MIDLANDS bragging rights are up for grabs when Leicester and Birmingham clash at the Pidcock Motorcycles Arena, Beaumont Park tonight (Thursday).
The Lions are in a good run of form having won 43-29 in a rain-effected clash against the Brummies at Perry Barr last week and followed that up with a 16-point home victory over Belle Vue Aces three nights later.
And they will go into tonight’s meeting very much as favourites, with the Brummies having only taken one point from their opening five meetings.
But despite the lack of points on the board Birmingham have produced dogged displays at Oxford and Ipswich with a line-up containing plenty of potential in the lower order.
Pole Piotr Pawlicki is still finding his feet after injury delayed his start to the season while Czech racer Vaclav Milik is still looking to find top form in his UK comeback season.
For the Lions, manager Stewart Dickson has shuffled the second-string berths with Luke Becker exchanging places with Richard Lawson.
Skipper Max Fricke, who scored a brilliant 15-point maximum in that Belle Vue win is looking for another victory in the push for a play-off place.
Fricke said: “Early in the season it takes a couple of weeks to kind of iron out some things, and even myself just to get back into a little bit of form.
“Throughout the team I think we can continue to build and continue to improve on the result against Belle Vue, and it’s really promising for us looking forward.
“Thursday will hopefully be another good meeting for us, if we can put in another strong performance, and that will keep us moving up that league table.”
Leicester: Max Fricke, Luke Becker, Sam Masters, Richard Lawson, Ryan Douglas, Drew Kemp, Joe Thompson.
Birmingham: Vaclav Milik, Steve Worrall, Wiktor Lampart, Tom Brennan, Piotr Pawlicki, Zach Cook, Leon Flint.
Words by George Dodds.
Images by Taylor Lanning.