Dream Team : Dean Murphy

Collins	Jessup

I would like to submit my Leicester Lions Dream Team.

This would be:

Les Collins (England)
John Titman (Australia)
Ila Teromaa (Finland)
John Boulger (Australia)
Dave Jessup (England)
Ray Wilson (England)
Colin Cook (England)

Titman, Teromaa and Boulger were great Heat Leaders and rode for Leicester at the same time although the remainder of the team was rather weak by comparison. All of them appeared in World Individual Speedway Final at various times and performed well. All three rode their best speedway of their careers during their time at Leicester. Titman in particular was sensational for 2-3 seasons after he stepped to primary Heat Leader and Captain at Leicester having moved from Exeter and the considerable shadow of Ivan Mauger.

Les Collins was a later addition (along with his brother Neil) but is now recognized as one of the best riders of all time and only retired 2-3 years ago well into his 40's (riding for Glasgow I think). He finished second to Bruce Penhall in the 1982 World Individual Speedway Final.

Jessup and Wilson were before my time (at Leicester at least) although are recognized as being amongst the outstanding riders of their generation.

Colin Cook although not of the same calibre as the others was a short guy with a brave and aggressive style who could frequently upset the big stars. Only his lack of height hindered him as he had a smooth style but you wondered how he controlled the bike being so diminutive.

Local derby matches with Coventry were always superb and close particularly with the Bees having great riders such as Ole Olsen, Tommy Knudsen and Mitch Shirra.

This article was first published on 28th June 2007