 3, Benjamin Basso 1.
LEICESTER 47: Max Fricke 13, Richard Lawson 9+1, Justin Sedgmen 7+2, Jake Allen 7, Nick Morris 5+1, Kyle Howarth 3+2, Dan Thompson 3+1.
Leicester win aggregate point

OFFICIAL REFEREE SCORECARD
Available here

Photo credit: JEFF DAVIES