On Sunday Leicester venture into new territory when the Lion Cubs take on the Kent Kings in the National Trophy at the Jordan Road Surfacing Stadium.
During the winter the club accepted an invitation to enter a team in the competition which comprises of a mini league encompassing Leicester, Kent, Mildenhall and Stoke. Each team will race one another home and away with the top two teams meeting in a Grand Final to be staged over two legs to decide the winners.
“This is of course a new venture for the club and an exciting one at that as we are bringing National League racing to Leicester for the first time. We have appointed David Howard our Incident Recorder as Team Manager to oversee the project and he has come up with what I consider to be a competitive side and as close to a representative Leicester team as possible” commented the Lions Promoter David Hemsley.
The Kent Kings are a new club having been formed last season and are captained by the one-time Leicester rider Simon Lambert who rode for the Lions in 2012. The Kent management have built their team around the experience of Lambert, together with Ben Morley, who whilst only twenty years of age is starting his sixth season. David Mason is the oldest member of the team at thirty-seven and Benji Compton, a former Conference League Riders Champion, is in the main body of the side.
The Lion Cubs have constructed their team around the rising stars of the National League as Team Manager David Howard explains: “I am looking forward to the start of the National Trophy competition and we have a competitive well balanced team to entertain the fans. They all have experience of riding the Leicester track which hopefully gives us the opportunity of progressing through the group to the final. I have included our two young reserves from Leicester’s senior team, Tom Perry and Max Clegg, who will form a partnership. They both ride together for Dudley as well and I have replicated the same approach with the opening pairing of James Sarjeant, who was on Leicester’s books last season, and Dan Greenwood who rides in the same team as Sarjeant at Coventry. Continuing the Coventry theme, at five is Oliver Greenwood who I am pleased to say was a high performer the other week when he scored eight points for Peterborough at Leicester in the pre-season challenge. At six and seven are another two stars of the future who have shown plenty of promise whenever they have ridden the Leicester track.”
It promises to be an action packed Sunday as there are two added attractions as part of the programme which gets underway at 4.00 pm. Firstly, after the completion of the National Trophy fixture, there will be a Match Race between Simon Lambert, the current holder of the Bronze Helmet title, and one of the top three scorers in the Leicester team. Finally, the Long Eaton Invaders will race against the Rye House Raiders in their opening Midland Development League fixture of the season and the occasion will mark the debut of the Lions mascot Luke Whitehead who has been signed by the Derbyshire club.
Teams
Leicester Lion Cubs: 1. James Sarjeant, 2. Dan Greenwood, 3. Tom Perry, 4. Max Clegg, 5. Oliver Greenwood, 6. James Shanes and 7. Tom Woolley
Kent Kings: 1. Simon Lambert, 2. Luke Chessell, 3. Ben Morley, 4. Benji Compton, 5. David Mason, 6. Daniel Blake and 7. Luke Harris.
