LEICESTER took the initiative in the first leg of the East Midlands Bowl with a 59-35 win at the Jordan Road Surfacing Stadium on Sunday evening.
A much-strengthened Lions side, who added three top Elite League heat leaders and two more proven performers to their ranks, picked up twelve of the fifteen race wins to leave the Buildbase Bees facing a deficit ahead of Friday’s return fixture at Brandon.
Former Coventry No.1 Krzysztof Kasprzak raced to a 15-point maximum on a circuit he knows well, but it was another ex-Bees rider, Nick Morris, who was arguably the star of the show with a 10-point haul including three race wins.
Conditions were tough in the early stages after heavy rain prior to the meeting, and the Bees got off to a nightmare start as they went 14-4 down after three races, skipper Scott Nicholls retiring from second place in Heat 1 as he lost his steel shoe.
Kenneth Hansen, guesting for the Lions, impressed again by passing Ryan Fisher on the last lap of Heat 3, before Ben Barker gave the Bees their first win of the night.
An early tactical ride for Niels-Kristian Iversen was negated by Kasprzak’s fast start in Heat 5 whilst Nicholls fell on a tight third bend when he and Iversen looked like they would collide, and Leicester romped clear with two further 5-1s as Fisher lost power in Heat 7 and was overhauled by Hans Andersen.
Morris’s third win in Heat 8 also saw Nicholls limited to four points on a tactical ride, and Leicester ensured victory on the night with nine points from the next two races to romp into a 44-20 lead.
The final five races were more of an even contest with Iversen making a determined first bend to hit the front in Heat 11, and the 4-2 in that race was followed up by the same outcome in Heat 13 with Iversen getting the better of Kenneth Bjerre early on.
Fisher split Hansen and Kevin Doolan in Heat 14 with James Sarjeant falling when chasing hard, and the Storm captain certainly deserved points for his efforts in tough company.
Kasprzak wrapped up his maximum in an exciting Heat 15 which saw Fisher hold Hansen at bay but Iversen’s attempts to come through ended with a fall on the final bend.
Bees boss Gary Havelock said: “It’s disappointing but it was two Select teams and Leicester want to try and be up in the Elite League next year.
“Some of our boys have hardly been racing, and it’s very hard to jump back on a bike after doing nothing for so long. Let’s see if we can get them back when they come to our place on Friday.
“I thought James was excellent. He was far from being tailed off at the back, he was right in the mix and in his last race he was trying so hard that he ended up coming off. I’m sure he will have learned a lot and it will have done him the world of good.â€
LEICESTER SELECT 59: Krzysztof Kasprzak 15, Nick Morris 10, Kenneth Hansen 9+2, Kenneth Bjerre 8+1, Hans Andersen 6+1, Kevin Doolan 6+1, Jan Graversen 5+1. COVENTRY SELECT 35: Niels-Kristian Iversen 12, Ryan Fisher 7, Scott Nicholls 5, Ben Barker 5, Aaron Summers 3+1, Grzegorz Zengota 3, James Sarjeant 0.
