2011 Riders signed for the start of the 2011 season were Sergey Darkin, Ilya Bondarenko, Jamie Courtney, Jan Graversen, John Oliver, Richard Hall (on loan from Sheffield Tigers), and Richard Sweetman (on loan from Swindon Robins). [21] 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. Graversen finished the season as the team's top points scorer with 211 points from league and cup matches. 2012 In November 2011, Graversen and Karlsson were the first riders confirmed for the 2012 season, [22] with Jari Mäkinen 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. Sixth rider to be signed was Simon Lambert. The team was completed by Simon Nielsen. An injury for Neilsen early in the season saw Kyle Hughes drafted in as a temporary replacement and a broken femur for Nielsen later in the season led to the signing of Linus Eklöf, with Lambert leaving to accommodate the Swede's higher average, and Lewis Blackbird moving up from the National League to complete the new line-up. Lions again finished as runners-up (this time to Berwick Bandits) in the Premier Fours. 2013 The team for 2013 was announced, subject to BSPA approval, on 25 November 2012. Nieminen, Bjerre, Graversen, Nielsen, and Blackbird were joined by Kevin Doolan and Adam Roynon. An injury to Roynon after only one match for the Lions saw the return of Magnus Karlsson to the team. [23] Despite scoring at over a point above his starting average, Blackbird was allowed to leave for Scunthorpe Scorpions in May after the signing of Robert Branford. [24] Later that month, Nielsen lost his place to Alex Edberg. Branford was replaced by James Sarjeant in July and with two league matches to go Sarjeant and the injured Nieminen were replaced by Simon Nielsen and Linus Eklof. [25] 2014 At the BSPA AGM in November 2013 the Lions were accepted into the Elite League for 2014. [26] The first two riders for 2014 were confirmed in early December when Tom Perry and Max Clegg were picked in the reserve draft. [27] Mads Korneliussen, Patrick Hougaard, Peter Ljung, and Jason Doyle were named in the top five of the side, but doubts over Doyle's visa delayed the completion of the team. With Doyle receiving a tier 5 visa, his place was confirmed, and Simon Stead was named in the final team place. [28] Norrie Allan was named as team manager, with former manager Glyn Taylor concentrating on track curation. In May Ljung withdrew from racing in Britain and was replaced by Lasse Bjerre. Perry was replaced by Josh Bates. An injury to Hougaard led him to withdraw from British speedway, and Lions brought in Krzysztof Buczkowski and Nicolai Klindt, with Bjerre losing his place. 2015 The first rider signed for 2015 was Polish Under-21 champion Szymon Woźniak. They then selected Josh Auty and Simon Lambert in the reserve draft. [29] Jason Doyle returned for a second season, and former Eastbourne Eagles rider Mikkel Michelsen also signed. Bjarne Pedersen and Grzegorz Walasek completed the team. Pedersen and Michelsen had both left by May, with Lewis Bridger and Sam Masters replacing them, although Bridger quit after only one meeting. 2016 With Lions' Saturday race night prompting 2015 number one Doyle to leave, Lions retained Walasek, Woźniak, and Auty from the previous season's team, also signing Paul Starke at reserve. Former rider Nikolai Klindt returned, but by late January they were still short of two heat leaders, with team manager Norrie Allan admitting "We need two riders of heat leader standard, and there just aren't any out there...we could be looking at putting in two riders just to complete a team." [30] They eventually signed Sebastian Ułamek and Patrick Hougaard, starting the season over 4 points below the team building limit. After losing the first four league meetings, Walasek was dropped, to be replaced by Aaron Summers. An injury to Ułamek saw him being replaced by Davey Watt. [31] 2019 The Leicester Lion Cubs first two signings for the season were the Thompson twins Dan and Joe as their reserves. [32] Ellis Perks was confirmed as the third signing for the Lion Cubs, he would start the season at number 1 and also double up with the first team Leicester Lions. [33] On 18 December 2018, the Lion Cubs announced their next two signings which were Danyon Hume (as captain) and Kelsey Dugard, [34] with the final two signings confirmed as Luke Ruddick and Jamie Halder. [35] On 3 January 2019, Leicester confirmed they would be managed by club co-promoter Dave Darcy and he would be assisted by David Howard. [36] Danyon Hume was later named as team captain, on 31 January. [37] Kelsey Dugard was injured following injuries suffered in a crash during the Leicester Press and Practice day on 15 March and was replaced by Ryan MacDonald. On 28 October 2019, the Lion Cubs won the title after home and away victories in the play-off final against Kent Kings, and on the following evening (29 October) they completed the League and Cup double by winning the National League Knockout Cup with an aggregate victory in the final over the Belle Vue Colts. 2020-2021 After a Challenge match victory away at Scunthorpe 61-53 in their only meeting in the COVID-19 hit 2020 season, the Lion Cubs built a new team for the 2021 National Development League speedway season, with the team building points limit reduced to 35 with a new League focus on youth development. Only Dan and Joe Thompson returned from the double-winning side of 2019, with Joe Lawlor and Tom Spencer being joined by Jamie Halder and first year riders Ben Trigger and Kai Ward making up the initial 2021 declaration. However, Jamie Halder suffered a broken ankle in an unfortunate domestic fall prior to the first Lion Cubs meeting. After being granted a short term rider replacement facility for Jamie to start the season, a change was needed to be made and a third first year rider, Mickie Simpson joined the Lion Cubs to complete the seven riders. The team had an underwhelming season, Joe Lawlor announced his retirement from the sport and the Lion Cubs ended the 2021 season at the bottom of the NDL. However, all six riders who rode throughout the season showed average increases at the end of season compared to the start of the season. |
