The Leicester Lions held off a concerted challenge from King\u2019s Lynn to record a 47-42 home win over the Stars in their opening ROWE Motor Oil Premiership fixture.<\/p>\n
The Lions recovered from conceding a controversial 0-5 in Heat 2 when both reserves were disqualified, and they regained the lead with a 5-1 of their own in the next race as the visitors suffered their own misfortune.<\/p>\n
The hosts maintained a narrow advantage throughout but only made things virtually safe with a 4-2 from impressive debutant Luke Becker (11+2) and Drew Kemp in Heat 14, leaving them just requiring a finisher in the final race.
\nRichard Lawson added 11 for the Lions whilst Vadim Tarasenko collected 10+1 for the Stars, including a terrific effort to pass Max Fricke and Ryan Douglas in Heat 13.<\/p>\n
Leicester manager Stewart Dickson said: \u201cA home match on the first night is always a potential banana skin. We won by five points and I would have taken that before the start, I have to be honest about that.<\/i><\/p>\n
\u201cWe got there. There were one or two difficult moments for us in the meeting, they were coming back into it and I was never quite sure that we were going to win, but we got there in the end.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere were some good performances and one or two of the other guys had some teething problems, but it\u2019s early days without making any excuses. It\u2019s a win, and that\u2019s what we wanted.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stars boss Rob Lyon said: \u201cI was very happy with the performance. We knew going into Heat 15 that gate four was the best, and Tarasenko had ridden a blinder in Heat 13 so at the very least I was expecting a 3-3, and it proved that way.<\/i><\/p>\n
\u201cTo come away five points down and take it back to King\u2019s Lynn, we stand a very good chance of getting the aggregate point, and that will be crucial this year.<\/p>\n
\u201cGetting three points out of each set of home and away matches is going to get us to the play-offs, so I\u2019m happy with that. It\u2019s a good first meeting for us, there were a few gremlins from the boys but overall I\u2019m pleased.\u201d<\/p>\n
Words by British Speedway \u00a0– Picture by Richard BOETTCHER<\/b><\/p>\n