LEICESTER kick off a run of three away matches in quick succession when they visit ROWE Motor Oil Premiership leaders Ipswich on Thursday (7.30pm).
The Watling JCB Lions have been inactive since a narrow defeat at Oxford on June 3, and now hit the road again with trips to Foxhall, Belle Vue (next Monday) and King’s Lynn (July 1) before resuming their home campaign.
Lions raced at Ipswich recently in the second leg of their KO Cup tie, where they went down by four points in tough conditions, and they will now look to break the Witches’ 100 per cent record at home.
Once again they will come up against their former captain Scott Nicholls who guests for Ipswich, this time in place of the injured Jason Doyle, and he therefore slots into the No.1 position.
Elsewhere, the Witches’ injury crisis has eased with Danny King making his Premiership comeback in this meeting and Adam Ellis is also recently back in action.
Lions name a full-strength team in what has become their usual riding order, with Max Fricke leading the side after his impressive second place in last weekend’s Grand Prix of Sweden in Malilla.
Manager Stewart Dickson said: “When you go to Ipswich and there’s no Jason Doyle then you always think you have a chance, but they are pretty strong and they’ve shown they are probably the best team in the league at the moment.
“They came out on top in their battles with Sheffield so they look the business at the moment and we know what Scott Nicholls did against us there last time.
“On that occasion I think both teams will agree it was a gating contest due to the conditions, which is not normally the case when we are there.
“We do have a good, dry forecast for this week which should be good for both teams, and we’ve generally been close there when we’ve visited in the past.
“These are two big meetings coming up for us over the next few days. I know I keep saying it, but it’s time we came to the party, and the riders all want to get to the play-offs. We need to do it when it counts.”
Supporters are reminded there is track action at the Pidcock Motorcycles Arena, Beaumont Park this Sunday (3pm) when the Lion Cubs face a huge NDL clash with title rivals Oxford. Full preview of that meeting to come on Friday.
IPSWICH: Scott Nicolls, Dan Thompson, Danny King, Adam Ellis, Emil Sayfutdinov, Keynan Rew, Jordan Jenkins.
LEICESTER: Max Fricke, Richard Lawson, Sam Masters, Luke Becker, Ryan Douglas, Craig Cook, Sam Hagon.
