FOXES 47 LEICESTER 43
NORTHAMPTON Foxes defeated local rivals Leicester for the second time this season with a 47-43 win at the Shaleway on Monday.
The Foxes collected their third victory overall of the Premiership season as they came back from an early eight-point deficit with a strong run of results in the middle stages of the contest.
The meeting also saw by far the biggest crash of the season at the venue and there was huge relief when Leicester riders Nick Morris and Dan Thompson were able to walk away after colliding in Heat 7.
Both riders suffered a high speed impact with the fence on the second bend, with Thompson’s bike actually ending up in the neutral zone to underline the importance of the safety facilities.
Medical staff were quickly on the scene and thankfully neither rider required the ambulance as they returned to the pits under their own steam after treatment.
But both were withdrawn from any further racing, Thompson with a hip complaint and Morris with an ankle injury, and Northampton wish them well for a speedy recovery.
The Lions’ problems did help hand the Foxes a route back into the meeting, with the hosts having started in sluggish fashion once again as they went 16-8 down after the first four races.
But things began to improve after the first track grade as Nicolai Klindt and Adam Ellis packed in behind the flying Ryan Douglas in Heat 5, before Niels-Kristian Iversen and Kye Thomson combined for an excellent 5-1 in the next race.
Following the delay due to the crash, Jaimon Lidsey led a Northampton 4-2 in the re-run, and the Foxes levelled in Heat 8 when guest reserve Freddy Hodder took advantage of a last lap error by Drew Kemp to take third place.
Northampton hit the front in Heat 9 with a win for Klindt whilst Ellis chased Paco Castagna throughout the race before snatching third place by the narrowest of margins on the line.
Thomson then blasted past the Leicester reserves to join Iversen for another 5-1 in Heat 10, and even a tactical substitute ride for Sam Masters only saw the Lions claw two points back in the next race.
A superb first lap by Mitch McDiarmid enabled him to make it around Castagna and Joe Thompson to complete a 5-1 with Klindt in Heat 12, and the Foxes secured the win on the night as Iversen and Lidsey took maximum points over Douglas and Masters in the next.
The aggregate point looked to be on the cards as well, but the Lions levelled that particular equation in Heat 14 with a somewhat surprising 5-1 from Joe Thompson and Kemp, and their top two of Douglas and Masters then gated to another maximum in Heat 15 to give them some consolation.
Northampton manager Chris Adams said: “It was great to come to a meeting where the track was fairly similar to how it was last time, but at the start we weren’t getting out of the traps quickly enough.
“But the riders figured it out and started making some gates, and we got race wins throughout with our heat leaders scoring points all the way through.
“It was a solid team effort and when all of your lads are scoring points, these are the sort of results you can get.
“I must say how pleased I was that both Dan Thompson and Nick Morris walked away from that crash, although obviously very sore and they couldn’t continue.
“I do feel Leicester deserved the aggregate point. We let it slip a little in those last two races, but our main focus was on winning the meeting, and considering they had two riders out they did well to get that point.”
The Foxes now have a ten-day break before their next meeting which sees King’s Lynn visit the Shaleway on Thursday August 27.
NORTHAMPTON 47: Niels-Kristian Iversen 11+1, Jaimon Lidsey 9+1, Nicolai Klindt 9+1, Kye Thomson 8+1, Adam Ellis 5+1, Mitch McDiarmid 3+2, Freddy Hodder 2.
LEICESTER 43: Joe Thompson 12, Sam Masters 11+1, Ryan Douglas 11, Drew Kemp 3+1, Paco Castagna 3+1, Nick Morris 3, Dan Thompson 0.
Leicester win the aggregate point