LEICESTER Lion Cubs resume their bid for the WSRA National Development League title when they travel to Redcar to face Middlesbrough on Friday.
The Lion Cubs carry a healthy 20-point advantage for the aggregate point after a 55-35 win in the reverse fixture, which they will be very confident of defending, but they will be going for a seventh victory out of seven league matches.
There are two changes to the regular line-up with rider replacement in operation for Vinnie Foord, who would have missed the meeting in any case due to a Championship commitment for Poole.
However, the unlucky Foord is now sidelined with a fractured shoulder after his crash in the NL Riders Development Series meeting last Sunday, where he incredibly raced on for two more rides after the incident, and he now faces a fight to be able to resume this season.
With Max James on Championship duty for Edinburgh, the Lion Cubs bring in 15-year-old William Cairns to guest at reserve, and he has already scored heavily at Redcar in the recent past.
Manager Dave Howard said: “We’re quite positive about the meeting, it’s one we feel we can win and certainly each away meeting now is going to be vital.
“It’s a real shame for Vinnie, he was riding really well and making great progress for both ourselves and Poole, but it’s one of those things and we wish him a speedy recovery.
“He’s now gone up to fourth in the averages so we will be looking for the others to cover with rider replacement.”
MIDDLESBROUGH: Ben Trigger, Kai Ward, Danny Phillips, Jamie Halder, Jake Mulford, Ben Rathbone, William Hocaniuk.
LEICESTER: Joe Thompson, Sonny Springer, Tom Spencer, Vinnie Foord r/r, Luke Crang, William Cairns, Arran Butcher
