KEVIN Wölbert will begin his ninth consecutive season racing in British Speedway when he makes his debut in the Lions opening Premiership fixture against the Swindon Robins at Beaumont Park on Saturday April 1.
The twice crowned German Individual Champion was thankful to receive a call from Leicester with an offer of a team place to ride for the club after fears that he was likely to miss out for the first time since arriving in the UK in 2009 to ride for Edinburgh.
Wölbert said: “Edinburgh signalled in November that they were planning their team without me so I was very disappointed. I feel very settled in the UK wherever I have ridden and we tried everything to get a place in a team but all slots were closed.
"The new rules for British Speedway didn’t work for me so I was very surprised and lucky when Damien Bates’ brother Marc contacted me.
"We completed the deal pretty quickly and I am happy and keen to be back in UK Speedway and back in Premiership Racing.”
The twenty-seven year old has been part of championship winning teams during his time racing for Edinburgh and has been a consistent performer for the Scottish club finishing second in the team’s averages last season.
He will form a heat leader spearhead with Kim Nilsson and Kacper Gomolski for the Watling JCB Lions and is already looking forward to scoring as many points for his new club as possible.
“The name of the game is winning. Not ever so easy but possible. I think we all are very keen to ride here. It is a good mix between young guns and experience. We are all racers and I think we can gain some decent results. We are not in a favourite role but nobody should underrate us” added Wölbert.
