Leicester Lion Cubs are a

speedway Speedway may refer to: Racing Race tracks *Edmonton International Speedway, also known as Speedway Park, a former motor raceway in Edmonton, Alberta *Indianapolis Motor Speedway, a motor raceway in Speedway, Indiana Types of races and race cours ...

team that was formed in November 2018 to race in the

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

at the

Beaumont Park Stadium Beaumont Park Stadium or the Pidcock Motorcycles Arena for sponsorship purposes is a sports stadium on Beaumont Park, Leicester. The stadium is mainly used for motorcycle speedway and is the home track for the Leicester Lions. At the meeting of ...

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city l ...

. This team is the second and junior

Leicester Lions Leicester Lions are a speedway team which originally operated from 1968 until 1983.Bamford, R & Jarvis J.(2001). ''Homes of British Speedway''. The club returned to speedway for the 2011 Premier League season, moving up to the Elite League ...

speedway team racing at this venue.

History

The club experienced success in their inaugural season, when they won the league and cup double during the

2019 National Development League speedway season The National League speedway 2019 now known as the National Development League for the 2019 season was the third tier/division of British speedway. There were several team changes for the 2019 league season with reigning league champions and KO cu ...

. In 2022, the club dominated the season by winning the league, successfully defending their

National League Knockout Cup The National League Knockout Cup is a speedway third tier Knockout Cup competition in the United Kingdom. The competition was previously known as the Academy League Knockout Cup (1995) and the Conference League Knockout Cup (1996-2008) until it ...

title (from 2019) and winning the Pairs Championship.

Season Summaries

2019

The Leicester Lion Cubs first two signings for the season were the Thompson twins

Dan Dan or DAN may refer to: People * Dan (name), including a list of people with the name ** Dan (king), several kings of Denmark * Dan people, an ethnic group located in West Africa **Dan language, a Mande language spoken primarily in Côte d'Ivoir ...

and

Joe Joe or JOE may refer to: Arts Film and television * ''Joe'' (1970 film), starring Peter Boyle * ''Joe'' (2013 film), starring Nicolas Cage * ''Joe'' (TV series), a British TV series airing from 1966 to 1971 * ''Joe'', a 2002 Canadian animated ...

as their reserves.

Ellis Perks Ellis George Perks (born 18 March 1997) is a former motorcycle speedway rider from England. In 2019, he became the first ever rider to win all three tiers of the British Speedway leagues in the same season; the Premiership, Championship and Nati ...

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

. On 18 December 2018, the Lion Cubs announced their next two signings which were

Danyon Hume Danyon Hume (born 25 July 1996) is a speedway rider from England. Career He began his British speedway career riding for the Rye House Raiders during the 2015 National League speedway season. The following year in 2016, he signed for Ipswich Wi ...

(as captain) and Kelsey Dugard, with the final two signings confirmed as Luke Ruddick and Jamie Halder. On 3 January 2019, Leicester confirmed they would be managed by club co-promoter Dave Darcy and he would be assisted by David Howard. Danyon Hume was later named as team captain, on 31 January. 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 The Kent Royals (formerly Kings) are a British speedway team formed in 2013. Through 2021 they competed in the SGB Championship but also run a junior team in the National League. They were based at Central Park Stadium in Sittingbourne, with a t ...

, and on the following evening (29 October) they completed the League and Cup double by winning the

with an aggregate victory in the final over the

Belle Vue Colts The Belle Vue Colts are the junior youth development team of the Belle Vue Aces, one of the World's most famous motorcycle speedway team, based in Manchester in the northwest of England. History Belle Vue first operated a reserve team during the ...

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 The National Development League 2021 is the third tier/division of British speedway for the 2021 season. Due to pressures caused by the COVID-19 pandemic it was decided that the league would be decided by the final table standings only, with no p ...

, 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.

2022-2023

The team dominated the 2022 season winning the National Development League, National League Knock-out Cup and National League Pairs (Dan Thompson & Joe Thompson). The Thompson brothers returned to head the team for the

2023 National Development League speedway season The 2023 National Development League is the third division/tier of British speedway for the 2023 season. It is a semi-professional development league, containing mainly the junior sides of SGB Premiership and SGB Championship clubs. Leicester Li ...

References

{{Speedway National League National League speedway teams Sport in Leicester