LEICESTER manager Stewart Dickson says he and his riders will embrace their biggest test of the season – as ROWE Motor Oil Premiership title favourites Ipswich visit on Thursday (7.30pm).
The Suffolk side have started 2025 in devastating form with wins in all five matches home and away, clocking up huge scores at home and also being successful at Belle Vue (in the KO Cup), Oxford and Birmingham.
But the Watling JCB Lions themselves have three wins out of four on the board, and they went close to an away victory at King’s Lynn on Monday after last week’s dramatic home win over Belle Vue.
There’s also fairly recent history between the Lions and the Witches, with Leicester winning the play-off semi-final between the clubs in 2024 last September in an epic contest which went right down to the last race.
At that stage, Ipswich were battling an injury crisis, but their full strength side once again includes the powerhouse top two of Jason Doyle and Emi Sayfutdinov with new signing Tom Brennan – who starred as a guest in that play-off – coming into a strong middle order, whilst at reserve former Leicester rider Dan Thompson has enjoyed a great start to the season.
For the Lions it is undoubtedly their toughest meeting of 2025 so far, and one which promises a cracking opening to Easter weekend which also sees them face Oxford home and away on Monday.
Dickson said: “I don’t think anyone would deny this is our biggest challenge of the season – but it’s not a meeting we are worried about, it’s one we are looking forward to.
“Of course Ipswich have started really well, and you can’t ignore the fact they won at Birmingham with Doyley and Emil only scoring nine points between them!
“But we have a good team as well, and I’ve got to focus on my own riders. Yes they are unbeaten, but we were unbeaten ourselves before Monday, and this should be a really good meeting.
“We want to meet the challenge head-on, and it we ride to our capabilities from one-to-seven, we can win, I have no doubt about that.”
For those unable to attend the Hydroscand Arena, Beaumont Park, the meeting will be live streamed on Lions TV. Passes available at https://www.leicesterlionstv.com/ .
LEICESTER: Max Fricke, Luke Becker, Ryan Douglas, Kyle Howarth, Sam Masters, Drew Kemp, Sam Hagon.
IPSWICH: Jason Doyle, Danny King, Adam Ellis, Tom Brennan, Emil Sayfutdinov, Dan Thompson, Jordan Jenkins.
