LEICESTER kick off a busy week on the road with a trip to King’s Lynn in the Sports Insure Premiership on Monday (7.30pm).
The Watling JCB Lions will look to keep up their positive momentum off the back of two superb home victories over Ipswich and Belle Vue, with a win at Peterborough also on their recent list of strong results.
It will be the first time the Lions have faced the Stars this season, although the home side are much-changed from the line-up which would have raced at the Pidcock Motorcycles Arena, Beaumont Park back in the spring, only for the weather to intervene.
A busy month of activity in Norfolk has seen Lynn pull of the stellar signing of former World Champion Artem Laguta, who has scored heavily in his last two home matches, with Kye Thomson also joining their ranks at reserve.
But on the debit side, Danish racer Frederik Jakobsen quit the club last week and fellow countryman Michael Palm Toft suffered an ankle injury on Thursday which leaves him on the sidelines – whilst team boss Alex Brady had also walked away in recent days.
Despite the upheaval, the Stars defeated Wolverhampton in a Super Heat after a 45-45 draw on Thursday, bringing a tough run of results to an end.
The Lions, though, make the trip in good spirits with No.1 Max Fricke in top-class form and his partnership with Justin Sedgmen is reaping major rewards – whilst Richard Lawson, who rode for Lynn for two years, and skipper Chris Harris both have strong records around the Adrian Flux Arena.
Team boss Stewart Dickson said: “We’re certainly going to King’s Lynn to see if we can get something there, and then we also go to Sheffield on Thursday with a 16-point lead so we should be looking to come back with something there too.
“The extra points here and there, you often don’t really see them getting added to the league table but they’re all really important and we have opportunities in these away matches.
“We’re coming together, and we’re now looking a tough team to beat over two meetings, and it’s going to come down to that if we can get ourselves into the play-offs.
“On this form we are going to be a match for anyone over two legs, and I think we’ve proved that to those who maybe quite rightly were everybody’s fancy at the start of the season!”
KING’S LYNN: Artem Laguta, Michael Palm Toft R/R, Nicolai Klindt, Thomas Jorgensen, Erik Riss, Kye Thomson, Jason Edwards.
LEICESTER: Max Fricke, Justin Sedgmen, Richard Lawson, Chris Harris, Nick Morris, Jake Allen, Drew Kemp.
