The Leicester Promotion received the news that they have been waiting for all winter, that Jason Doyle will receive his Tier 5 (Temporary Worker - Creative and Sporting) Sponsorship approval in the next few days.
It means that the Lions will go into their first full team match without Doyle against the Peterborough Panthers on Saturday but he should be in the UK in good time to face Wolverhampton confirmed the Lions’ boss David Hemsley: “It has been a frustrating time for the club and Jason in particular. We were hoping that he would be here in time for Saturday but the fixture is not critical in the whole scheme of things. The important aspect is that Jason will receive written confirmation shortly giving him the right to work in the UK and knowing Jason as soon as that comes through he will be on a flight here.”
In Doyle’s absence the Rapid Solicitors Lions will operate the rider replacement facility in his place at number one in the team against the Peterborough Panthers in the Inter-League Challenge at Leicester on Saturday. “Whilst this is not an ideal situation I would rather give my own riders extra races at the expense of another club’s asset because at this time of the season the sooner our new team becomes accustomed to the Leicester track the better it will be, particularly as our first Elite League fixture against Wolverhampton is in just over a week’s time” added Hemsley.
Apart from missing Doyle the Lions will be at full strength. Originally Max Clegg was booked to compete in the British Under-21 Championship at Plymouth on Saturday but has opted to race for Leicester instead. “We left it entirely up to Max to decide which meeting he wanted to compete in as we did not want to insist that he pulls out of a British Championship competition to ride in what is effectively a pre-season challenge event. Max chose to ride for the Lions which shows his commitment to the club” stated Hemsley.
Peterborough, who opened their season with a home defeat on Tuesday against Rye House in the League Cup competition, is also missing the former Czech Republic National Champion, Ales Dryml. The Panthers have booked the Leicester track specialist Nick Morris as a guest replacement. With Lewis Blackbird also missing the fixture, the Panthers have included Aaron Summers at number two in a team that features the USA World Cup rider Ryan Fisher, along with the former Leicester rider Lasse Bjerre.
Teams
Leicester: 1. Rider Replacement for Jason Doyle, 2. Peter Ljung, 3. Mads Korneliussen, 4. Simon Stead, 5. Patrick Hougaard, 6. Tom Perry and 7. Max Clegg
Peterborough: 1. Ryan Fisher, 2. Aaron Summers, 3. Lasse Bjerre, 4. Ulrich Ostergaard, 5. Nick Morris, 6. Joe Jacobs and 7. Oliver Greenwood
