Leicester boss Stewart Dickson is backing FIM North America champion Luke Becker to find the consistency needed to star for the Lions in 2025.
Becker confirmed his return to the Rowe Motor Oil Premiership runners-up, where he joins forces with the likes of Speedway GP star Max Fricke, Kyle Howarth and rising star Sam Hagon.
Despite a slight drop in the American international’s average in 2024, Dickson paid tribute to Becker’s determination to overcome any blips in form and believes he can be more consistent in 2025.
He said: “Luke is a determined young man. He doesn’t say too much but you could tell at the time he wasn’t doing well – and there was one particular period of around three weeks when it really wasn’t going well for him – just how determined he is.
“He’s not slow to ask for practice when he’s looking to resolve problems, and that’s something we always try to encourage.
“We need Luke to do the job that Luke Becker can do. We want the form from that spell when he was really scoring well for us, and what I’ve regularly said is that in that period he wasn’t riding above himself, he was riding to what he can and should be doing.
“We are going to need that in large bundles next season on a more consistent basis. I do think we’ll get that, and I’m happy that he’s back.
“I didn’t just keep him because he’s on a 6.57 average, which wasn’t a dramatic fall in any case, it was under half a point, but he’ll be very keen to get that average back up.
“I look at his scores in Europe and there are some really good ones there, and he’s been around the British scene for a while now. I know he wants to get to the top level and target the GPs and so on for America, and whilst I wouldn’t say next season is make or break, I do think if he wants to get to where he wants to be, he’s got to be looking to grab one of our heat-leader spots, and that’s a challenge in itself.”