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| |  | BIRMINGHAM showed their real potential for the 2025 season with a great effort to go down by just two points at Leicester in the second leg of their KO Cup tie.
Overall qualification was always going to be beyond the Curtis Sport Brummies after their disastrous opening night defeat at Perry Barr, but a narrow 44-46 defeat in the East Midlands and the overall level of performance offered far more encouragement.
And it could even have been a win on the night at the Hydroscand Arena, Beaumont Park with the meeting turning on the events of Heat 13 when the outstanding Matej Zagar – who had won his first three rides – suffered the cruel misfortune of mechanical trouble just before the start.
That saw him disqualified for exceeding the two-minute allowance, with Leicester duo Max Fricke and Sam Masters then recording their side’s only 5-1 of the night as they squeezed out captain Tobiasz Musielak.
It was the Brummies’ second slice of bad luck as Jonas Jeppesen had earlier pulled out of Heat 11 when holding a comfortable third place, without which they would have gone into a four point lead.
Keynan Rew kept them in with a chance of a win on the night when he took the flag in Heat 14, meaning it was 43-41 in the Lions’ favour, and the decider saw Musielak make the start and dominate the race, but Michael Jepsen Jensen was kept at the back despite his best efforts by the team riding of Fricke and Masters.
But there were so many positive signs from the Brummies, especially the upper order who had struggled to get to grips with conditions at Perry Barr on Monday.
Musielak set the tone when he surged inside Fricke for second place in Heat 1, whilst both Antti Vuolas and Jason Edwards passed Sam Hagon for a 3-3 in Heat 2, before Jepsen Jensen and Rew relegated Ryan Douglas to the back in the next.
The best efforts came from Musielak with a sensational last-bend surge to make it around Douglas to win Heat 5, and a classy move by Zagar in Heat 9 as he switched inside the Australian heading into the final lap.
And whilst ten out of eleven races were shared between Heats 2 and 12, the exception was Heat 7 when Jepsen Jensen and Rew both shot past Masters on the opening lap for a 5-1 to put the Brummies ahead on the night.
The lead could have gone up to six points in Heat 10 only for Fricke to round both Jepsen Jensen and Rew off the second bend, but Brummies still led and maintained it when Jepsen Jensen passed Douglas in the latter stages of Heat 12.
Then came Zagar’s mechanical issue which changed the picture with Leicester making the most of their stroke of fortune, but despite the narrow defeat and overall Cup exit it was a display which far better sets up the league campaign.
That gets underway at Sheffield next Thursday (April 3) before a big home clash with powerhouse Ipswich on April 7.
LEICESTER 46: Sam Masters 10, Max Fricke 9+2, Drew Kemp 7+2, Luke Becker 7+1, Kyle Howarth 6+3, Ryan Douglas 6, Sam Hagon 1+1.
BIRMINGHAM 44: Tobiasz Musielak 12, Michael Jepsen Jensen 10, Matej Zagar 9, Keynan Rew 7+3, Jason Edwards 2+2, Jonas Jeppesen 2, Antti Vuolas 2.
Leicester win 103-77 on aggregate
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