The Lions have an opportunity to redress the balance following their 54-38 defeat against King’s Lynn in Norfolk on Thursday as the two teams meet again in the return fixture at Beaumont Park tonight.
The visitor’s team includes their Grand Prix star Niels-Kristian Iversen at number one. Iversen, who has held the Leicester track record on two previous occasions, will captain Denmark later this month in the Speedway World Cup competition and it is expected that his teammate Robert Lambert will represent Team GB in the event.
When the Lions and Stars fought out a 45-45 result in April it was only the second time an Elite League fixture had ended in a draw at Beaumont Park and Iversen and Lambert were the two principal scorers that night. Entering the final heat Leicester were ahead on points but a tenacious four laps by Lambert saw him pass the two Lions riders in separate manoeuvres to join the race leader Iversen at the front and for his efforts the British teenager earned his team a draw.
Meanwhile Ludvig Lindgren returns after missing the match on Thursday due to a clash of dates with his Swedish club Varsarna. Team Manager Norrie Allan said: “Back-to-back wins against Coventry and Wolverhampton at home recently has lifted some of the pressure off the team. Okay it’s not championship form by any means but after so many last heat deciders going against us it was a nice change for Heat 15 to go our way, not once but twice in the Midlands derbies.
“Our aim is to round off our home programme with another three wins starting tonight against King’s Lynn. It will be by no means easy as the Stars ride our place pretty well but we have more belief in our ability than ever before and our change of fortune has coincided with the arrival of Ludvig and Aaron moving to the less demanding role at number 2 in the side” added Allan.
King’s Lynn bring in Josh Bates as a guest replacement for the injured Simon Lambert. The Stars have the best away record at Leicester than any of the other six Elite League clubs. In five previous visits they have harvested sixteen match points, one more than the current league champions, the Poole Pirates.
Teams
Leicester: 1. Patrick Hougaard, 2. Aaron Summers, 3. Nicolai Klindt, 4. Paul Starke, 5. Szymon Wozniak, Ludvig Lindgren and 7. Josh Auty
King’s Lynn: 1. Niels-Kristian Iversen, 2. Josh Bates, 3. Rory Schlein, 4. Troy Batchelor, 5. Robert Lambert, 6. Nicolaj Busk-Jakobsen and 7. Lewis Rose
