The Leicester Elliott Lions face a long trip south to Plymouth on Friday for a League Cup fixture at the St. Boniface Arena. The Devils’ have yet to win a meeting at home in the competition after a draw against Rye House and defeat to Somerset last week.
The side that ended last season has undergone a significant re-vamp with only three riders retained. Their talisman Ben Barker, who carried the side away from home, remains and is continuing to ride in the Elite League with Birmingham this year. The arrangement suited the Cornishman who had an exceptional year for both clubs and his performances earned Ben a call-up to represent Team GB in the Speedway World Cup competition. His first place against a quality field in the Ben Fund meeting in March sent out a strong message of his growing status.
Barker, who on occasions last season carried the Plymouth team single handed, now has Ryan Fisher in the same corner of the pits to help share the responsibility. The Californian has stepped down from the Elite League with Coventry and along with recent signing Cory Gathercole from Somerset their presence will present Leicester’s three heat leaders with a stern challenge.
Leicester’s team manager Jason Attwood has named the same team that beat Rye House at Beaumont Park two weeks ago and with Kyle Hughes, a former Plymouth rider at reserve, the Lions are hoping his track knowledge will give the team an edge against his previous club.
Plymouth: 1 Ben Barker, 2 James Cockle, 3 Ryan Fisher, 4 James Holder, 5 Cory Gathercole, 6 Gino Franchetti and 7 Nicki Glanz
Leicester: 1 Lasse Bjerre, 2 Simon Lambert, 3 Kauko Nieminen, 4 Jari Mäkinen, 5 Magnus Karlsson, 6 Jan Graversen and 7 Kyle Hughes
The following night Leicester play host to one of the early season pacesetters the Somerset Rebels who are currently second in the League Cup table, having lost just once so far in the competition. The Rebels are widely tipped this year to figure strongly in the race for the Premier League title and have named their two Australians, Jason Doyle and the highly talented Alex Davies as their opening pairing on Saturday. Sam Masters who topped off a satisfactory year by winning the Premier League Riders’ Championship Final at Sheffield in September forms a strong pairing at three and four with James Wright whose move from Workington in September to Somerset coincided with the visit of Leicester to the Oak Tree Arena. Wright made what can only be described as a dream debut and it was his courageous ride in heat 15 that denied Leicester a bonus point.
Wearing the number five race bib in the team is Claus Vissing who on his previous two appearances at Leicester achieved high scores and at reserve the visitors are tracking two young British riders in Kyle Newman and Tom Perry. Kyle is highly regarded and has made some telling contributions so far this season. So too has Tom who spent part of the winter Down Under riding for the Young British Lions and gave a good account of himself in the three match series. The youngster was in the news last week after winning the Under-21 British semi-final at Stoke.
The Elliott sponsored Lions are again unchanged for this fixture and with Jari Mäkinen and Kyle Hughes, two former Somerset riders in the team, there is an extra incentive to deliver a match winning performance.
As a little gift for all children this Saturday, we will be giving away to each child a complimentary colour photograph of last season’s Lions riders (whilst stocks last).
Teams:
Leicester: 1 Lasse Bjerre, 2 Simon Lambert, 3 Kauko Nieminen, 4 Jari Mäkinen, 5 Magnus Karlsson, 6 Jan Graversen and 7 Kyle Hughes
Somerset: 1 Jason Doyle, 2 Alex Davies, 3 Sam Masters, 4 James Wright, 5 Claus Vissing, 6 Kyle Newman and 7 Tom Perry
