Leicester’s visit to Manchester tonight will be the first occasion that the team has ridden at the new National Speedway Stadium which is the home of the Belle Vue Aces.
The Lions were originally due to race against the Aces in April but bad weather intervened which caused a postponement.
Since then three of Leicester’s team have ridden at the new stadium which opened earlier this season. Paul Starke and Josh Auty were the first to appear when they rode in the British Final and Nicolai Klindt guested for Wolverhampton earlier this month.
Whilst the Aces have each of their seven regular riders available, the Lions are hard hit through fixture clashes that means being without three of their team. Aaron Summers, who has been scoring more freely since moving to number two in the team, is riding for Glasgow in an all-Scottish cup tie against Edinburgh whilst Paul Starke faces Ludvig Lindgren for their respective clubs Somerset and Newcastle in a Premier League fixture the same night.
“One of the down sides to having riders in the team who are doubling-up between the Elite and Premier League means that there are occasions when one club has priority over another for their services. We knew at the start of the season that Paul would miss this fixture which wasn’t so bad but of course Aaron and Ludvig joined us later on and there was no avoiding the situation we find ourselves in at Belle Vue” explained the Lions Team Manager, Norrie Allan.
Michael Palm Toft, a former Belle Vue rider who now races in the Premier League for Scunthorpe, takes the place of Lindgren at reserve and Redcar’s Hugh Skidmore is the guest replacement for Summers. The Paul Chapman and Sons Lions will cover for Starke’s absence with rider replacement.
Teams
Belle Vue: 1. Matej Zagar, 2. Steven Worrall, 3. Scott Nicholls, 4. Max Fricke, 5. Craig Cook, 6. Richie Worrall and 7. Joe Jacobs
Leicester: 1. Patrick Hougaard, 2. Hugh Skidmore, 3. Nicolai Klindt, 4. Rider Replacement for Paul Starke, 5. Szymon Wozniak, Michael Palm Toft and 7. Josh Auty
