LIONS CLOSE IN ON TOP FOUR
LEICESTER raced to a 55-35 win over Belle Vue to move to within a point of the top four in the ROWE Motor Oil Premiership.
The Lions secured their biggest victory of the season in a meeting which saw the Aces suffer a major blow when Dan Bewley was ruled out after a crash in Heat 6 when he clipped a falling Max Fricke and went into the fence.
The visitors held an eight-point deficit until the final third of the meeting but the Lions then pulled clear to take match and aggregate points.
Sam Masters led the way for the hosts with 13 points from five rides, whilst Craig Cook notched 10+1 against his old club. Belle Vue skipper Brady Kurtz scored 12, and Ben Cook won two races to finish on 10+1.
Leicester boss Stewart Dickson said: “Losing Dan did impact them a bit, but I don’t think it takes anything away from us. It might have been 14 or 16 points rather than 20, but I can only look at it from my point of view.
“For me, the plus points were Luke Becker now finding the consistency we want, and Craig Cook now getting the hang of the track, and that’s coming. He’s getting there.
“We have now got a bit of momentum. I think we’ve had it for the last couple of weeks in fairness, but you can feel it, and folk are beginning to buy into what we’re doing.”
Belle Vue CEO Mark Lemon said: “Track conditions early on were challenging. It’s always difficult at this time of year to get the moisture levels right.
“Max Fricke unfortunately made a mistake, which is rare for him, and that had a knock-on effect for Dan. He took a pretty heavy knock to the whole body and unfortunately was ruled out.
“It’s hard to put the finger on why our away for has eluded us this year. We have some quality riders in our team, but at the same time it does demonstrate the competitive nature of the league.”
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Photo credit: JEFF DAVIES
