LEICESTER face a massive home test when they host runaway league leaders Ipswich at the Pidcock Motorcycles Arena, Beaumont Park on Thursday (7.30pm).
The Watling JCB Lions are still chasing a top four place in the ROWE Motor Oil Premiership, and they raced to a comfortable win in their last outing on their own track against Sheffield a fortnight ago.
But matches against the Witches have provided considerable difficulty over the last two years, and the Suffolk side have won on both of their visits to the East Midlands this season.
Ipswich go into the meeting eight points clear at the top of the table after a superb season so far, and they have maintained momentum despite an injury crisis, the biggest blow being the loss of World title contender Jason Doyle for the remainder of the campaign with a shoulder injury.
Despite that, the Witches have still pulled off big results, including a Super Heat victory at Oxford a fortnight ago, with former Lions captain Scott Nicholls proving to be an admirable regular stand-in for Doyle, racing in the No.1 position – whilst the brilliant Emil Sayfutdinov was in vintage form prior to the Speedway of Nations break.
Nicholls, who led Leicester to the Championship title in 2019, comes in again on Thursday, although the visitors are without another ex-Lion Dan Thompson due to a dislocated shoulder.
Rider replacement is in operation at No.2 and the Witches can cover with additional rides for the in-form Keynan Rew who remains at reserve.
Lions expect to be unchanged from the win over Sheffield as they go into back-to-back home matches with Belle Vue in town next week.
They do have a slight concern over Ryan Douglas, who crashed out of his Swedish league fixture on Tuesday and suffered a hand injury which is not thought to be serious, but the Australian has undergone treatment as he looks to be fit for the meeting.
Skipper Max Fricke has been in sensational form at home since mid-April, and there were two welcome race wins for Luke Becker against the Tigers after he resolved some early mechanical trouble.
Manager Stewart Dickson said: “We need to get the monkey off our backs with Ipswich – we need to beat them.
“It’s going to be tough, but do I think we’re in better shape? Yes, definitely, we are in better shape going into it.
“We will need all of our riders to be firing. We have scored 54 and 53 in our last two home meetings, so that’s not too bad, and I think we can say we go into the meeting in decent form, I wouldn’t say brilliant, but it’s decent and any sort of win is the target.”
For supporters unable to attend the meeting, it will be live streamed on Lions TV with passes available from https://www.leicesterlionstv.com/ .
The club also remind fans that as part of their summer holiday promotion, all children will be admitted free of charge.
LEICESTER: Max Fricke, Richard Lawson, Sam Masters, Luke Becker, Ryan Douglas, Craig Cook, Sam Hagon.
IPSWICH: Scott Nicholls, Dan Thompson R/R, Danny King, Adam Ellis, Emil Sayfutdinov, Keynan Rew, Jordan Jenkins, Freddy Hodder (no.8).
