In a close fought battle a final race fall for Birmingham captain Jacob Fellows as he battled with Leicester’s Harrison Rogers meant that the home side took the honours 18-17 to go top of the table.
The DUCTAIR Bulls missing Billy Budd, Sheldon Davies and Bailey Fellows were hit when No. 1 Jack Shimelt was with drawn with a knee injury in the preceding National League encounter. Using Rider Replacement this produced 4 points from the No. 1 berth.
Leicester opened with a 5-1 in heat 1 from skipper Kai Ward and Harrison Rogers before Birmingham posted a 4-2 with skipper Fellows taking the chequered flag first with Joe Crewe third to bring the difference to 2 points. Home debutant Wayne Hutt had a chain snap causing him to fall and he failed to make it out for his next 2 rides.
Heat 4 saw the Bulls take the lead 13-11 with a 5-1 for Jacob Fellows and 15 year old Jack Crewe making his debut.
Leicester bounced back with a heat five 4-2 after Jack Crewe fell twice in the same spot and couldn’t catch up the ground on Leicester debutant Liam Cox and the 4-2 tied things up at 15 apiece as Kai Ward completed his 3 ride maximum.
With it all set up for a grandstand finish home man Harrison Rogers led the race with Jacob Fellows in close contention before the Bulls captain took the lead before crashing out and being excluded. This gave the Lion Cubs a 3-2 and a victory by the closest of margins.
LEICESTER LION CUBS 18 ( KAI WARD 3R 9, HARRISON ROGERS 3R 5+1, LIAM COX 3R 4, WAYNE HUTT 1R 0) BIRMINGHAM DUCTAIR BULLS 17 ( JACOB FELLOWS 4R 8, JOE CREWE 4R 5+1, JACK CREWE 4R 4+1
TABLE: M W D L F A PTS LEICESTER CUBS 2 1 1 0 36 35 3 BIRMINGHAM BUFFALOES 1 0 1 0 18 18 1 BIRMINGHAM BULLS 1 0 0 1 17 18 0
