Workington Comets have left themselves with a mountain to climb to reach the final of the National Development League’s Knockout Cup.
In the first leg of the semi-final at Northside they were generally second best from the gate all day and a solid Leicester Lions Cub side deservedly won 51-37.
The second leg at Leicester is on August 5 but the Lion Cubs appear to have already booked their place in the final with this 16-point advantage.
After the meeting had opened with two successive shared heats three heat maximums in a row from the visitors in heats 3, 4 and 5 did the damage and put them 12 points up with a third of the meeting gone.
Comets number one Connor Bailey missed the gate in heat one and trailed home last but after that was unbeaten. However Sam McGurk rode a great race to head home a powerful Leicester pairing.
Workington also had the winner of heat two with a great tape to flag ride by Harry McGurk to take the reserves race and provide a massive boost of confidence for him.
The Comets first heat advantage came in heat six when Bailey and Sam Hagon had a great battle for the first two laps and then in the following heat a good win for Ace Pijper provided a second 4-2 to the Comets.
A comfortable 5-1 for the Lion Cubs in heat eight was delivered by the stylish 15-year-old Ashton Boughen and race partner Max James.
In heat nine Hagon was comfortably ahead of Luke Harrison before Vinnie Foord dived under Elliot Kelly as they entered turn three on lap two and brought him down. As a result Foord was excluded.
In the re-run Comets were on a 5-1 before the wide-riding Hagon built up his speed and passed both Comets around the outside on laps two and three.
Heat ten produced another heat advantage for Bailey and Sam McGurk, although for three and a half laps it looked like a Comets 5-1 as they team rode side by side.
Max Perry was buzzing around their back wheels and then, eventually, on the back straight of lap four he managed to get between them to grab second place. It was a great race.
Heat 11 – well, where do you start! It took four attempts and finally produced a race that was of the highest standard.
Attempt one saw Pijper push Thompson wide on turn one leaving Boughen with no room and he dropped it, sliding into the fence. Decision – all four back.
The second attempt saw Pijper tangle with Thompson at the apex of turns one and two in a crowded first corner and fell heavily. Again all four returned to the start.
Attempt three was an exact repeat of the original start with Boughen going down in almost identical fashion in almost the same place.
The fourth and final attempt [produced a fantastic race, worthy of a GP. Pijper passed Thompson to lead and had Boughen on his tail. Boughen passed and then Pijper re-passed. There was some hard riding, with Pijper taking Boughen very wide on turn two on lap three.
Indeed Boughen took exception to Pijper’s tactics and, after the race a lot of finger pointing was followed by a brief ‘handbags’ scuffle at the pit gate!
In heat 12 Foord was excluded for exceeding the two minutes due to mechanical issues. He was replaced by the other reserve Max James, who combined with Perry for an easy Leicester 5-1.
In heat 13 Thompson led Bailey while Hagon and Pijper battled for third place, but then Pijper was excluded having been adjudged to be the cause of Hagon falling at the apex of turns 3 and 4 on the opening lap.
Bailey won the re-run, leading from tape to flag.
Heat 14 produced an easy win for Boughen from Harrison as Leicester gained another heat advantage.
Finally heat 15 produced a great battle between Bailey and Boughen with the Australian eventually getting ahead as Boughen tried desperately to catch him all the way to the flag.
Meanwhile Sam McGurk held third place to give the Comets a heat advantage to finish with just as the rain started to fall.
Workington Comets 37: Connor Bailey 12; Sam McGurk 7; Luke Harrison 7; Rider replacement for Luke Crang; Ace Pijper 7; Harry McGurk 3; Elliot Kelly 1 + 1.
Leicester Lions: Dan Thompson 6 + 3; Ashton Boughen 14 + 1; Max Perry 9 + 1; Rider replacement for Tom Spencer; Sam Hagon 10; Vinnie Foord 4 + 1; Max James 10 + 4.
