SWINDON moved into the top four of the Elite League with a 50-40 win over Leicester at the Abbey Stadium on Thursday.

Using rider-replacement for the injured Peter Kildemand, the Robins overcame a slightly shaky start and were in control of the meeting by the halfway stage.

The visitors provided the first three race winners as they went into an early 11-7 lead, but three 5-1s in the space of the next four races turned the meeting decisively Swindon’s way.

Polish star Grzegorz Zengota was involved in two of those maximum race advantages on his way to an impressive paid-14 haul, the latter seeing he and Nick Morris get the better of the strong Lions combination of Jason Doyle and Rory Schlein.

The visitors clawed the gap back to six points with a 5-1 of their own in Heat 9 as Kyle Newman impressively made his way past both Kyle Howarth and Lewis Rose, snatching second place on the line.

But two Swindon 4-2s followed to re-assert their authority on the match, and the race wins continued from impressive reserve Charles Wright in Heat 12 and skipper Troy Batchelor in the next.

Another 4-2 to the Robins in Heat 14 ensured the Lions would take nothing from the meeting, before Doyle ended the night as he had started it with a win in the final race.

The remaining members of the Swindon top five all worked hard to cover for Kildemand’s absence, whilst Wright collected a fine haul of nine points and colleague Rose was unlucky to finish with just one, including a crash in his last ride.

Most of the Leicester riders had their moments but not on a consistent basis, and in seven of the 15 races one of their representatives failed to finish, with debutant Lewis Bridger only seeing the chequered flag once having started his night with a disqualification in Heat 3 for triggering a first-bend tangle.

Robins boss Alun Rossiter said: “I did expect a bit of a slow start to be honest, because we were juggling rider-replacement around, and I do like to leave the stronger riders towards the end.

“The boys all did their jobs, and I can’t really understand some of the negativity - a few people need to have more belief in the riders.

“Peter was out, but that doesn’t mean it was the end of the world, and the rider-replacement worked for us. I thought Zengi was fantastic, and that’s why we brought him back to the club.”

Robins return to action at the Abbey Stadium next Tuesday (May 26) for the big televised clash with Elite League leaders Coventry, with £5 admission still available for tickets purchased in advance.

ELITE LEAGUE
SWINDON 50: Grzegorz Zengota 12+2, Troy Batchelor 11+1, Nick Morris 11, Charles Wright 9, Kyle Howarth 6+1, Lewis Rose 1, Peter Kildemand r/r
LEICESTER 40: Jason Doyle 9+1, Kyle Newman 8+2, Szymon Wozniak 7, Rory Schlein 7, Grzegorz Walasek 5, Simon Lambert 2+1, Lewis Bridger 2
Elite League points: Swindon 3 Leicester 0