DOUGLAS DOMINATES AT LEICESTER

LEICESTER No.1 Ryan Douglas raced to a 15-point maximum as they opened their ROWE Motor Oil Premiership campaign with a 57-33 win over Northampton.

Douglas went through the card with five wins out of five against injury-hit opponents, with the home side pulling clear with 5-1s in Heats 11, 13 and 14.

Kyle Howarth also hit double figures with 11 points from four rides and skipper Sam Masters picked up 9+2, but a Heat 10 crash for Dan Thompson provided an injury concern.

Troy Batchelor scored nine from six rides for the Foxes, who were without middle-order duo Niels-Kristian Iversen and Matej Zagar, the latter having crashed out at Belle Vue earlier in the day.

Lions manager Stewart Dickson said: “It was a pretty good night with some good racing, and Northampton kept us honest in the first eight or nine races.

“We came into our own in the second half of the meeting, so I’ve got to be pleased and it’s a good start to the league campaign.

“Dougy was excellent, I know there was talk in the winter that he maybe wasn’t a No.1 in this league, but as far as I’m concerned he’s still getting better and I still don’t think he’s reached where he can get to. It was a fantastic 15-point maximum, and I’m pleased for him.”

Foxes boss Chris Adams said: “It’s been a tough day, and I haven’t known having two away meetings on a Bank Holiday Monday before!

“At Belle Vue we were only six points down with three heats to go, and we got punished in the last three, but we had a pretty decent meeting there really although the scores don’t reflect it.

“In the evening at Leicester we knew it was going to be hard having lost Matej, and also with the reduced facility guest for Niels, but we tried our best. We made some good gates but we were just making some silly mistakes in the first corner and Leicester punished us for it.”

Watch the action from Heat 8 (courtesy of LIONS TV)

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Photo credit: MIA DURKIN