Morris breaks his own track record as Lions take points

WIN PUTS THEM BACK ON TOP

LEICESTER moved back to the top of the Championship table after securing the match points with a 55-35 home win against the Oxford Cheetahs on Saturday.

Nick Morris was once again in a class of his own. Winning each of his races and in his second of four heats, the Australian lowered the track record that he himself had set the week before with a new time of 59.37 seconds.

Whilst Morris captured the headlines for Leicester, Richie Worrall was also in good form, dropping just two points to Oxford’s top two, Scott Nicholls and Troy Batchelor.

The visiting pair scored all but 15 points of their team’s total and secured Oxford’s only race advantage when they profited from a fall by Kyle Howarth in the 13th heat.

However, the Cheetahs were down to six riders, having lost their reserve, Josh Macdonald, who withdrew after his opening ride as a result of an injury sustained in a previous fixture whilst racing for Oxford last month.

The loss of Macdonald meant that Dillon Ruml was handed additional rides as cover.

Lions co-promoter David Darcy said: “It was another stellar performance from the team. Whilst all eyes were on our top three riders, Nick Morris, Richie Worrall and Kyle Howarth, to score the most points, you have to look further down the line to their teammates, who gain so many important second and third places that enables us to win so handsomely.

“It is accepted that, whilst our top three riders have to outscore their opposite numbers in the visiting team, the secondary key is that the younger members of our team also do their jobs. We saw that tonight as we only ran two last places in the support section of the side.

“We are just one match short of being half-way through the league season now and if we can take this belief and self-confidence in our ability forward then I see no reason why we cannot qualify for the playoffs.”

Leicester 55: Richie Worrall 13 points, Nick Morris 12, Kyle Howarth 9, Dan Thompson 6+2, ConnorMountain 6+1, Joe Thompson 5+3 and Anders Rowe 4.

Oxford 35: Troy Batchelor 11 points, Scott Nicholls 9+1 Cameron Heeps 6, Dillon Ruml 5+1, Kyle Newman 4+1, Jack Thomas 0 and Josh Macdonald 0.

Leicester’s junior team, the Lion Cubs, had their National Development League fixture at Belle Vue called off early in the day on Friday due to a forecast of heavy rain in the Manchester area later that day.