Leicester go to Wolverhampton on Monday still searching for that first elusive away win in the Elite League.
The Rapid Solicitors Lions have one away match point so far from five fixtures and are looking to add to that figure against the Wolves.
The teams last met at Leicester in March and Wolverhampton edged a win in the very last race of the meeting. Since then the Wolves have lost each of their last five away fixtures with only a bonus consolation match point gleaned at Birmingham to show for their efforts. At home both Poole and Belle Vue left the Monmore Green Stadium with a draw and the west Midlands club have dropped points against Lakeside, King’s Lynn and Coventry. Wolverhampton will be buoyed by the performance of their captain and current World Champion Tai Woffinden who is now joint leader in the Grand Prix series after his win in Prague on Saturday.
“Wolverhampton are a quality side but have not fully found their top form at home so far which is a mystery really and that has to be to our advantage. I was looking for both Tom Perry and Max Clegg to give the team a big performance as they both ride for Cradley whose home track is at Wolverhampton but this has been partly scuppered by the fact that we will now be without Tom again for a short while” explained the Lions Team Manager Norrie Allan.
Perry has been missing from Leicester’s team since breaking his collar-bone last month and had a fitness test on Saturday with the intention that if all went well he would lead the Lion Cubs out against Stoke yesterday in a National Trophy fixture but the practice ended in disappointment as he fell and injured muscles in his shoulder which now rules him out of the team again.
With Perry back on the injured list and Patrick Hougaard still missing following a broken thumb sustained at Coventry in April, Rory Schlein who guested for Leicester at Eastbourne on Saturday continues at number five in the team against the Wolves. “Rory did a great job for us at Eastbourne and finished joint second top scorer but our preparation was disrupted a little when I had to make a last minute change to the side following the injury to James Sarjeant whilst riding for Coventry on Thursday. Sarjeant was deputising for Perry and because he was unfit to race we asked Marc Owen to ride for us. The King’s Lynn lad had rotten luck and was unable to show us what he could do as both of his bikes broke down” explained Allan.
Teams
Wolverhampton: 1. Tai Woffinden, 2. Jacob Thorssell, 3. Ricky Wells, 4. Ty Proctor, 5. Piotr Pawlicki, 6. Joe Jacobs and 7. Ashley Morris.
Leicester: 1. Jason Doyle, 2. Simon Stead, 3. Mads Korneliussen, 4. Lasse Bjerre, 5. Rory Schlein, 6. Max Clegg and at 7. Guest for Tom Perry.
