Leicester’s new found home form will be severely tested on Saturday when the Lakeside Hammers visit the Jordan Road Surfacing Stadium.
The visitors are currently third in the Elite League table and have maintained a settled septet since the start of the season. Their only change to their team occurred last week when Peter Karlsson was released to make way for Kim Nilsson to return to the club after a short spell riding for Eastbourne last season.
The team have shown consistent form which has helped Lakeside remain one of the forerunners for a place in the play-offs and possibly their best finish since 2008. Their strength has been at home where the Hammers have lost just once when the Elite League leaders King’s Lynn lowered their colours but they gained a measure of revenge when they temporarily halted the Stars run of a record fourteen consecutive wins in the ‘B’ fixture at the Arena Essex Raceway. Away from home Lakeside have won at Birmingham and drawn at Belle Vue but need additional points on their travels to make sure they remain play-off contenders.
On their last visit to Leicester the Hammers felt aggrieved that a decision to withdraw their reserve Adam Ellis from the meeting may have caused them to lose a match point. The flashpoint arose when Ellis crashed and in the opinion of the medical practitioner the Lakeside teenage reserve was not fit to continue much to the annoyance of the rider and his team manager. Leicester went on to win the match by 48 points to 41.
Leicester have a doubt over the fitness of Josh Bates who injured his hand during the win against Eastbourne on Monday and have the Coventry rider James Sarjeant on standby. The visitors are without Mikkel Bech whose sparkling performance at Leicester in May earned the talented Danish teenager the highest step on the rostrum in the World Under-21 Championship qualifier and his place will be filled by the King’s Lynn captain Rory Schlein.
“There are no easy matches in the Elite League and this one will be a stern test for us. Our home form has shown a marked improvement and it is in meetings like this that you gauge just how far we have come as a team. Lakeside know that they need at least another away win to boost their points tally and our goal is at the very least to remain unbeaten in the ‘B’ fixtures at home. We have started well by beating Belle Vue and Eastbourne on their return visits to Leicester and it will be a great boost to our confidence if we can add Lakeside to the list” said the Lions Team Manager Norrie Allan.
Teams
Leicester: 1. Jason Doyle, 2. Simon Stead, 3. Mads Korneliussen, 4. Nicolai Klindt, 5. Krzysztof Buczkowski, 6. Max Clegg and 7. Josh Bates
Lakeside: 1. Davey Watt, 2. Richard Lawson, 3. Lewis Bridger, 4. Kim Nilsson, 5. Rory Schlein, 6. Ben Morley and 7. Adam Ellis
