LEICESTER take on Premiership KO Cup holders Ipswich in a repeat of last season’s first round tie with proceedings opening in the East Midlands tonight (Monday).
The Witches won both home and away against the Lions last April en route to clinching the silverware in the Final over Sheffield.
They also won one of their two league visits to the Pidcock Motorcycles Arena, Beaumont Park in 2023 with Rising Star reserve Dan Thompson instrumental in that success – and he goes up against twin brother Joe, who holds that position for the Lions.
A riding order change for the Witches sees Jordan Jenkins move into the top five as Keynan Rew drops to reserve, whilst Adam Ellis will now team up with Danny King in the middle order.
Leicester boss Stewart Dickson said: “It’s a really tough draw for us, because for me Ipswich are probably my pick out of all of the teams.
“I would like a run in the KO Cup this year. Both teams will know Birmingham are waiting in the semi-final, and whilst that’s in no way an automatic pass into the Final, it’s certainly an opportunity.
“We need to take some sort of a lead down there from Monday night, and I’ll be leaving my riders in no doubt that we would like a Cup run.”
Ipswich manager Ritchie Hawkins said: “We will go there knowing we had great results there last year, but they will be confident in the strength of their side, and they will be confident they can do a job at Foxhall too.
“They have lots of riders that ride Foxhall well, so we have got to go there on Monday and look to perform and win that first leg. The Cup run last year was terrific and we want to carry that on and get through this tough tie, and hopefully we can go on another run.
“Keynan has started the season well but a little spell at reserve should do him the world of good. I needed Adam to do a couple of meetings at No.2, but he goes to No.4 now, and we will see how him and Danny get on as a partnership.”
LEICESTER: Max Fricke, Richard Lawson, Sam Masters, Luke Becker, Ryan Douglas, Drew Kemp, Joe Thompson.
IPSWICH: Emil Sayfutdinov, Jordan Jenkins, Danny King, Adam Ellis, Jason Doyle, Keynan Rew, Dan Thompson.
SCB Referee: Chris Gay
*LIVE STREAM: https://www.leicesterlionstv.com/
Words and Images by British Speedway
