Three local councillors, Vi Dempster, Keith Lloyd-Harris and Paul Westley, who had given so much valuable support to the campaign throughout the various stages of the process, were guests of honour at the ‘breaking of the ground’ ceremony as the first piece of turf was cut.

 

Whilst fans remained hopeful of seeing speedway again in Leicester, only the most optimistic visualised a return in their lifetime. Their dream of one day being able to cheer on a Leicester team suddenly turned into reality on Friday when the scoop of the excavator sliced through the Beaumont Park turf.

 

A gathering of well known faces were on hand to celebrate this latest landmark. From the world of speedway, the Sheffield management team of Neil Machin, Eric Boocock and David Hoggart were present along with Ray Wilson, the Leicester’s all-time highest points scoring record holder. Norman Hunter, a World Team Cup gold medallist and local born rider David Howe also added their support.

 

 

The media were out in force to record the event as were the elected members of the Leicester Speedway Supporters Club who have worked tirelessly with the business partnership of David Hemsley and Sam Ermolenko.

 

 Ken Naylor, Chairman of the Leicester Speedway Supporters Club, explained the significance of the ceremony.

 

 “It is a dream come true. Leicester fans have been waiting patiently for this moment for more than twenty-six years during which time there had been many false dawns when hope quickly turned to despair.

 

 “Prospective promoters had looked at the various options available in and around Leicestershire only to walk away from what, on the face of it, appeared an impossible task to find a suitable location. We have been edging towards this day and whilst we have had setbacks during the project we never once accepted defeat.”

 

Attention now turns to the construction work due to start soon on the ‘field of dreams’ at Beaumont Park. The project sponsors, Oliveti Construction and Maxi-Waste Limited, will be working in partnership to create the £1.2m purpose built speedway stadium in readiness for the Leicester Lions to return to the speedway calendar in March 2011.