Oxford Cheetahs v Leicester Lions

Report

LEICESTER enhanced their position at the top of the Championship with victory in a last-heat decider at Oxford on Wednesday.

The teams were tied with one race to go, and had never been separated by more than two points, but Nick Morris and Richie Worrall secured a 5-1 over Troy Batchelor and guest Erik Riss to give the Lions a 47-43 win.

Morris (13) and Worrall (12+1) were the top scorers for the visitors, who are now 12 points clear at the top of the table, whilst Batchelor scored 10 for the Cheetahs, whose play-off hopes were severely dented by the defeat.

Leicester boss Stewart Dickson said: “It was a great meeting, a great advert for the Championship, and we did want to win here to finish our final away league meeting with a win.

“It was nip-and-tuck throughout, how a good meeting should be, it all came down to Heat 15 and it was a really tough first bend, with no quarter asked or given by four top Championship riders, and we managed to get the 5-1 so obviously I’m very pleased!

“I was always going to go with Richie off gate two – Richie is my go-to rider when I need a job done to clamp somebody, and when they picked (gates) one and three, Richie was the man for that job off two. He managed to do it, and Nick got a stormer off gate four.”

CHAMPIONSHIP
OXFORD 43: Troy Batchelor 10, Erik Riss 8, Dillon Ruml 8, Aaron Summers 6+1, Cameron Heeps 5+2, Paul Starke 3+1, Jordan Jenkins 3
LECIESTER 47: Nick Morris 13, Richie Worrall 12+1, Kyle Howarth 7+1, Dan Thompson 7, Jason Edwards 5+2, Connor Mountain 3+1, Joe Thompson 0
Championship points: Oxford 0 Leicester 3

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Photo credit: LES AUBREY