Lions roar to huge away win over the Kings
LEICESTER sped to their second highest away win of the season in the Championship, with a 53-37 points victory over Kent Kings on Tuesday, writes Alan Jones.
It was the Lions’ first ever appearance at the Central Park Stadium in Sittingbourne – but the team rode the circuit perfectly.
The home side were unbeaten in their last five fixtures but found themselves chasing the rear wheels of the Leicester team all too often in the second half of the meeting.
Beforehand, there was little to choose between either side, with Leicester holding a two-point advantage courtesy of Hans Andersen, who combined with his captain Kyle Howarth in the third heat to register maximum points over Cameron Heeps and Paul
Starke.
The outcomes in heats 8 and 9 were to prove significant to the end result as Leicester shocked the home fans by scoring 10 points to Kent’s two. It began with Dan Thompson and Zaine Kennedy emerging from a tight first corner ahead of their opposite numbers and, in the next race, Ryan Douglas and Joe Thompson repeated their teammates’ feat.
It was an almighty blow to the Kent team who were prevented from mounting a rally by the Lions’ riders who were first across the finish line in the next two heats.
When Andersen won his third race of the night in the 12th heat it meant that Leicester had wrapped the match up with three races remaining. There was still a good chance of earning an extra bonus league match point if Leicester won by a seven-point margin or more.
This became reality when Nick Morris and Douglas outpaced Kent’s top two riders, Scott Nicholls and Troy Batchelor, in the next race.
In an all-round team performance, Morris was at his best and was consistently the fastest rider and it was fitting the Australian signed off the night by winning the final race.
Scorers
Kent 37: Scott Nicholls 11 points, Cameron Heeps 8+1, Jake Mulford 6+1, Troy Batchelor 5+2, Dan Gilkes 3+1, Ben Morley 3 and Paul Starke 1+1. Leicester 53: Nick Morris 13+1 points, Ryan Douglas 12, Hans Andersen 10+1, Zaine Kennedy 6+2, Dan Thompson 5+1, Kyle Howarth 5+1 and Joe Thompson 2+1.