Workington skipper Craig Cook will be riding against the Comets’ Flying Finn Antti Vuolas tonight in the ROWE Motor Oil Premiership tonight.
Cook is with Leicester Lions while Vuolas has again been brought in as a reserve guest for visitors Belle Vue Aces. They will clash in the second race of the meeting for the reserves.
The Lions have reeled off a series of convincing wins on their own circuit, including against leaders Ipswich last week, and there are three league points available in the clash with the Aces, who won the reverse fixture 48-42 in Manchester.
The visitors start the meeting third in the table, level on points with Sheffield just above them, whilst the Lions are four points adrift of fourth-placed Oxford but with four matches in hand.
The hosts are unchanged whilst Belle Vue once again bring in Vuolas and Jake Mulford to stand in at reserve. The Finn scored two on his debut last week against Oxford and then six, with his first Premiership heat win, in Monday’s return which was his home debut.
Aces star Ben Cook said: “It’s great to have Jake and Antti with us again for this one. They seem to have settled in well with the boys so hopefully we can now knuckle down and we can get on with our season.
“Leicester are a tough team at home but this time around we have much more experience as a unit, and we know more of what to expect from the track and how it rides.
“We’re confident that we can push on and take something from this match, at minimum a good enough score to secure the aggregate point but the win is top of the list.”
Lions boss Stewart Dickson said: “We’ve had scores of 54, 53 and 53 in our last three home matches, so we are now beginning to ride round here in the way that we should be.
“That puts in good stead for the aggregate points which will be up for grabs in the away legs, and of course we have the chance for one of them on Thursday.
“It’s too early to say we’re on a roll, we’re not getting carried away, but there is more confidence now and that’s something that plays such a big part in speedway.”
There’s more local interest of course with two west Cumbrians in the meeting – Richard Lawson for Leicester and Dan Bewley for Belle Vue.
Vuolas and Cook, of course, will be together on Friday and Saturday riding for the Comets in important Championship matches at Scunthorpe and at home to Poole.
LEICESTER: Max Fricke, Richard Lawson, Sam Masters, Luke Becker, Ryan Douglas, Craig Cook, Sam Hagon.
BELLE VUE: Brady Kurtz, Norick Blodorn, Jaimon Lidsey, Ben Cook, Dan Bewley, Antti Vuolas, Jake Mulford.
