STEAD'S FAITH IN YOUNG LIONS

Joint Great Britain boss Simon Stead is backing his young guns to fire at tonight’s Monster Energy FIM Speedway of Nations Final in Lublin, insisting “they’re not scared of anything.”

The Lions are captained by 22-year-old European champion Robert Lambert, with Dan Bewley, 21, and Drew Kemp, 18, joining them in the very youthful side.

Lions’ medal chances suffered a hammer-blow when triple world champion Tai Woffinden was ruled out of the Final with a broken hand suffered in Gorzow on October 4.

But Stead and fellow GB boss Oliver Allen had no qualms about tracking three of the nation’s top youngsters against Poland, Russia, Australia, Denmark, Sweden and the Czech Republic.

He said: “We are obviously disappointed to be without Tai, but this job will always challenge you and throw things at you that you are not expecting.

“We just have to look at the best possible way we can overcome his absence. The beauty of this young team is that they’re not scared of anything. They are not worried about racing against the Poles, the Russians or anybody else. We are concentrating on our own business and what we can do.

“The lads are up for it and that in itself puts a smile on my face. I know how much everyone is looking forward to it and it’s great to have such a positive camp.”

While GB had more experienced options available to them, Stead believes Kemp and fellow squad member Jordan Palin, their standby rider in Lublin, deserve their chance.

He said: “We just believe that this opportunity had presented itself to us and what a fabulous opportunity it was to be able to integrate both Drew and Jordan.

“It wasn’t just Drew and Jordan in terms of the younger riders that we were considering. We had a good handful of riders who all deserved their place, but we are restricted. Drew and Jordan made the final cut.

“It was nice to have a good number of junior riders that we could consider. It shows our focus is really on bringing those lads through and giving them chances at the earliest possible opportunity. They deserve it.

“Their commitment to GB Speedway, their training, their bikes and improving themselves on and off the track is a real credit to the lads. They have fantastic backing from the people around them and absolutely deserve their shot at this.”

Photo: Taylor Lanning