Leicester Lions owner hopes to create 'biggest speedway club'

Lions finished with 25 Elite League competition points in 2013, nine adrift of Belle Vue above them in eighth place

Owner-promoter David Hemsley hopes to transform Leicester Lions into "the biggest club" in British speedway.

Hemsley also admits he would consider selling up if investors could "take the club to the next level".

The Lions finished bottom of the Elite League in 2014, their first season back in the top flight since 1983.

"It's our objective to have the biggest club in the country within five years and we will work very hard to do that," Hemsley told BBC Radio Leicester.

Hemsley said Poole Pirates, the 2014 Elite League Shield winners and 2013 champions, remain the benchmark for clubs to emulate.

Lion roars in Elite League
Leicester's number one rider Jason Doyle finished third in the Elite League Riders Championship final at King's Lynn last month.

"Poole is obviously, in terms of the business, the standard we should all be setting ourselves," said Hemsley. "They have done an excellent job over many years and we are not too far away."

Hemsley, who plunged his life savings into resurrecting the Lions in 2011 after 28 years of inactivity, is committed to seeing the venture grow.

He insists he is not actively looking to sell the club, but remains open to the idea.

"I'm part of the legacy of speedway in Leicester, but I'm only the custodian for this point in time," Hemsley said.

"The reality is, if there was somebody out there who could take the club on to the next level and invest the huge sums of money that it would take to take the club forward, then I would never stand in anybody's way."