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| |  | BIRMINGHAM’s 2025 season got underway with a heavy 57-33 defeat in the home leg of their Premiership Knockout Cup tie with Leicester.
The Curtis Sport Brummies had an entire septet making their debuts for the club - and the new look side were dominated by their opponents who finished runners-up in the league last year.
The visitors capitalised on a slow start from captain Tobiasz Musielak and mechanical gremlins for Jonas Jeppesen by claiming a 5-1 in the opener before reserve pairing Jason Edwards and Antti Vuolas took the minor placings in a shared Heat Two Leicester added a 4-2 in the third when Michael Jepsen Jensen had chain issues away from the tapes before Edwards became Birmingham’s first race winner of the season with a mature Heat Four outing.
The visitors’ opening pairing of Max Fricke and Luke Becker sealed a second maximum in Heat Five, despite the battling efforts of Keynan Rew, before Musielak and Jeppesen delivered the Brummies’ only heat advantage of the night in the sixth with a 4-2.
Leicester restored their ten point lead with a 4-2 of their own in Heat Seven with Matej Zagar finding a way past Kyle Howarth before Jeppesen made a flying start to help him on his way to victory in the eighth.
Rew and Jepsen Jensen got by Kemp to take the minor placings in Heat Nine before Leicester outgated the Brummies for another 5-1 in the tenth.
Two further maximums followed for the Lions in Heats 12 and 13 with shared races in 11 and 14.
And despite a solid effort from Rew, Leicester captain Max Fricke sealed a paid maximum in Heat 15 as the Lions sealed a 24 point lead to take into the second leg at the Hydroscand Arena on Thursday (March 27, 7.30pm).
BIRMINGHAM 33: Keynan Rew 9, Jonas Jeppesen 5, Matej Zagar 5, Jason Edwards 5, Tobiasz Musielak 4, Antti Vuolas 3+3, Michael Jepsen Jensen 2+1.
LEICESTER 57: Max Fricke 13+2, Ryan Douglas 11, Drew Kemp 9+2, Kyle Howarth 9+1, Luke Becker 7+1, Sam Masters 7, Sam Hagon 1+1.
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