Muddy great! Lions ease into semis
LEICESTER are through to the semifinals of the Championship play-offs after winning the second leg against Scunthorpe at home on Tuesday by 38 points to 28 and 92-64 on aggregate.
The Lions overcame the loss of their inspirational Danish international Hans Andersen, who was declared unfit to race after a heavy fall while racing for his Premiership club Peterborough the night before.
Rain at teatime made the track conditions a test for both teams and it proved a great leveller as the visiers
tors gained seven drawn heats out of a possible eight.
The breakthrough for the Lions came in the ninth race when Kyle Howarth and Ryan Douglas secured maximum points against Adam Ellis.
The British champion was unable to make an impression on the faststarting Lions pairing and with his team-mate, Josh MacDonald, unplaced it was a decisive moment in the match.
At this stage the weather was beginning to deteriorate again and with light rain making visibility and conditions difficult for both teams Leicester’s Dan Thompson and Jordan Palin suffered a high-speed crash into the air fence.
SECOND-LEG TIE ABANDONED – BUT 38-28 RESULT ACHIEVED IN TREACHEROUS CONDITIONS IS ALLOWED TO STAND
Credit to both sets of riders because they were keen to give it a go
Luckily, both riders were unhurt with Palin excluded from the re-run of the tenth heat as he was deemed to be the cause of the accident.
The outcome of the second attempt turned out to be another maximum points’ advantage for Leicester with Howarth securing his second win of the match and Thompson backing his skipper with second place ahead of James
Shanes. The next race was stopped following a fall by Connor Mountain and it led to both teams asking for the referee to make a track inspection.
The outcome was an abandonment of the match with the result standing.
Lions team manager Stewart Dickson said: “It wasn’t ideal, but I’d like to give credit to both sets of ridbecause they were keen to give it a go.
“We did plan to go to
Heat 15, but there were one or two crashes in the latter heats, it was beginning to rain again, and we had to be sensible.”
Manager Stewart Dickson
Leicester 38: Nick Morris 12 points, Dan Thompson 3+1, Ryan Douglas 8+2, Kyle Howarth 9+1, Hans Andersen (rider replacement), Joe Thompson 2 and Zaine Kennedy 4+1 Scunthorpe 28: Adam Ellis 6 points, Simon Lambert 5+1, Jordan Palin 6+1, James Shanes, Thomas Jorgensen (rider replacement), Josh MacDonald 1+1 and Connor Mountain 7+2