Devils On The Road

PREVIEW Saturday 29th May 2021, 11:28am

by Graham Muncie

The Stellar Devils roll back into action this Saturday night as they head to reigning league champions Leicester in National Development action.

The Lion Cubs look to be one of the picks off the division again this year and certainly will not want to give up their title without a fight.

A familiar name leads the line for the hosts in What the Fork Monarchs reserve Joe Lawlor who also captains the side, backing up Lawlor and no doubt looking to take that number 1 race jacket is Dan and Joe Thompson. The local products have hit the ground running this season both for the Cubs and for the Lions Championship squad having been paid for 7 and 4 respectively in the Lions comfortable win at Scunthorpe on Friday night. Big things are expected of the well-turned-out twins and they alongside Lawlor give the Midlands men a real power packed punch at the top end.

Elsewhere the Leicester side is a real youthful bunch all looking to make a name for themself in the sport with the knowledge that there is always the potential of a step into the Championship in years to come. Jamie Halder misses out tonight through injury with rider replacement meaning Dan Thompson, Tom Spencer and the reserves can fill in.

Speaking off the Cubs reserves this match will also see the debut of 15-year-old Ben Trigger, Trigger is another hot prospect and being Plymouth based is one who is always willing to put in the miles to aid his progression, as witnessed by his appearance at Armadale last season.

Joining Trigger at reserve is recently turned 18-year-old Kai Ward, Ward is in his debut season at this level and made a solid start to his career with a paid 3 score in the Cubs home win over Eastbourne a couple of weeks ago.

Completing the Lions line-up for this evening is Tom Spencer who is now in his second year at this level having spent 2019 with Cradley, Spencer is one to keep an eye on and with a paid double figure score in that Eastbourne match and with the need for him to cover a rider replacement ride a big performance from Spencer could mean trouble for the Stellar Devils.

For those Devils, the line-up is as planned with Nathan Greaves in the middle off a busy weekend having raced for the Monarchs on Friday and then a trip to Redcar to come on Sunday. Danny Phillips and Tom Woolley will be looking to carry on their solid starts to the season and off course the sensation of the league so far has been George Rothery so it will be interesting to see how he fares against the likes of Lawlor and the Thompson twins on their own patch.

That leaves the Millar brothers and Sheldon Davies who will be hoping that the odd point or two can be added to the efforts they are undoubtedly putting in.

This year is all about development for these guys but good performances matter also and it would be nice to see the Devils put in a solid performance after the blip at home to Newcastle the other week.

Live updates will be available o the Devils website with tapes due to rise at 7pm!