Leicester lions 2023 (PREMIERSHIP)

[Panthers99]

1 minute ago, FishersGate said:

I like the team. It's solid for sure.

We have basically pinched 3 number 1's from rival teams. Fricke, Harris and Lawson. And if Morris makes the gate at Leicester good luck catching him. He can improve on his 6.48 average.  Sedgmen is a steady number 2 and showed promise last year with Birmingham at Leicester. Allen is way better than a 4 point rider. He could easily displace Sedgmen at 2 and Sedgmen did a decent job for Sheffield at reserve. Don't underestimate Dan Thomson at 7. His track times are as quick as anybody's at Leicester. He's beaten Kerr and bomber Harris comfortably last season along with a few others.

. He's knows every racing line there and I expect him to be a trump card at home. I would have liked mountain but in Stewart we trust . He knows how to build a winning team and I think we will make the top 4 this year for sure. 

 

 

 

Pinched is an interesting view...... BV had Bewley coming back, Harris by the sounds of things, was moving on anyway and not sure on Lawson's situation.

Decent team for sure, as mentioned above, a lot depends on Ippo and Panthers final team, on par with Lynn, but falls short on BV and Sheffield currently for me. 

[Skidder1]

5 minutes ago, iainb said:

Surely Scott Nicholls & Connor Mountain would have been the obvious choices, Nicholls seems to have elected for Poland though and I'm still scratching my head at the omission of Mountain

Scott Nicholls will be too busy commentating for Eurosport to ride Premiership imo.

[IainB]

5 minutes ago, FishersGate said:

I like the team. It's solid for sure.

We have basically pinched 3 number 1's from rival teams. Fricke, Harris and Lawson. And if Morris makes the gate at Leicester good luck catching him. He can improve on his 6.48 average.  Sedgmen is a steady number 2 and showed promise last year with Birmingham at Leicester. Allen is way better than a 4 point rider. He could easily displace Sedgmen at 2 and Sedgmen did a decent job for Sheffield at reserve. Don't underestimate Dan Thomson at 7. His track times are as quick as anybody's at Leicester. He's beaten Kerr and bomber Harris comfortably last season along with a few others.

. He's knows every racing line there and I expect him to be a trump card at home. I would have liked mountain but in Stewart we trust . He knows how to build a winning team and I think we will make the top 4 this year for sure. 

 

 

 

2 number 1's from the 2 teams that finished bottom and bottom but one... and Jake Allen has a 4 point average for a reason

[Bagpuss]

The idea behind Allen is obviously to get him back to his 2019 & 2021 form where he averaged around five and a half for Ipswich and over seven in the Championship, levels that Mountain hasn't reached and some might argue won't. Allen was poor last season but he COULD stick a point on his starting figure for Leicester if things work out. 

[Falcon1983]

37 minutes ago, iainb said:

2 number 1's from the 2 teams that finished bottom and bottom but one... and Jake Allen has a 4 point average for a reason

what is that reason?

[IainB]

2 minutes ago, Falcon1983 said:

what is that reason?

he was crap 

[Falcon1983]

4 minutes ago, iainb said:

he was crap 

thats more of a statement than reason, so why was he crap  there are definitely reasons behind it

[BrizHeathen]

Looks like a pretty solid team to me. Whatever happens the Lions will have a decent reserve rider, I'd expect Sedgman and Allen to swap at least once during the season and Dan Thompson will hold his own (at least at Leicester), and may just kick on, which would be a big bonus.

Not a lot to choose between premier league sides last year and I'm expecting the same again.

[IainB]

9 minutes ago, Falcon1983 said:

thats more of a statement than reason, so why was he crap  there are definitely reasons behind it

I don't know do you? Perhaps he's not committed enough? Like I've mentioned he wasn't going to come back to the UK a while back, without being too personal he seems a bit "big" for a Speedway rider. I can only hope that the special one has gotten to the bottom of the "reasons" for his "crap" season last year and can rectify them... If he's just picked him because of a low average on the back of a crap season as soon as the transfer window opens he'll be out... again!

[foreverblue]

15 minutes ago, iainb said:

I don't know do you? Perhaps he's not committed enough? Like I've mentioned he wasn't going to come back to the UK a while back, without being too personal he seems a bit "big" for a Speedway rider. I can only hope that the special one has gotten to the bottom of the "reasons" for his "crap" season last year and can rectify them... If he's just picked him because of a low average on the back of a crap season as soon as the transfer window opens he'll be out... again!

I think you have a very strong top four, arguably the strongest in the PL , Sedgman was good for Sheffield last season, in the play offs he was very good, Allen has been going downhill for a couple of seasons so not expecting much from him, no idea what is wrong with Mountain, can only assume he has fell out with someone at Leicester.

[Falcon1983]

15 minutes ago, iainb said:

I don't know do you? Perhaps he's not committed enough? Like I've mentioned he wasn't going to come back to the UK a while back, without being too personal he seems a bit "big" for a Speedway rider. I can only hope that the special one has gotten to the bottom of the "reasons" for his "crap" season last year and can rectify them... If he's just picked him because of a low average on the back of a crap season as soon as the transfer window opens he'll be out... again!

Last season was a poor one for Jake for sure, however I think I have posted on this forum before that there could be reasons for it,  I think it was 2019 the year before Covid where he averaged 5.56 in the prem and 7.33 in the championship

2020 was obviously lost to Covid, I believe Jake hang around the UK hoping the season would happen but ended up going home, 2021 he planned to miss the UK season as it was still not clear if the UK season was going to start or not, big decisions for an Aussie coming to the UK, he only has a racing VISA at present I believe so his income is from his Speedway he is not allowed to work, so he was back at home working and made a late decision to race in the UK in 2021 it wasn't because he is committed enough with any Aussie really you can't question a commitment they make to leave homes/family/jobs to compete in the UK

Anyway Jake came to the UK, he hit the ground running riding at no.4 for Ipswich scoring 11+1, 6+1, 9+2, 7 & 8+1 at home from riding at the no.4 position, away from home early doors he scored 10 at Sheffield, 8+1 at Peterborough and 11 at Belle Vue which included an exclusion all riding at the no.4 position - only in 2021 remember!  the latter half of the 2021 season his results didn't meet the start he made and in reality he could have done with dropping to reserve but I believe Ipswich had both Heeps & Rowe riding in the 1-6 and they swapped between themselves at the no.6 position

Why?  Well quite a few of the Aussie riders go home in the winter, they race of course but they also work, and that money is put towards their racing in the UK when they come over, once that money is gone its down to what they earn on track if their VISA doesn't allow them to work, there has been many a rider down the years from when Speedway began where supports would say "if they had some more financial backing they could have been World Champion" etc. its the same for any standard, harder if you can't work alongside riding of course.

He had a good 2019 season I believe there is a video of him beating Doyle at Foxhall as a reserve, not many people have done that at Foxhall to Doyley, 2020 was a loss for every rider, 2021 he started well as presumably he had the finances in place, last winter he didn't go home I believe he stayed in the UK, this winter he has gone home so I am hopeful that maybe preparation for 2023 will be better for him with a bit more budget behind him.

Not mentioning that he lost one of his sponsors to Covid as well so that didn't help, as for last season as I said I don't think he went home that winter and stayed in the UK, I know he was a bit underpower last season starting in the championship then got called up to the Belle Vue team which was only ever a short-term deal, he then got to Sheffield and was about that time his engines were being sorted (a lot of riders struggle early season with machinery), he then got injured which was a broken scaphoid I believe but was reported as a wrist injury, Sedgman then came in and hit the ground running so obviously he lost that ride - then going back to only having the income from Speedway as a Visa would not allow work, riders like this then find themselves back on a bike sooner than later and that does reflect in performance sometimes on track, some money is better than no money right?  I wouldn't know never put myself in a position where I was in a foreign country and couldn't work to top up my racing income...

 

That is why I would never really put the boot in to riders who are not performing maybe as they should, as there are usually lots of things behind the scenes going on, I just hope the fact that Jake has a prem place confirmed as early as now, the fact he will be earning some money back home, the fact he will be racing out in Oz this winter, and the fact that he is probably, well I know he is embarassed by his average in the prem being a 4.00 that he will come back and it will be to the benefit of not only himself but for Leicester & his championship club

2019 averaged 5.56 & 7.33 in the championship there is no reason really why if all things fall into place he cannot achieve such averages again or even kick-on, most of it as I have said above is down to budgets and every rider I believe deserves a budget

As for his size, I don't think that is as big a deal as it could be, Hans Nielsen was quite a tall rider and there have been many successful tall riders in the sport in the past, but if the budget is not there due to circumstances the results are not likely to follow

This is not to say Jake will achieve the success of 2019 to a certain extent, he may or may not but he has the ability to do so if everything falls into place, its just a matter of waiting and seeing what happens

[Bagpuss]

32 minutes ago, foreverblue said:

I think you have a very strong top four, arguably the strongest in the PL , Sedgman was good for Sheffield last season, in the play offs he was very good, Allen has been going downhill for a couple of seasons so not expecting much from him, no idea what is wrong with Mountain, can only assume he has fell out with someone at Leicester.

Why does it have to be a falling out? There is no room for seniment in speedway, if the promotion firmly believe that Allen will score and average more than Mountain then it's as simple as that. 

[FishersGate]

1 hour ago, Panthers99 said:

Pinched is an interesting view...... BV had Bewley coming back, Harris by the sounds of things, was moving on anyway and not sure on Lawson's situation.

Decent team for sure, as mentioned above, a lot depends on Ippo and Panthers final team, on par with Lynn, but falls short on BV and Sheffield currently for me. 

I'm pretty sure Peterborough would have liked to keep Harris and Lawson is kings Lynn number 1. Don't get the stick with Lawson. He's a number 1. He was the best rider for kings Lynn last year. What more can he do? Maybe we didn't pinch fricke but if bewley wasnt available Fricke would be back there for sure.

[FishersGate]

4 minutes ago, Bagpuss said:

Why does it have to be a falling out? There is no room for seniment in speedway, if the promotion firmly believe that Allen will score and average more than Mountain then it's as simple as that. 

I think it's just that. Allen is deemed a better rider than mountain..a for Allen scored 11 last season at Leicester riding at 3. That's a good return for someone up against a strong heat leader trio.

[StarBoy]

2 hours ago, Panthers99 said:

Pinched is an interesting view...... BV had Bewley coming back, Harris by the sounds of things, was moving on anyway and not sure on Lawson's situation.

Decent team for sure, as mentioned above, a lot depends on Ippo and Panthers final team, on par with Lynn, but falls short on BV and Sheffield currently for me. 

Michael Palm Toft was always returning to Lynn for 2023 season. That is why Lawson had to move on. You got more chance of being the pope than them 2 racing in the same team. 

[Bagpuss]

5 minutes ago, JackPells said:

Michael Palm Toft was always returning to Lynn for 2023 season. That is why Lawson had to move on. You got more chance of being the pope than them 2 racing in the same team. 

Was also said on Monday night that Leicester offered him a good deal and he wanted to cut down on his travelling.

[FishersGate]

4 minutes ago, Bagpuss said:

Was also said on Monday night that Leicester offered him a good deal and he wanted to cut down on his travelling.

I'd love tofty at Leicester. Always liked watching him ride

[spin king junior]

Looks the weakest of the sides assembled so far. Banking on either Sedgmen or Allen to really hit the ground running. Either should be fine as a 6, but have my doubts when they'll be needed in the main body. 

[castrolargh]

1 hour ago, JackPells said:

Michael Palm Toft was always returning to Lynn for 2023 season. That is why Lawson had to move on. You got more chance of being the pope than them 2 racing in the same team. 

Whats their issue then,why don't they get on?

[Bald Bloke]

50 minutes ago, castrolargh said:

Whats their issue then,why don't they get on?

Might be something to do with this.......