Leicester Lions Speedway

Leicester is a purpose-built speedway venue with a multitude of speedway experiences for you to absorb in the heart of Leicestershire. A professional yet family-feeling night out rolled into one

Date Visited
Saturday 30th April 2022
Fixture
Leicester Lions v Redcar Bears

I'm not going to lie; I woke up on Saturday morning feeling a little worse for wear. I had the pleasure of hosting a Charity Night for Stand Up to Cancer on Friday evening, and the red wine was still working through my system. It was still early, to be fair, and I didn't need to set off for Leicester until late in the afternoon. It was enough time to go for a run, have a decent size breakfast and freshen up!

It's been ten days since my 4-day journey from the North East to the South West, taking in five fixtures in just four days. Today I would start another epic journey, just the 800 miles this time. The first stop would only require 130 miles, travelling to Leicester just off the M1. Tomorrow I would continue north to Glasgow for their Championship derby match with Edinburgh.

I set off and made poor time on the motorways. For some reason, the roads were particularly heavy for a Saturday. I would have made my way straight to the track, but I would have missed my check-in window. It was at the hotel I realised I had made a slight error. The speedway started at 7 pm, not 7.30! Time was of the essence. I dropped off my gear then made my way to Beaumont Park, now known as the Paul Chapman and Sons Arena. I arrived at 6.50 pm, barely scrapping through the turnstiles a few minutes before the pre-match parade.

Parking is straightforward at Leicester if you arrive at a decent time! The track has its own car-park with a little golf cart taking punters up the short pathway to the stadium. If you can't get parked there, you can go to the trading estate round the corner. The restrictions allow for speedway parking. I grabbed a programme and made my way straight to the back, just as the bears rode round on parade. It was the parade style where they announce the riders as they do a lap without their lids.

Beaumont Park is a purpose-built speedway venue, so the viewing facilities are excellent. There's a covered terrace area on the backstraight. You can stand anywhere on the first, third or fourth bends, although the ground is made up of aggregate and gravel, so I recommend some fold-up garden chairs if you don't fancy standing throughout the match. The home straight has a seated grandstand, but it comes with an additional fee of £2 per person. Unfortunately, the pits are enclosed on the second bend, so you can't see what is happening during the racing. There is an excellent standard track shop behind the grandstand and food outlets on both sides of the grandstand and on the third turn.

Leicester is the ninth largest track in the country, coming in at 296 metres on satellite imagery, just 1 metre smaller than Glasgow and Newcastle. The track has unusually long straights for a purpose-built venue. Both straight are 128 metres long which is longer than the Isle of Wight, and only behind Berwick by 7 metres. The bends are enormous in width, easily the biggest in the country at 18 metres, 2.4 larger than the National Speedway Stadiums. The straights are pretty wide at 10.9 metres, still the fifth largest though behind Wolverhampton, Glasgow, Belle Vue and Scunthorpe. The track is long and wide, but I think the unusually long straights make it difficult for riders to pick up momentum. It's the second most rectangular-shaped track in the country. Only Newcastle has a smaller width-to-length ratio, Edinburgh has a similar shape to Leicester, but it's a smaller version (Armadale).

The Lions entertained the Redcar Bears in the Championship. It looked like a fairly even contest with both teams looking strong. It was a coincidence that the last match I watched with my dad was Leicester v Redcar the previous season, so the fixture will forever hold a particular place in my heart. The Bears put up a brave fight last year but couldn't get close enough to take any league points.

Heat 1 kicked off with a cracking race between Nick Morris and Charles Wright. Wright held Morris off for two laps, but Morris had too much straight-line speed and passed him down the backstraight. To our surprise, Nick Morris broke the track record! Not because Morris isn't capable, but because he spent two laps trying to get around Wright! The Bears gated on a 5-1, but Jenkins overlocked, and both Lions sped past. Joe Thompson did well to hunt down Jason Edwards and turn the race in the Lions favour. The Lions extended the lead by a further 6 points in the next 2 races, both requiring re-runs due to starting infringements.

There was plenty of good racing on offer, but the contest quickly slipped away from Redcar. Leicester cruised into a 20-point lead by Heat 10, with Redcar failing to produce a single heat winner. Charles Wright took the flag in Heat 11, which turned out to be Redcar's only race winner and heat advantage. The Leicester heat leaders were just too strong, with only Richie Worrall dropping 1 point to Charles Wright. Kyle Howarth and Nick Morris went through the card and were backed up with thirteen points from the Thompson twins and five from Connor Mountain.

I was sure this would be a close match, but Redcar didn't turn up. I had a similar experience when I saw Leicester get torn to pieces at Plymouth just ten days ago. Now, the Lions were exacting revenge on their North Eastern rivals. Leicester won the match 60-30, convincingly taking the points. Charles Wright managed the single win on his way to 11 points, and Lewis Kerr chipped in with 7+1. Jordan Jenkins got better as the night went on, passing Morley in heat 14 to break up another 5-1, but the others struggled to a few points each.

The track was unusually dry for Leicester. Watching as the riders disappeared into the dust was hard in the later stages. It turns out the management had good reason to hold off the water bowser. Just after Heat 13, the rain started and didn't stop. I hadn't realised there was rain forecast, so fair play to Lion's set-up, the track wasn't ideal, but it was undoubtedly the safer route.

I watched most of the action from turn four on this occasion, mainly because I got there so late, and the people who arrived on time took all the best spots on the backstraight. If you visit Leicester, I highly recommend the front on the backstraight. It's close to the action, you still have a good overview of the track, and the cover makes the sounds reverberate. It's incredible! The bends are also good, although I did take a big piece of shale in the face. I'm pretty sure Richie Worrall was the culprit. I'm coming for you, Richie!!!

With the action concluded, I made my way back to the hotel to reflect on the proceedings. I had a long drive to tackle the following day. With Glasgow starting at 5 pm, I would need to get going early. Despite the loaded scoreline towards the lions, there was entertainment to be had, although I would have prefered to see a closer contest. It mainly was the Lions overhalling the visitors when they fluffed the start. They know their home track well and will be very hard to beat at home this season. Now for a cup of iffy hotel tea and an early night. I'd seen the Lions. Now it was time to see the Tigers. (Scottish tigers, not Yorkshire ones).

Parking
Sizeable parking facility on-site, there is a fee but I dodn't get a chance to find out how much. If you're willing to walk, you can park in the trading estate across the road for free (up to 4 hours).

Admission
Championship - £18 for Adults plus £2 in the grandstand, Concessions and Students get in for £15 (17 to 22), Children are £1 each with a paying adult. No charge for under 5 year olds.
National League - £14 for Adults, £12 for Concessions and students, childrens charges are the same as the Championship.  

Programme
£3 for the programme. Leicester always produce a good programme, very professional feel and plenty to read pre and post match. I like the racecard, same style as a lot of the Preimership outfits use. 

Viewing Facilities
The main stand is seated for an additional £2 per person.
All the way along the backstraight there is a covered terrace, you can also stand anywhere on turns 1, 3 and 4 and get a good view of the action.

Catering
Burger van style catering is available on both sides of the grandstand, and on the third bend. The usual mixture of traditional speedway food on offer.

Escaping!
You've got a fair walk back to the car then about 10 to 15 minutes of congestion as the traffic filters out of the car park. The traffic flows out of the trading estate quickly enough.

Thinking about checking out the Leicester Lions or Lion Cubs?
 
Check out Leicester's website for the latest fixture news for the Lions and Lion Cubs, Leicester's regular race night is Saturday, perfect for the kids!

http://www.leicesterspeedway.com/

2022 UK TOUR STATS

NEXT UP
Glasgow Tigers on Sunday 1st May 2022