The Lions Promoter David Hemsley announced to a packed room of fans, club sponsors and business partners tonight that Bjarne Pedersen will be racing for Leicester this season.
“Having operated at the highest level year on year and been part of so many successes at both club and international level along with being a seasoned competitor in the Grand Prix series Bjarne will bring a wealth of experience to the Lions team and the younger members of the side will gain a lot from his presence in the pits” stated Hemsley.
Pedersen is one of British Speedway’s loyal servants having completed fifteen consecutive seasons here since he first came over to ride for Newcastle in 2000. A year later Bjarne was part of the Diamonds team that won the Premier League Championship and it was to become the first of many successes during his long and illustrious career. He then left Tyneside and moved south to link up with Poole. It was whilst at Wimborne Road that Pedersen became a key figure in the Pirates trophy laden seasons of the last decade. Three Elite League Championship and Knock-out Cup medals; twice on the winning side in the Craven Shield competition; a League Cup winner and Pairs Champion was an incredible record during his time spent on the South coast. His scoring prowess became legendary and he is currently second in Poole’s all-time list of scorers.
In 2011 Bjarne was on the move along the coast-line to ride for Eastbourne and his stay lasted for just one term before a transfer to Birmingham. At the end of the season the former Danish Champion was on his way back to Eastbourne where he has remained until during the winter the Sussex club declared that they were dropping out of the Elite League and Pedersen became available for talks.
