King’s Lynn travel to Leicester for crucial clash in Premiership

King's Lynn round off a busy run of away matches when they make the relatively short trip to Leicester in the ROWE Motor Oil Premiership on Thursday (7.30pm).

The PSH Environmental Stars trail the Lions by four points in the league standings after a tough defeat at Birmingham on Monday, and unfortunately they will be without three of their regular riders at the Hydroscand Arena, Beaumont Park.

Ben Cook and Jan Kvech are both missing after aggravating injuries at Perry Barr, and in addition to that skipper Nicolai Klindt is now required to be in Poland.

Stars have recruited Zach Cook, brother of Ben, to guest at reserve, while they will operate rider replacement for Kvech. Poole’s Danish racer, Tobias Thomsen, steps up into the top league to fill the remaining position.

New averages for July mean Niels-Kristian Iversen takes over as No.1, meaning a riding order switch between the Dane and Lawson compared to Monday’s meeting. Chris Harris stands in as captain.

Leicester have been on a strong home run of late, scoring 56 points against Sheffield and then 60 against Belle Vue despite operating rider replacement for the injured Luke Becker.

And should Lynn successfully defend their six-point KO Cup advantage over Ipswich later this month, it will be the Lions who they face in the Final.

Manager Rob Lyon said: “First and foremost we’ve had to see who is fit, but losing Nicolai for this meeting is another huge blow.

“Sadly it is what it is, it’s speedway, and we’re going there with the strongest team we can.

“It would have been so nice to go out there with seven fit riders of our own and give it a really good go, but unfortunately we don’t seem to have been able to do that. We will still do what we can in the circumstances.”

Stars fans not making the trip to the Hydroscand Arena should note that the meeting is being live streamed at https://www.leicesterlionstv.com/

Leicester: Max Fricke, Luke Becker R/R, Ryan Douglas, Kyle Howarth, Sam Masters, Drew Kemp, Joe Thompson.

King's Lynn: Niels-Kristian Iversen, Richard Lawson, Chris Harris, Tobias Thomsen, Jan Kvech R/R, Zach Cook, Luke Harrison.