LEICESTER’S riders will be put on full alert for their season-opening KO Cup clashes with Midlands rivals Birmingham.
The Watling JCB Lions open their team campaign when they visit Perry Bar in the first leg of the quarter-final tie on Monday March 24, before hosting the Brummies in the return at the Hydroscand Arena, Beaumont Park on Thursday March 27.
And whilst the Lions track a very familiar side in 2025, Birmingham have made wholesale changes over the winter – including the impressive signing of Danish star Michael Jepsen Jensen this week, to go alongside their Polish No.1 Tobiasz Musielak, another ex-GP racer in Matej Zagar, and Australian talent Keynan Rew who has impressed against Leicester when riding for Ipswich.
Lions are yet to progress beyond this stage of the competition since they returned to the Premiership in 2023, and manager Stewart Dickson is looking for that to change.
He said: “It was always a good Cup draw for us, and I know Birmingham were happy with it too because it’s a local derby and there’s a strong rivalry between us.
“We get a good crowd when we race against them and we also take plenty of fans over there – and from a personal point of view it’s nice to have avoided Ipswich this time, with no disrespect to them.
“But I think it’s fair to say the Birmingham tie has become a lot tastier in the last 48 hours or so with their team news.
“I don’t know everything about Jepsen Jensen, but I know he is a very capable rider, and it makes them look a much more solid side.
“That’s also what the league needs and to be fair they did try to improve it last year with Freddie Lindgren coming in, but they definitely look a good deal stronger now. They took their time and got their man, and well done to them – it’s a good addition to the league.
“I never felt it would be an easy passage to the semi-finals, but now we will need to work hard and race well to earn the right to meet Sheffield.”
The countdown is on to the new season at the Hydroscand Arena with the opening meeting, the Ryan Douglas Testimonial, now just over two months away on Saturday March 22 (4pm), with the Lions then in action as a team in the following week.
