Leicester Lion Cubs 14 City Gearboxes Mercia Vikings 22 --mdl Ko Cup 1st Leg

[Main Man]

K O CUP

 

MERCIA VIKINGS TAKE 1^ST LEG CUP LEAD –BUT IT’S AN 8 POINTS LEAD AS RESULT AMENDED!!

 

The Coventry CITY GEARBOXES Mercia-Vikings returned from local rivals Leicester on Saturday night with mixed feelings as they secured a good first leg lead but lost Andy Braithwaite with a broken collarbone.

The result had to be re-amended after the referee had disqualified Vikings skipper Martin Knuckey after he won heat 4 due to not having a rear wheel disc on after he had to hurriedly swap wheels when racing two rides in succession having discovered a slow puncture in his original tyre. This ruling though has been amended for 2013 and Vikings co – team boss Laurence Rogers immediately appealed the decision but once a race has been declared it cannot be changed on the night but the SCB acted swiftly and amended the race to its original finishing positions with Knuckey as race winner.

This amends the meeting result to Leicester 14 Coventry 22 and not 16-20 giving the Vikings an 8 point cushion for the home leg and putting them in the driving seat to meet Long Eaton in the semi-finals of the MDL Cup.

The Vikings though will be without Andy Braithwaite for a while after the Vikings No. 3 crashed whilst leading heat 2 suffering a collarbone break. The three man side then got on with the task in hand with 16 year old debutant James Shanes shining with a paid 9 score which would have been double figures but for coming to a halt when mounted on team mate Nick Mallett’s bike in heat 3. The youngster produced two astounding rides winning his debut race from behind in heat 2 with a superb round the boards pass of Lee Springthorpe and then in heat 5 repeated the same move to ###### victory on the line from home skipper Ben Holloway.

Nick Mallett , racing for the first time in five years with just one practice session in the winter rode steadily after hitting mechanical gremlins in the pits. Skipper Knuckey starts the 2013 season then with a 12 point maximum that sets him up well for his National League debut for Coventry Storm on Tuesday night (9^th) against Dudley at Wolverhampton.

The City Gearboxes Vikings started with an opening 4-2 heat win and never lost the lead with two drawn heats plus a further 2-4 heat success and ending with a maximum 5-1 from Knuckey and Shanes in heat 6.

 

 

 

Leicester Lion Cubs 14

 

1. Freddie Owen 0 1’ 0 1 = 2+1

2. Ben Holloway 2 2 2 = 6

3. Lee Springthorpe 2 2 1’ F = 5 +1

4. Alec Wright 1 N N = 1

 

Coventry CITY GEARBOXES Mercia-Vikings 22

 

1. Martin Knuckey 3 3 3 3 = 12 MAX

2. Nick Mallett 1 1 0 = 2

3. Andy Braithwaite f/x N N = 0

4. James Shanes 3 R 3 2’ = 8 +1

 

Ht 1 : Knuckey Holloway Mallett Owen 2-4 2-4 70.75

2 : Shanes Springthorpe Wright Braithwaite (f/x) 3-3 5-7 74.50

3 : Knuckey Holloway Owen Shanes (ret) 3-3 8-10 72.55

4 : Knuckey Springthorpe Mallett Owen 2-4 10-14 73.6

5 : Shanes Holloway Springthorpe Mallett 3-3 13-17

6 : Knuckey Shanes Owen Springthorpe (fell) 1-5 14-22 70.47

2^nd leg at Coventry Friday April 12^th

Edited April 7, 2013 by Main Man