LEICESTER Lion Cubs have moved to sign Ryan Terry-Daley ahead of a busy spell of National League racing.
The 25-year-old, recently released by the Isle of Wight, joins the Roger Webster Lion Cubs as a replacement for Jamie Halder, who continues to be sidelined by a complex broken collarbone.
Terry-Daley will make his first appearance for the club in Saturday’s National League Fours at Stoke, with his league debut to come at Mildenhall on July 21.
He has extensive experience at this level from spells with Mildenhall, Coventry, Stoke, Plymouth and IOW, and Cubs co-boss Dave Howard says the hectic schedule ahead, along with likely switches in riding order, were factors in the decision.
Howard said: “We’ve kept in touch with Jamie and it was always the intention to get him back into the team, but over the last few weeks it’s become apparent that he faces an extended period out of action as the break was so bad.
“The key date for us has always been when the fourth league match would come, because the averages change seven days after that, and that fourth match is at Mildenhall.
“The likelihood then is that Dan and Joe (Thompson) will move into the top five as things stand, and if Jamie drops to reserve we’d be left with no facility.
“With the Tuesday home meetings coming up, we’ve got five meetings coming up before the end of July so we had to make the move at this stage.
“We were looking at the situation and it came up at around the time that Ryan became available, so really it fitted in with the timescale we were looking at.
“I spoke to Jamie and kept him informed, as I believe in doing that with people, but it’s just that we’ve got so many matches coming up – potentially with the Cup semi-final, as many as 14 over the next couple of months.
“If we lost the rider-replacement facility and had to bring in unattached riders at reserve that would make a huge difference, so that’s why we’ve done this.
“Ryan had been in a tough No.3 spot at the Isle of Wight, which he won’t be in here, but he scored points in that position and we’ll see where his average ends up.”
The next home fixture for the Lion Cubs is on Tuesday July 23 when they host Plymouth.
