Speedway: 'No taking anything for granted,' as Sheffield bid for grand final place at Leicester
Leicester will be without Dan Thompson, through injury
Sheffield cannot afford to take anything for granted, as they bid to win a place in the speedway Premiership grand final, says boss Simon Stead.
Sheffield can book their place in the 2026 ROWE Motor Oil Premiership Grand Final on Thursday (October 1, 7.30pm), if they can defend the lead the earned at Owlerton, and face a Liecester side missing Dan Thompson, who has suffered an injury in training.
The Tigers head to the Hydroscand Arena leading by 24 points following their 57-33 home leg win last week.
It’s an identical margin that Leicester overturned when the two met in the second regular league contest in August - but Sheffield were without their top three riders on that occasion.
Australian Speedway World Cup winner Max Fricke, who scored a faultless 15 point maximum in the first leg, will once again guest for the Tigers at No.1 at his former Premiership home track.
Tigers team boss Simon Stead is confident his side have got what it takes to progress from the semi-finals for the first time since they last lifted the title back in 2023 - but says there will be no complacency from his camp.
“We’ve given ourselves a real good fighting chance of qualifying through to this year’s final,” Stead said.
“We know Leicester are going to be tough customers at their place though and it’s not a track we’ve gone particularly well on this season, but there have been circumstances surrounding that.
“I think with our lads riding the way they have been and with Max back in at number one, particularly at his old stomping ground, I don’t think we could be in much more of a better position.
“We can’t afford to take anything for granted though; it would be crazy to turn up there and think that the job is done.
“Stewart (Dickson, Leicester team manager) is fantastic at firing his teams up and getting the best out of his riders and we know he’ll be motivating them all from the moment they arrive at the stadium.
“We’re going to treat this second leg as though we’re all starting from zero though and we’ll just be trying to chalk up as many points as we can on the night without thinking too much about what’s happening on aggregate.”
Leicester bring in Paco Castagna at reserve to guest for the retired Kyle Howarth and Rider Replacement operates for Dan Thompson who has dislocated his shoulder after a training accident.
Lions manager Stewart Dickson insists his side will give it everything as they look to pull off a big result and set up a Grand Final clash with Belle Vue.
He said: “We’ll be giving it our very best go. We know Sheffield will be strong favourites after the first leg, but we certainly won’t be turning up believing it’s all over.
“If we can get off to a good start, I know how rattled opposing teams can get around here. What we need to go is make a good start, go well in the middle and also to finish well!”
The winners of the tie will stage the first leg of the Grand Final against Belle Vue on Thursday, October 8, with the title to be decided in Manchester on Monday, October 12.
Anyone unable to attend the away leg of the semi-final can stream the action via https://www.britishspeedwaynetwork.co.uk.
Alternatively, you can follow British Speedway’s live, official updates via: https://live.britishspeedway.co.uk
Leicester: Ryan Douglas, Drew Kemp, Sam Masters, Dan Thompson R/R, Nick Morris, Paco Castagna, Joe Thompson.
Sheffield: Max Fricke, Anders Rowe, Chris Holder, Leon Flint, Josh Pickering, Jye Etheridge, Luke Killeen.