Leicester Lions (speedway)
Encyclopedia
The Leicester Lions are a Speedway
team which originally operated from 1968 until 1983. The club returned to speedway for the 2011 Premier League
season.
team entering the English Dirt Track League
in 1929 finishing 5th but by 1931 the track, beset with problems, closed. Speedway was also staged at a track known as Leicester Super off Melton Road. After World War II
, speedway returned in 1948. The team were originally nicknamed the Hounds but changed to the Leicester Hunters
and ran under that name until closure in 1962. In 1949 the team started in the National League
Division Three and moved up over the years operating in the top flight for some time until the end of 1961.
and Ron Wilson moved in the Long Eaton team who had lost their home in 1967. The team competed in the British League
, the top division of British speedway at the time. In 1977 Vic White took over from Wilson, the two acting as co-promoters until 1980 when Martin Rogers took over. Speedway continued until 1983 when the stadium was suddenly sold for housing development leaving the Lions homeless. Notable riders from the first Lions era include Ray Wilson
, Anders Michanek
, Graham Plant
, Alan Cowland, Malcom Brown
, John Boulger
, Dave Jessup
, Ila Teromaa
, John Titman
, Les Collins
, Neil Collins
, and Mark Courtney
,
At the meeting of the Leicester City Council Planning and Development Control Committee held on 4 August 2009 the application for a speedway track at Beaumont Park was approved. The new track was constructed at Beaumont Park with the Lions returning in March 2011 as a Premier League
team, with three-time cycle speedway
world champion David Hemsley as promoter.
, Ilya Bondarenko
, Jamie Courtney
, Jan Graversen
, John Oliver
, Richard Hall
(on loan from Sheffield Tigers
), and Richard Sweetman
(on loan from Swindon Robins
). Mathieu Trésarrieu
was brought in when Bondarenko was out through injury. By July 2011, four of the seven riders who started the season had either left or been replaced, with only Bondarenko, Graversen and Oliver remaining, and Hemsley had handed over team management duties to Jason Attwood. Promoter Hemsley brought in Kauko Nieminen
, Henning Bager
and Magnus Karlsson
, with Charles Wright
and Ashley Morris as reserves. In August, Oliver and Wright were released, with Viktor Bergström
and Jason Garrity
coming in for the remainder of the season. The Lions finished the season in last place in the Premier League, despite good results at the end of the season. Graversen finished the season as the team's top points scorer with 211 points from league and cup matches.
the third signing. At the end of November Nieminen signed to return in 2012 and the top three in the 2012 team was completed by Danish Under-21 Champion Lasse Bjerre
.
Motorcycle speedway
Motorcycle speedway, usually referred to as speedway, is a motorcycle sport involving four and sometimes up to six riders competing over four anti-clockwise laps of an oval circuit. Speedway motorcycles use only one gear and have no brakes and racing takes place on a flat oval track usually...
team which originally operated from 1968 until 1983. The club returned to speedway for the 2011 Premier League
2011 Speedway Premier League
The 2011 Premier League Season is the current Premier League speedway season. Glasgow Tigers won the league after winning both matches of a double-header on 9 October.-New Entries:...
season.
Previous teams
Speedway started at Leicester in 1928 with the Leicester StadiumLeicester Stadium
Leicester Stadium was a sports stadium on Parker Drive in Leicester which opened in 1923. It was demolished in 1984 after the land was sold to Barratt Homes. The stadium was initially used for greyhound racing with motorcycle speedway starting there five years later...
team entering the English Dirt Track League
Speedway English Dirt Track League
The English Dirt Track League was created in 1929 and was the inaugural season of speedway racing in the United Kingdom for Northern English teams. The season was littered with mid-season withdrawals but eventually the Leeds Lions were crowned champions. In 1930, the league was renamed the Northern...
in 1929 finishing 5th but by 1931 the track, beset with problems, closed. Speedway was also staged at a track known as Leicester Super off Melton Road. After World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, speedway returned in 1948. The team were originally nicknamed the Hounds but changed to the Leicester Hunters
Leicester Hunters
The Leicester Hunters were a motorcycle speedway team which operated from 1948 until 1962.-History:Speedway had operated before the war at both Leicester Stadium and the Leicester Super track. Speedway was proposed to return to Leicester in 1948 at Leicester Stadium, led by A. D...
and ran under that name until closure in 1962. In 1949 the team started in the National League
Speedway National League
The National League was the top division of Speedway in the United Kingdom from 1932 until 1965 when it became known as the British League. Prior to 1932 there were only small regional leagues competing within the sport in the UK. The National League was re-incarnated in 1975 as the second division...
Division Three and moved up over the years operating in the top flight for some time until the end of 1961.
The first Lions era (1968-1983)
Speedway returned to Leicester Stadium in 1968, the team now nicknamed the Lions, when Reg FearmanReg Fearman
Reg Fearman is a former international speedway rider and promoter.-Riding career:He first received his speedway licence on his sixteenth birthday, presented to him in front of a forty thousand strong West Ham crowd at the West Ham Stadium in London...
and Ron Wilson moved in the Long Eaton team who had lost their home in 1967. The team competed in the British League
Speedway British League
The British League was the top division of Speedway in the United Kingdom from 1965 until 1995 when it became known as the Premier League. Prior to 1965 the division had been known as the National League....
, the top division of British speedway at the time. In 1977 Vic White took over from Wilson, the two acting as co-promoters until 1980 when Martin Rogers took over. Speedway continued until 1983 when the stadium was suddenly sold for housing development leaving the Lions homeless. Notable riders from the first Lions era include Ray Wilson
Ray Wilson (speedway rider)
Ray Wilson is a former international speedway rider who was World Pairs Champion in 1972 and British Speedway Champion in 1973, was also England Team Captain for 5years in the early 1970s. He was the first Englishman to record a maximum score in a World Team Cup Final...
, Anders Michanek
Anders Michanek
Anders Michanek is a Speedway rider. In 1974 he won the Speedway World Championship in his Swedish homeland with a maximum score of 15 points. He also won the World Pairs Championship with the late Tommy Jansson in 1973 and 1975 and with Sören Sjösten in 1974.Michanek had a very successful career...
, Graham Plant
Graham Plant
Graham Plant is an English former motorcycle speedway rider. He won the Second Division Riders Championship in 1968 and went to a career in the British League with Leicester Lions, Newport Wasps, and Halifax Dukes.-Biography:...
, Alan Cowland, Malcom Brown
Malcolm Brown (speedway rider)
Malcolm Brown is a former motorcycle speedway rider who rode for Hackney Hawks and Leicester Lions in the 1960s and 1970s.-Biography:...
, John Boulger
John Boulger
John Boulger is a former international motorcycle speedway rider. After he retired from riding Solo's, Boulger raced in Speedcars from the mid-1980s until the mid-1990s...
, Dave Jessup
Dave Jessup
David John Jessup is a former speedway rider who finished runner-up the Speedway World Championship in 1980 to fellow countryman Michael Lee. The same season he won the World Pairs Championship with Peter Collins and became British Speedway Champion after finishing runner-up in 1978 and third in...
, Ila Teromaa
Ila Teromaa
Ilkka "Ila" Teromaa is a Finnish former motorcycle speedway rider who rode in the British League for Leicester Lions and Cradley Heathens in the late 1970s and early 1980s....
, John Titman
John Titman
John Charles Titman is an Australian former motorcycle speedway rider who was Australian Champion in 1977.-Biography:Titman initially worked as a mechanic, making his speedway debut at the Brisbane Exhibition Ground in April 1968...
, Les Collins
Les Collins
Leslie 'Les' Collins is a former Speedway rider. He finished runner-up in the 1982 Speedway World Championship as well as winning the Intercontinental Final in 1982, the British Under-21 Championship in 1977 and the British League Riders Championship in 1980.-Crewe, Stoke & Belle Vue:Les started...
, Neil Collins
Neil Collins
For the Scottish footballer see Neill Collins.Neil Jeffrey Collins is a former Speedway rider...
, and Mark Courtney
Mark Courtney
Mark Vincent Courtney is an English former motorcycle speedway rider who rode in the British League for several teams between 1978 and his retirement in 1993...
,
Second Lions era (2011 onwards)
In the late 2000s, a group of fans from the Leicester Speedway Supporters Club began discussions with various local bodies about the return of Speedway to the Leicester area.At the meeting of the Leicester City Council Planning and Development Control Committee held on 4 August 2009 the application for a speedway track at Beaumont Park was approved. The new track was constructed at Beaumont Park with the Lions returning in March 2011 as a Premier League
Speedway Premier League
The Premier League is the second division of Speedway in the United Kingdom and goverened by the Speedway Control Board , in conjunction with the British Speedway Promoters' Association . The Premier League was founded in 1995 when it replaced the British League as the first division...
team, with three-time cycle speedway
Cycle speedway
Cycle speedway is a form of bicycle racing on short oval dirt tracks, usually outdoors, occasionally indoors, typically 70-90 metres long. Like motorcycle speedway, riders use machines without brakes or multiple gears but, unlike motor speedway, the object is not to slide bikes round the...
world champion David Hemsley as promoter.
2011 season
Riders signed for the start of the 2011 season were Sergey DarkinSergey Darkin (speedway rider)
Sergey Darkin is a Russian motorcycle speedway rider who is a member of Russia's national team.-Biography:Born in Fergana, Uzbekistan, Darkin has been a regular member of the Russian World Team Cup squad, finishing runner-up in 1996...
, Ilya Bondarenko
Ilya Bondarenko (speedway rider)
- Biography :Born 16 February 1982 in Togliatti, his brother Pavel is also a speedway rider, and their uncle Anatoliy Bondarenko was twice world ice speedway champion.Bondarenko first represented Russia in 2006...
, Jamie Courtney
Jamie Courtney
Jamie Courtney is an English motorcycle speedway rider who rides in the British Premier League for Leicester Lions....
, Jan Graversen
Jan Graversen
Jan Graversen is a Danish motorcycle speedway rider who rides in the British Premier League for Leicester Lions.Born in Sallingsund, Graversen rode in Britain for Mildenhall Fen Tigers in the 2008 season after first riding at the track in 2007, ending the year as the club's top scorer...
, John Oliver
John Oliver (speedway rider)
John Oliver is an Australian motorcycle speedway rider who has raced for King's Lynn Stars and Leicester Lions.Born in Brisbane, Oliver raced in Britain in 2003 for a short spell at Mildenhall then moved onto Carmarthen and Buxton, before moving to Boston the following year...
, Richard Hall
Richard Hall (speedway rider)
Richard Hall is an English motorcycle speedway rider who rides in the British Premier League...
(on loan from Sheffield Tigers
Sheffield Tigers
The Sheffield 'Window Centre' Tigers are a speedway team based in Sheffield, England. They currently race in the British Premier League and their home meetings take place at Owlerton Stadium which is the fastest track in British speedway...
), and Richard Sweetman
Richard Sweetman
Richard Sweetman is an Australian Motorcycle speedway rider who currently rides for the Glasgow Tigers replacing the injured Josh Grajzonek....
(on loan from Swindon Robins
Swindon Robins
The Swindon Speedway team, also known as the Swindon Robins, are an English Motorcycle Speedway team established in 1949 that competes in the Elite League....
). Mathieu Trésarrieu
Mathieu Trésarrieu
Mathieu "Mat" Trésarrieu is a French motorcycle speedway rider who is a three-time champion of France.-Biography:Trésarrieu was born in Bordeaux in 1986, and took up speedway at the age of twelve. His two older brother Stéphane and Sebastien are also speedway riders. He won the French national...
was brought in when Bondarenko was out through injury. By July 2011, four of the seven riders who started the season had either left or been replaced, with only Bondarenko, Graversen and Oliver remaining, and Hemsley had handed over team management duties to Jason Attwood. Promoter Hemsley brought in Kauko Nieminen
Kauko Nieminen
Kauko Armas Nieminen is a Finnish self-taught physicist. His work is pseudoscience.Although Nieminen is most known for his works in physics, he does not have any academic training or degree in physics, but is entirely self-taught...
, Henning Bager
Henning Bager
Henning Bager is a Danish motorcycle speedway rider.-Biography:Bager was born in Esbjerg. Bager has competed in the UK since 1991, when he made his debut with Glasgow Tigers. He has since been part of several teams including Elite League Peterborough Panthers, Lakeside Hammers and Belle Vue Aces...
and Magnus Karlsson
Magnus Karlsson (speedway rider)
Magnus Erik Karlsson is an international motorcycle speedway rider who rides in the UK for the Leicester Lions in the Premier League....
, with Charles Wright
Charles Wright (speedway rider)
Charles Wright inStockport, Greater Manchester, is a speedway rider in the United Kingdom, currently contracted to the Premier League club Workington Comets.In 2011 he had a spell on loan at Leicester Lions....
and Ashley Morris as reserves. In August, Oliver and Wright were released, with Viktor Bergström
Viktor Bergström
Viktor Bergström is a Swedish speedway rider, currently riding in the British Premier League with Leicester Lions, on loan from Scunthorpe Scorpions.-Career history:...
and Jason Garrity
Jason Garrity
Jason Garrity is an English motorcycle speedway rider who won the British Under-19 Championship and the National League Riders Championship in 2011.-Biography:...
coming in for the remainder of the season. The Lions finished the season in last place in the Premier League, despite good results at the end of the season. Graversen finished the season as the team's top points scorer with 211 points from league and cup matches.
2012 season
In November 2011, Graversen and Karlsson were the first riders confirmed for the 2012 season, with Jari MäkinenJari Mäkinen
Jari Mäkinen is a Finnish motorcycle speedway rider.Born in Hämeenkyrö, Mäkinen took up speedway at the age of eight. He has ridden for several teams in Sweden , Poland, and Denmark, and in the UK for Mildenhall Fen Tigers in 2008 and in the Premier League for Somerset Rebels in 2009...
the third signing. At the end of November Nieminen signed to return in 2012 and the top three in the 2012 team was completed by Danish Under-21 Champion Lasse Bjerre
Lasse Bjerre
Lasse Bjerre is a speedway rider who won the 2010 Under-21 World Cup with the Denmark team.- Biography :Bjerre was born in Esbjerg, Denmark in 1993. His brother, Kenneth , is also a speedway rider. They have two sisters Janni and Lotte...
.