LEICESTER have three riders heading to France this week for pre-season testing and practice at Macon.
Dan and Joe Thompson are part of the British Under-21 group, with riders from the British Youth Championship also making the trip which has been organised by GB Youth boss Neil Vatcher.
Dan is building up to his first season of Premiership racing with the Watling JCB Lions whilst Joe will race for Scunthorpe in the Cab Direct Championship. Both twins are back with the Lion Cubs in the National Development League.
And a bonus for all the youngsters attending the training camp on Wednesday and Thursday is that new Lions heat-leader Chris Harris, a three-time British Champion, will also be in attendance.
Harris will be offering support and advice throughout the sessions, but will also take the opportunity to put laps in himself as he prepares for the start of the Lions’ campaign next month.
Meanwhile, both Thompson brothers have secured seeded places in the British Under-21 Final at Glasgow in August – an event in which Dan finished runner-up last year at Birmingham.
And they could be joined by other Leicester riders with Ashton Boughen, Vinnie Foord and Max Perry all involved in the Qualifier, which takes place at Workington on May 28.
Whilst chasing places in the top six to reach the Final, the meeting at Northside will also give those riders good early experience of the new Cumbrian circuit, which they will visit in both league and KO Cup with the Lion Cubs later in the summer.
Leicester’s own track work is continuing apace, with the dry and mild daytime conditions enabling the new blade to do its job.
Track curators Stewart Dickson and Andy Hill have been joined by Sheffield colleague Graham Trollope, and along with other members of the working party have made significant progress on getting the circuit race-ready and setting things up for a busy 2023 campaign.
