LEICESTER resume their National Development League campaign with a tough trip to fellow title hopefuls Oxford on Wednesday (7.30pm).
Meetings between the Lion Cubs and the Chargers last season were keenly contested with Leicester knocking the Cowley club out of the play-offs at the semi-final stage en route to the league crown.
And with both teams having consistency of line-ups compared to 2022, they are expected to be in the shake-up for league honours again this year.
It is the opening NDL fixture for the Chargers but three of their riders also race for Oxford at Championship level – so skipper Jordan Jenkins, Henry Atkins and reserve Luke Killeen have already had plenty of track time at Sandy Lane.
The home side have made a change to the line-up initially announced for 2023, with experienced NDL rider Ryan Kinsley coming in as a replacement for Nathan Stoneman, who is out with shoulder trouble.
The Lion Cubs are at full strength and are unchanged from their Easter Saturday home clash with Berwick, where they got their campaign off to a winning start, and their riders have remained active over recent weeks despite the lack of team fixtures.
Manager Dave Howard said: “Dan and Joe (Thompson) have been racing in the other leagues and everybody else has been getting on track at various places to keep on the bike, so that’s been good.
“Max Perry had a practice at Leicester, and several of the others have had some good time at Scunthorpe.
“Ashton (Boughen) has been all over the place, practicing everywhere, and Vinnie (Foord) has been down at Lydd quite a lot, and that’s good because it’s over a month since we raced, and then it will be another three weeks until we race again, and then we’re back to one a week after that.
“Oxford have got a solid team from top to bottom, but as we did last year we’ll be looking to get as close as we can to put us in a good position for the home meeting.”
OXFORD: Jordan Jenkins, Jacob Clouting, Henry Atkins, Jody Scott, Ryan Kinsley, Luke Killeen, Jacob Fellows.
LEICESTER: Dan Thompson, Ashton Boughen, Max Perry, Tom Spencer, Joe Thompson, Vinnie Foord, Max James.
