LEICESTER promoter Stewart Dickson is delighted to see club asset Connor Mountain back in Championship racing for the coming season.
Mountain was an integral part of the Watling JCB Lions’ title triumph two years ago, and leaving him out of the plans for the cancelled 2020 campaign was one of Dickson’s toughest decisions.
The 23-year-old initially signed for Newcastle only to be sacrificed earlier this winter when the Diamonds’ plans changed – but an about-turn on Tyneside has seen Mountain re-instated after they parted company with Danish racer Claus Vissing.
Dickson said: “I’m really pleased to see Connor back in the league, and starting in the main body of the Newcastle side will be good for him.
“I also feel better in myself about it, because obviously we didn’t include him in our team when we built it for last season, and that was a difficult situation.
“But we’re still talking to Connor, and he’s also been invited to our practice days at Leicester.
“As I said to him, I know what it’s like when you haven’t got a team place and everyone else is turning up and getting ready for the season, it’s not the same feeling, but now he has regular racing to look forward to.
“He’s a good lad, and I don’t think his Leicester days are over by any means. I’m really happy for him and I look forward to seeing him soon.”
Plans for the season to start in mid-May are progressing well, subject to the next step in the Government roadmap taking place on schedule, and behind-closed-doors practice at the Paul Chapman & Sons Arena will start in the near future.
Supporters will also be pleased to hear that repairs to the grandstand roof – damaged by high winds two years ago – are set to be completed.
Dickson said: “The roof is being picked up this week via the Bates family, and we have a couple of experts coming in to do it at the weekend.
“Things are really coming together and various other jobs are being done, so it’s getting exciting now.
“I’m coming down this weekend for the first time since December 20, I’ll be here for four days to do some work on the track and also we want to tidy up the appearance of the centre-green, the white line and so on.
“We have a lot of good riders booked in for practice as well over the next few weeks, so it will be great to get speedway bikes back there, and we look forward to the fans coming back next month.”
