Late last night Leicester’s Promoter David Hemsley completed the signing of Linus Eklöf, a twenty-three year old Swede who has been riding in the Elite League for the Belle Vue Aces.
Linus joins the Lions on loan from his parent club the King’s Lynn Stars where he scored over six points a match for the Norfolk club who swept the board in the Premier League, Trophy and Knock-out Cup competition three years ago.
Leicester’s new signing, who is a former World Under-19 Team Champion, comes into the team on a 5.00 match average and to accommodate him and to remain within the points’ limit of 42.50, Simon Lambert has been released. “It has been a difficult recent period for Simon who always gives full commitment to his racing but the points have not flowed as much as we would have liked or indeed for him. Riding at number two in the team like Simon has done all season is possibly the hardest position for someone to cope with. It was not an easy decision to make and we will do all we can to get Simon fixed up with another club. We set out to keep the six together and I scoured the globe for a seventh rider. I used my contacts to talk to a number of riders which for different reasons came to nothing. Basically we spent ten days trying to keep the team together which was our main priority but because we went down that route we missed out on talking to various riders who became available during that period. However, we still have points to play with and will continue to monitor the rider availability situation on a day by day basis” commented the Lions Team Manager Glyn Taylor.
Eklöf will make his debut on Sunday (subject to the transfer being approved by the British Speedway Promoters Association) when the Elliott sponsored Lions meet the high flying Workington Comets at Beaumont Park in the Quarter Final of the Knock-out Cup competition. The winners of the round meet Newcastle in the semi-finals and the key to who goes through will hinge on Sunday’s result as the Lions need a big lead to take to Derwent Park for the 2nd leg on July 22nd.
The visitors are one of the top sides so far this season and recently secured a place in the semi-final of the League Cup and are unbeaten in the Premier League. Though the club were shocked to receive the news earlier this week when their longest serving rider Rusty Harrison announced that he was retiring following their home win against the Newcastle Diamonds on Saturday. Workington have also been scouring the market for an immediate replacement and that has not transpired so far which leaves the Comets having to resort to using rider replacement for the Australian. The Comets may also be without Kenny Ingalls who is representing USA in the Speedway World Cup in Poland tomorrow and if his country qualifies for the next round he will miss the fixture at Beaumont Park. Workington’s Team Manager Tony Jackson has booked Hugh Skidmore to be on stand-by should Ingalls be unavailable. Skidmore rode for Sheffield against the Lions last week, scoring an impressive seven points.
Leicester’s team for the visit of Workington will for a second week include a National League guest again at number seven. With Lewis Blackbird unavailable due to a prior commitment for Mildenhall during the afternoon Lions Team Manager Glyn Taylor has booked Ben Morley to ride. Morley, who rides for Rye House is one of the best riders of his age in the lower tier and second in the club’s averages.
The new match averages come into effect for the cup fixture which sees Jan Graversen move back into the main body of the side with Jari Mäkinen replacing the Dane at reserve and Eklöf forms a new opening partnership with Magnus Karlsson.
Teams
Leicester: 1. Magnus Karlsson, 2. Linus Eklöf, 3. Kauko Nieminen, 4. Jan Graversen, 5. Lasse Bjerre, 6. Jari Mäkinen and 7. Ben Morley
Workington: 1. Richard Lawson, 2. Rider Replacement, 3. Rene Bach, 4. Kenny Ingalls, 5. Adam Roynon, 6. Gary Irving and 7. Kyle Howarth
