The Elliott sponsored Lions face the Scunthorpe Scorpions at the Beaumont Park Stadium on Saturday in a Premier League fixture.
The visitors are without their captain and talisman, David Howe, who has missed the last four meetings for Scunthorpe after dislocating his shoulder in a grass track meeting in Worcester last month.
Scunthorpe have borrowed Nick Morris, as the replacement for Howe, who now rides in the Elite League for Swindon Robins. The Australian has a proven track record at Leicester having ridden the circuit five times since the opening last year with his best performance coming in August when he won five races for Glasgow and finished the meeting with a total of twenty points, the highest figure of any visiting rider during the course of the season.
The two clubs last met in a pre-season challenge with each team winning at home and the Scorpions are pushing for a top two finish in the Northern section of the League Cup which will guarantee them a place in the semi-finals.
Meanwhile, league leaders Leicester maintain the same pairings from the side that gained back-to-back wins against Redcar and Glasgow at the weekend. “I was pleased that the two positional changes worked out for us. Magnus Karlsson has already built up a good understanding with Simon Lambert and they were our best pairing against Redcar scoring maximum points in two of the three races they rode together. We have made the best possible start in the Premier League and it was gratifying to gather six points from our opening two matches. Redcar provided us with certain challenges throughout the meeting but we remained focused and to go to Glasgow who had not lost a league fixture at home for over a year and to come away with a win gave everyone a lift. We have a long way to go between now and the end of the season, our feet are firmly on the ground as anything can happen to push a team off course and end up disappointed. My main priority is to foster a winning mentality within the team to ensure that we give little away at Beaumont Park and a repeat of the approach we adopted at Glasgow is a must if we are to stand a realistic chance of reaching the Play-off finals in the autumn” stated the Lions Team Manager Jason Attwood.
The meeting on Saturday against Scunthorpe begins at 8.00pm to allow Tigers fans time to travel across the city to the Beaumont Park Stadium after watching the game against the Saracens.
Teams
Leicester: 1. Magnus Karlsson, 2. Simon Lambert, 3. Kauko Nieminen, 4. Jari Mäkinen, 5. Lasse Bjerre, 6. Jan Graversen and 7. Simon Nielsen
Scunthorpe: 1. Nick Morris (Guest), 2.Thomas Jorgensen, 3. Tero Aarnio, 4. Michael Palm Toft, 5. Josh Auty, 6. Jerran Hart and 7. Ashley Birks
