beckettlion

Lions had Lebedevs signed up initially last season (before him and Wolbert made way for King and Bates). His average had been assessed to 7.00 then

I personally like the team for the fact we will always have a potential match winner at reserve (Newman or Bates) and second string (king or piesczcek). Plenty of strength in depth. Now just to hope we’re a bit luckier this season!

Scrap that! Bates has just announced he will be racing next season on his Twitter. Great news

If Bates isn’t riding I hope the promotion would try and re-sign Nicolai Klindt. Similar average to Bates and has previously shown he could be a heat leader at Beaumont Park.. would be a good addition heard the final rider will be announced at some point within a week!

Someone said they'd heard from his mechanic that Kim doesn't intend on riding in the UK in 2018. I was wondering if anyone knew what the plan was with Bates now? The statement says they'll support him, but doesn't mention if they're now building the team with him in it or a team assuming his services won't be available.

Would sooner see us invest in a young british rider than Simon Lambert.. Georgie Wood would presumably come in on a 2.00 average? Was impressive at reserve for Sheffield in the relegation play off

Is this a hint towards Scott Nicholls? Wouldn't mind that at all!

Delighted with these 2 signings.. both can improve on their averages. Would appreciate the club confirming Vaculik and Pieszcsek's averages though!

Think I saw on either facebook or twitter that someone had suggested that Kim Nilsson was not returning to British speedway this year.. Vaculik Bates Pieszscek Riss King Newman Would leave 3.77 for the final reserve, would allow a little more strength in reserve. Jan Graversen? Max Clegg? Jack Smith?

Laugh all you like, I for one am really excited to watch a grand prix rider line up for the Lions again. Think our whole fan base will be delighted to get behind Martin and I'm sure he'll be excellent! He may not live up to his 9.00 average, but Doyle didn't maintain his 13+ average from the start of last season and Swindon still won the title. Think our promotion would still have gone for Vaculik had they known he would be on an assessed 9.00 anyway

Suggestion of Leicester Speedway getting 'preferential treatment' seem's bizarre as we've been the basement club pretty much since we stepped up to the top tier! Now I don't disagree with the product having been watered down, it may be logical for the assessed averages to coincide with them. However, it's not really been the case in recent times (I can't recall anyone coming in with an assessed average about 7.00 in recent years? Correct me if I'm wrong), so I don't see it being considered preferential should it work this was for the Lions. Vaculik and Pieszczek are both really exciting signings and finally looking like we may have a team for the fans to get excited about. I'd have thought 7.5 (MV) and 6.00 (KP) would probably be logical and relatively fair assessments (as no one is sure how well either rider will commit and adapt) for British speedway. Lions fans, that leaves 29 points for 5 riders. Who would you like/ suggest may be making up the team? Bates seems a given for me (5.53) Newman is a steal on 4.68 - hopefully he'd sooner return to the club that gave him the opportunity, rather than Poole who sacked him! Kim Nilsson would be a popular return (7.05) Danny King is good value on 6.54 Leaves 5.02 for the final rider... Manzares said on twitter he's looking for accomodation in the midlands for next season. Would fit on a 4.18 Joe Jacobs could also be a good option on a 4.67 Josh Auty would be a popular rider and good at 4.76 Could possibly go left field again and get a young foreign rider on an assessed 5.00 These are the averages I found on the SpeedwayGB website, however some riders had different averages at different clubs (if they'd had multiple teams last season) so I don't know what their official average would be

I just wonder if its Sayfutdinov or Laguta, remember there were strong suggestions of a Russian to lead the team when we first made the step up to the top tier (although it never came to fruition). Would be a notable improvement on Bondarenko, the last Russian I remember in Lions colours- always gated, first into the first turn and fourth coming out of bend 2!

Nilsson and Przedpelski definites as heat leaders. Bates, Bjerre and Riss could either be great value for average or poor value, depending on how they finish the season. They've all dropped into reserve at some point- where they're obviously good value, but if they increased their averages to become heat leaders, they won't be good value

Thanks, as I say, from my view point, looked like Nilsson was on the outside and they could have at least brought all 4 back. But I'll take your word for it! Heard that Pawel has suspected ligament damage, but they're taking him to hospital for Xrays to check if there's any bone damage. Really hope it's not as bad as the accident looked, would love to see Pawel racing for Leicester again this season

Never come away from a meeting with such conflicting feelings... The racing tonight was possibly the best I've ever seen at Leicester. The effort the boys put in was incredible, Lasse and Erik were amazing at reserve, beating heat leaders, excellent passing. Erik in heat 14, to put everything behind him, when he was so visibly shaken and take the 3 points was just unbelievable! But to lose in such circumstances was gut wrenching. From where I was, to disqualify Nilsson seemed such a bizarre decision (but I could be wrong). But I just can't stop worrying about Pawel- has anyone heard any news? One of the worst crashes I've seen live. (Incidently, all the bad crashes at Leicester seem to be in televised meetings- Michelsen and Woffinden have both been over the fence in TV meetings before, from memory). Also, to lose Kyle so early on was a massive shame, can't wait to watch him get going in Lions colours. Thoughts are with Pawel and his injury, and Erik as it can't be easy having been out there at the time (seems harsh to suggest Erik intentionally fenced him)