The Leicester Elliott UK sponsored Lions launch into their opening home fixture of the League Cup competition on Saturday with the visit of the Ipswich Witches.
The two clubs have been grouped together in the Southern section along with Rye House, Plymouth and Somerset. It is a tough looking group with the top two sides going through to the semi-final stage and the winning team progressing to a Grand Final to meet the finalists from the Northern section.
The Witches dropped down from the Elite League last year and signed-off a successful campaign in the middle tier with third place in the Premier League. The high point for the club came at Leicester in October when they were crowned Premier League Fours’ champions. Four of the five riders who were triumphant that night are still with the Suffolk club but Morten Risager and Taylor Poole are missing from the side on Saturday following serious injuries sustained recently during the home leg of the Anglian Cup fixture against Rye House.
With Poole and Risager now out of the sport for some considerable time, the profile of the team has changed with Leigh Lanham an Ipswich asset now recalled to the club where his career first started. Back for a second season is their skipper Kevin Doolan who finished third in the New Year Classic at Newport in January and the experienced number one will be a steadying influence on his fellow younger compatriots in the Ipswich team. One of which is Twenty year old Dakota North who literally flew around the Beaumont Park track on his first visit with Somerset last season and if his previous performance at Leicester for the Rest of the World side is anything to go by then Ipswich have a jewel in the making with Rohan Tungate.
Similar noises have emanated out of Mildenhall about Cameron Heeps who set people talking after some chart topping scores in the National League. Whilst still only sixteen years of age Cameron is already a five-times Under-16 Western Australian Champion and his decision to ride for Ipswich this season is seen as a major signing by the Witches promotion.
Completing the team is Mathieu Trésarrieu who covered for the absence of Iliya Bondarenko in the Leicester team last season. When the popular Russian returned to the side Mathieu was snapped up by Ipswich where he turned out a series of high scores and could be the one to watch for the visitor’s tonight.
Leicester meanwhile remain unchanged from the side that beat Scunthorpe in a challenge fixture at the Beaumont Park Stadium last Sunday whilst Ipswich will cover for Taylor Poole’s absence by using the rider replacement facility. Apart from Lanham, whose father Mike rode for Leicester in their last season during 1983, the Witches team manager can call upon any of his five riders to take an extra ride in place of Poole.
Teams
Leicester:
1. Lasse Bjerre, 2. Simon Lambert, 3. Kauko Nieminen (c) 4. Jari Makinen 5. Magnus Karlsson 6. Jan Graversen and 7. Kyle Hughes
Ipswich:
1. Leigh Lanham, 2. Taylor Poole Rider Replacement, 3. Kevin Doolan (C), 4. Dakota North, 5. Mathieu Tresarrieu, 6. Cameron Heeps and 7. Rohan Tungate
