Saturday’s visitors to Leicester are Wolverhampton who are led by the World Champion Tai Woffinden and current leader of the 2014 Grand Prix series.
The Wolves hold the distinction of being the first team to win an Elite League fixture at the Jordan Road Surfacing Stadium when they secured the points in a last heat decider that went right down to the final lap of Heat 15.
Since that night the West Midlands club have struggled to keep in close contact with the pacesetters due to an inconsistent home record that has seen them lose to King’s Lynn, Coventry, Lakeside and Poole. Not wishing to see their season end on a low note the Wolves axed Ty Proctor and Ricky Wells, two of their long standing club assets late last month, and replaced them with Peter Karlsson and Lasse Bjerre.
Bjerre had a big following during his two seasons in the Premier League with Leicester and made 65 appearances for the Lions in all competitions, scoring close to six hundred total points. During his time riding for the Lions the Dane won the Pride of the Midlands trophy in 2012 and was a silver medallist in the Fours’ competition but during the winter Lasse reverted back to Peterborough his parent club. In the recent team shuffle that took place at Wolverhampton, a door opened for Lasse to return to the Elite League. It was not his first opportunity as Leicester re-signed him in a double-up arrangement with Peterborough in June after it was learnt that Peter Ljung had decided to leave British Speedway. His second stay at the club was all too brief, lasting just four matches before he was replaced and now makes his first return to Leicester.
In the eyes of the Wolves fans, Peter Karlsson is one of the club’s legendary figures and perhaps the most revered of them all. Peter’s association goes way back to 1990 and apart from eight seasons when he raced for Peterborough, King’s Lynn, Belle Vue and Lakeside Peter has been an integral part of the scene at Monmore Green and was in the Wolverhampton team that won the Elite League Championship title in 2002 and 2009.
“People have differing opinions as to whether it is a good or bad thing to bring back a former idol and they come no bigger than Peter Karlsson who has shared in so many wonderful nights down the years. Time will tell but I believe that his return to the club he loves will ignite Peter to finish the year on a high. The same can be said of Lasse Bjerre who formed the second part of the double change at Monmore Green. Lasse, we all know was possibly the most exciting rider on Leicester’s books and in full flight around here there was no better spectacle. I am sure that on Saturday he will want to prove me wrong as to why we let him go after just four matches. I hope that it all works out for Peter and Lasse and they prove to be astute signings but not until after we have ridden against them” laughed the Lions Team Manager Norrie Allan.
The Rapid Solicitors Lions welcomes back two of their World Cup riders, Mads Korneliussen, who was part of the Danish team that won the final and Jason Doyle whose efforts helped to pull Australia back into contention. “I am sure they will both receive a big reception from Lions fans on Saturday before we get down to the business of securing another three match points” commented Allan.
Simon Stead, who was also a World Cup finalist with Team GB misses the fixture as he and Josh Bates are representing Sheffield at Berwick. Leicester are covering for their absence with two guest riders, Craig Cook from Belle Vue and Swindon’s Nathan Greaves. “We knew when we agreed a deal with them that they would miss this meeting but sometimes that is a price you have to pay when signing riders who are doubling-up elsewhere. Hopefully the two guests will do just as good a job as Simon and Josh” added Allan.
Teams
Leicester: 1. Jason Doyle, 2. Craig Cook, 3. Mads Korneliussen, 4. Nicolai Klindt, 5. Krzysztof Buczkowski, 6. Max Clegg and 7. Nathan Greaves
Wolverhampton: 1. Tai Woffinden, 2. Jacob Thorssell, 3. Peter Karlsson, 4. Lasse Bjerre, 5. Piotr Pawlicki, 6. Joe Jacobs and 7. Tom Perry
