SKIPPER Frederik Jakobsen will lay on a sizzling welcome for new signing Artem Laguta before he makes his Sports Insure Premiership debut in front of the BSN cameras tonight.
The 32-year-old Polish passport holder will be introduced to the tasty delights of a chicken treat by Jakobsen, who has taken over captaincy of King’s Lynn in Josh Pickering’s absence, and the rest of his new teammates.
The squad has been booked into the local Nando’s - famous for their Peri Peri sauces - hours before 2021 World no.1 Laguta makes his first Stars’ appearance against Sheffield.
Jakobsen explained: “Even though he is a world champion, he’s a new guy coming in and I want to make him feel as comfortable as possible with everyone in the team straight away.
“I’ll get him out for lunch with the whole squad so that he feels part of the group and hopefully we will find something to eat that he likes to make sure he drops his clutch fastest and something he can race on!”
Jakobsen believes, from his own experiences, that a squad shake-up could transform Lynn from early season flops into end of season legends.
He said: “I think his signing is going to be a bit of a kick start for us and I have been in that position myself.
“When I came to Britain for the first time and joined Poole in 2018, they were bottom of the Premiership table. Then they brought in me and Chris Harris and a few weeks later we were top of the league and went on to beat King’s Lynn in the Grand Final!
“I think I came in in the second week of July, Artem is here on the first of June so there is plenty of time to turn things around and hopefully get us back to winning ways and get a good feeling into the team.
“He’s bringing in something different and everyone can learn a lot. It’s going to be a cool opportunity to be in a team with him and to be the leader.
“I have raced against him a lot, the last time only two weeks ago in Poland, and I’ve spoken with him a couple of times and he seems a very cool guy.
“But he’s never raced on British tracks and it’s always difficult going to a different country, so I’ll try and help him settle in over here.”
LINE UPS:
King's Lynn: Artem Laguta, Thomas Jorgensen, Frederik Jakobsen, Nick Morris (G), Michael Palm Toft, Kye Thomson, Jason Edwards.
Sheffield: Tobiasz Musielak, Lewis Kerr, Adam Ellis, David Bellego R/R, Tobias Musielak, Kyle Howarth, Dan Gilkes.
Words by Holeshot Media.