DOYLE AND LEICESTER 'ROAR' TO VICTORY OVER ACES

LEICESTER LIONS  50 - 43  BELLE VUE ACES

Leicester Lions gained revenge in a well deserved victory for the East Midlands side as they beat a in-form Belle Vue Aces side 50-43 at the Jordan Road Surfacing Stadium, with Australian and Lions number one Jason Doyle scoring 13 points as he led his side to victory and was one that Belle Vue will be quick to forget.

Prior to the meeting the Aces were looking like heavy favourites to win this match due to the absence of a few key riders in the Leicester side, as Simon Stead, Peter Ljung were riding elsewhere and also had the former Aces man Patrick Hougaard out injured. Team manager of the Lions Ollie Allen brought in a few guests in the form of Sam Masters from Kings Lynn, Lasse Bjerre from Ipswich and Ben Barker from Birmingham to help them out for this contest.

For the Aces they were at full strength and hoped to take advantage of the missing riders on the opposition, sadly though that never happened and they were behind the 9-ball after the opening two races of the meeting as Leicester took charge from the off.

Jason Doyle shown Grand Prix rider Matej Zagar the way round the large Leicester circuit as the Aussie duo of Doyle and Masters pulled away from the visiting pair to record a 5-1 in the opening race and then saw the reserves for Leicester in Tom Perry and Max Clegg, bang in another 5-1 for the home side with no Belle Vue riders able to get to grips with the track and seen the home side get off to a flyer.

Heat 3 saw the away side respond through Craig Cook, as the Aces man who had previously broke the track record three times in one appearance on this track saw him race to victory with team mate Scott Nicholls finishing behind him in second place for a maximum heat win for the away side, to put them back in the contest.

Leicester then scored a couple of successive 4-2`s to see the Lions roaring back in the meeting to see the home side lead 19-11 after 5 races gone.

Captain Cook once more came to the Aces rescue, after he beat off a tough challenge from Mads Korneliussen in heat 6, while Matej Zagar had to settle for third place in the race with the GP rider looking anything but one in this meeting, as it was a second heat advantage to the Aces in the meeting.

 

 

Richie Worrall then fended off Sam Masters in heat 7, to finally see another visiting rider pick up a race win other than that of Craig Cook. Heat 8 and Mads Korneliussen beat Scott Nicholls to see the Lions pulling away again in the meeting as the score moved onto 28-20 in favour of the home team.

  Heat 9 saw a repeat of the reserve race and this was a far more emphatic win than the first meeting of the reserves race, as the difference between the sides bottom pairing stuck out like a sore thumb, with the Aces reserves looking completely inept in the meeting, but the Lions pairing of Perry and Clegg roared (no pun intended this time) round the circuit and saw them show their dominance on home shale.

Nielsen not for the first time in this meeting was unable to finish a race due to his engine going and so saw him gift Reade another point in the reserves races, after the same happened in heat 2. The home side took an unsurprising 5-1 race win and so saw the tactical ride was brought out in the following race.

JORDAN ROAD SURFACING STADIUM, Leicester

In heat 10, Craig Cook donned the Black & White helmet cover as he went for double points and the Cumbrian rider collected the 6 points on offer taking the win, while Jason Doyle stopped the Aces taking the possible eight points they could get, with the Aussies star keeping Nicholls behind him for a 7-2 win, as the Aces recouped some points back. 

  In truth they were never in the contest at all, with the reserves being a huge reason factor in the meeting as they were unable to score hardly anything compared the Lions reserves, in which they were outscored in the contest 13-3 and that was the telling reason.

Matej Zagar then finally came to the party late in Heat 11, when the Slovenian rider made the gate and despite being passed by both Leicester riders on the first bend, Zagar cut back and drove up the inside of the surprised home riders and went off to take the race win with the score 38-31.

  Michael Palm Toft did his usual job for the Aces with the Dane picking up points along the way as he rode over his average to try and help the struggling side, which made him consistent for the away side even though he seemed to struggle with the track too, but was prepared to attack the track. However he couldn`t stop Sam Masters taking the race win in heat 12 and so saw a 4-2 win for the Lions.

Heat 13 saw arguably Belle Vue best chance late on of getting a heat advantage, with Cook on fire and Zagar seemingly finally getting his bike going in his previous race, So when the tapes flew up Zagar indeed got out and left the rest dead, including his partner Craig Cook who made a hash of the start and was left trailing at the back. Cook and Ben Barker then traded places a couple of times in the race, before Barker got the better of him and seen a shared heat which gave the Lions victory 45-36 with still two races left to go.

Richie Worrall collected his second race win of the night to help the Aces get a chance of a point from the match, as they got a shock 4-2 heat win and even saw Stefan Nielsen finishing a race, with the Danish rider ahead off Max Clegg who was impressive in the match .Belle Vue now headed into the final race at 47-40 knowing the meeting was gone, but they still had a chance of a bonus point with a 4-2 in Heat 15.

 

So with the Aces having a disappointing night... Which was a bit of an understatement to say the least, they sent out Craig Cook and Matej Zagar hoping that they could pick up a 4-2 or 5-1 to grab a bonus point.

  So when the tapes flew up Jason Doyle made a massive jump at the start to see him miles ahead of the other riders and was one which should have really been brought back. As during the match, Worrall had made a jump too which was just about noticeable with the human eye and on that occasion the race was brought back.

  This however was far more obvious, yet the referee let it go and the Aces men had no chance of catching Doyle in the form he was in, as he flew round the track to deny the Aces a point and one for which Belle Vue really didn`t deserve anything at all from at all in truth.

 

  Leicester were by far the better side on the night and Belle Vue you could arguably say were a bit over confident in their manner and was their downfall, for the Lions it was a case of making the starts on the slick track. 

  Belle Vue now face the task of facing the league champions in the Poole Pirates down at Wimborne Road this coming Wednesday and based on this display they may well be looking at a damaged limitation exercise.

Leicester Lions  50:

1.     Jason Doyle                  13

2.     Sam Masters                 7+1

3.     Mads Korneliussen        8

4.     Lasse Bjerre                 6

5.     Ben Barker                   3+2

6.     Tom Perry                    6+2

7.     Max Clegg                    7+1

Belle Vue Aces  43:

1.     Matej Zagar                   9+1

2.     Michael Palm Toft         4

3.     Scott Nicholls                 7+1

4.     Richie Worrall                6

5.     Craig Cook                     14

6.     Stefan Nielsen                1

7.     Ben Reade                      2