LEICESTER look to keep their terrific momentum going when they make the trip to Sheffield in the ROWE Motor Oil Premiership on Thursday.
The Watling JCB Lions confirmed their play-off place with a 49-41 win over Ipswich in a tremendous contest at the Hydroscand Arena, Beaumont Park on Monday, and it means they travel to Owlerton in great shape.
The Lions and the Tigers are level on 34 points, one behind Belle Vue who only have two matches remaining, so the chase is on to finish as high as possible.
And Leicester have become very much a bogey side for Sheffield this season having already taken two away wins at the South Yorkshire venue in 2025.
The Tigers were optimistic of turning around an 18-point deficit in the Knockout Cup back in June, but the Lions made a whirlwind start to the second leg and won the meeting on the night 46-44.
Last month, the aggregate gap was 22 but Leicester did far more than defend, as they raced to a superb 48-42 victory.
That result led the Tigers to make team changes, and they now include former Leicester rider Nick Morris along with Jye Etheridge in their side, whilst six points is the more modest gap between the sides on aggregate this time.
Lions manager Stewart Dickson said: “We know they will be gearing up for us, because we’ve beaten them five times out of five this season!
“I wouldn’t like that, and I would be drumming it into my riders on track walk that we’d need to redress the balance somewhat and put down a marker, especially as we could meet again in the play-offs.
“So we expect a tough meeting there anyway, but we enjoy going to Sheffield, my riders are normally good around there and we always have a decent travelling support.
“We are riding well, as we showed again on Monday, and we can look forward to this meeting without it being one that will have a massive effect for when the real stuff starts.
“We have three away meetings remaining, and without being over-confident two of those are ones where we should be targeting wins, and if that’s the case then who’s to say where we might end up in the table?
“The bottom line is we go to Sheffield in good form, it also gets another meeting under the belt for Luke Becker after he did really well in Sweden on Tuesday, and we’re looking forward to it.
“We’re only six up for the aggregate point which is testament to how well Sheffield rode at Leicester the last time we raced against them. We will certainly be looking for a point at least, but if we ride to how we can and how we have been, we might go there and cause another upset.”
SHEFFIELD: Jack Holder, Anders Rowe, Josh Pickering, Nick Morris, Chris Holder, Jye Etheridge, Leon Flint.
LEICESTER: Max Fricke, Luke Becker, Ryan Douglas, Kyle Howarth, Sam Masters, Drew Kemp, Joe Thompson.
*LEICESTER’S collection for the Speedway Riders’ Benevolent Fund at Monday’s home meeting raised the incredible total of £1,964.85.
A sincere thank you to everyone who contributed for their generosity showing their support to this very worthy cause.
