LAMBERT, Simon James
DATE OF BIRTH: 21 February 1989, Boston, Lincolnshire.
BRITISH CAREER: (2004) Boston, King's Lynn II; (2005) Boston; (2006) King's Lynn II, Boston; (2007) Boston; (2008) King's Lynn, Boston; (2009) Scunthorpe, Scunthorpe II.
ADDITIONAL INFO: Lambert had been named as Peterborough's No. 8 rider in 2009 but, prior to making any appearances for the Panthers, he was replaced in the position by Andrew Tully in May.

LAMPART, Dawid
DATE OF BIRTH: 4 August 1990, Poland.
BRITISH CAREER: (2009) No official appearances.
MAJOR HONOURS: World Under-21 Team Cup winner: 2009; European Under-19 Team Championship winner: 2009.
ADDITIONAL INFO: Lampart was a member of the Polish Under-21 and Under-19 national teams, which took victory in the 2009 Under-21 Team Cup and European Under-19 Team Championship, respectively. In a highly successful year, he also won the Polish junior Championship. Late in the season, the highly promising youngster linked with Poole as promoter Matt Ford rested a number of riders in order to try out some new faces in a series of challenge matches.

LANHAM, Leigh Stefan
DATE OF BIRTH: 15 August 1977, Ipswich, Suffolk.
BRITISH CAREER: (1993) Ipswich, Arena-Essex; (1994-96) Ipswich; (1997) Exeter, Bradford, King's Lynn; (1998-99) Arena-Essex; (2001) Arena-Essex; (2002-03) Arena-Essex, Ipswich; (2004-06) Arena-Essex; (2007-08) Lakeside; (2009) Ipswich, Newport.
MAJOR HONOUR: British Under-21 Champion: 1997.
CLUB HONOUR: Young Shield winner: 1997 [Exeter].RIDER LINKS: Son of Mike Lanham (born: 2 August 1951, Ipswich, Suffolk).
ADDITIONAL INFO: (1) The Ipswich-born rider is not credited with any official appearances in 2000, because he crashed in Arena-Essex's opening home challenge meeting against the Isle of Wight on 31 March and was to miss the entire year while he recovered from multiple fractures to his right thigh and a cracked pelvis; (2) Lanham suffered horrendous misfortune with his testimonial at Arena-Essex, his special meeting being postponed on no fewer than three occasions because of inclement weather, on 15 October 2004, 22 October 2004 and 8 April 2005. However, the event finally went ahead at the fourth time of asking on 5 October 2005, when victory went to Jason Crump; (3) After spending 10 successive years on the books of Arena-Essex/Lakeside, Lanham re-joined his hometown club, Ipswich, as skipper in 2009. However, together with cuts and bruising, as well as a broken finger, he also sustained head injuries in the side's opening home meeting of the campaign - ironically, in a challenge match versus Lakeside on 19 March. This meant a spell on the sidelines, during which time he was replaced by temporary signing Morten Risager. After successfully coming through a practice spin, he was declared fit to return to the Witches' line-up at the start of May. But, having struggled to regain form since resuming in the saddle, he was replaced in the side in late June by Robert Miskowiak, with Daniel King taking over as captain. Lanham subsequently agreed to join Premier League Newport early in July, when he took the No. 1 spot that had previously been held by Mark Lemon. Having quickly settled at Queensway Meadows, he was injured in a home league match versus Stoke on 6 September after tangling with Lee Complin on the third bend of heat ten. Lanham was taken to the Royal Gwent Hospital where initial reports suggested he had sustained a broken arm, however, his injuries were later diagnosed as a complicated dislocation of the shoulder which, although put back into place, required a lengthy period of recuperation. With his season seemingly over, the Wasps' management introduced Swede Kim Nilsson to the side in mid-September.

LARSEN, Kenni Arendt
DATE OF BIRTH: 14 June 1988, Odense, Denmark.
BRITISH CAREER: (2008-09) Newcastle.
ADDITIONAL INFO: The Dane rides in his homeland under the name of Kenni Arendt, but in the UK he is known as Kenni Larsen.

LAURENCE, Nicholas (Nick) Steven
DATE OF BIRTH: 14 June 1990, Eastbourne, East Sussex.
BRITISH CAREER: (2006) Weymouth; (2008) Rye House II; (2009) Mildenhall.
ADDITIONAL INFO: Laurence was taken on board by Mildenhall in June 2009, when he became the club's official No. 8 rider.

LAWSON, Richard (Rich)
DATE OF BIRTH: 14 February 1986, Whitehaven, Cumbria.
BRITISH CAREER: (2008) Redcar II; (2009) Workington.
MAJOR HONOUR: Four-Team Championship winner: 2009 [Workington].
RIDER LINKS: Son of Steve Lawson (born: 11 December 1957, Workington, Cumbria).
ADDITIONAL INFO: Lawson - the son of the highest scoring rider of all-time in the old National League - forged a successful career in moto-cross, prior to taking up speedway at the age of twenty-two in 2008. His two major achievements in the discipline occurred in 2003, when he became British 125cc Youth Moto-cross Champion and Moto-Cross Champion of Champions. Having taken his first speedway skids in a practice session at Workington in 2008, Lawson burst on to the scene when he joined Redcar's then Conference League operation. Indeed, in a remarkable debut for the Cubs, he netted 16+1 points at Sittingbourne on 10 August, before going on to total 81 points from nine official meetings for a real-time average (including bonus points) of 8.65. Lawson linked with Premier League Workington at the start of the 2009 campaign, as he embarked on his first full season in the sport. He was subjected to a considerable amount of scrutiny in his debut term simply because his dad was one of the true legends at this level of the sport. That wasn't really fair, of course, but in any case the youngster got stuck in and posted a number of eye-catching scores, which culminated in him playing a part in Workington's fifth Four-Team Championship success in nine seasons at Derwent Park on 25 July. However, not long after that success, Lawson was in the wars whilst representing the Comets in a league match at Somerset's Oak Tree Arena on 14 August. In heat seven, home representative Mark Baseby collided with the Whitehaven-born rider on the pits bend and sent him careering into the safety fence. The upshot was a painful back injury and a trip to hospital. Although he subsequently tried to ride through the discomfort, the pain proved too much and necessitated a spell of recuperation. Lawson had hoped to resume racing for Workington on 11 September, but was forced to hang up his leathers for the year on the advice of a specialist. Aside from the effects of his back injury, the season had seen the youngster suffer a couple of shoulder dislocations and he'd received a call to say that he could have corrective surgery on 25 September and, as such, the surgeon advised him not to take any further risks before then.

LAWSON, William
DATE OF BIRTH: 27 February 1987, Perth, Perthshire, Scotland.
BRITISH CAREER: (2002) Newcastle II; (2003) Newcastle, Newcastle II; (2004) Newcastle, Newcastle II; (2005) Edinburgh, Armadale; (2006-07) Edinburgh, Wolverhampton; (2008) Edinburgh; (2009) Berwick, Glasgow.
MAJOR HONOUR: British Under-18 Champion: 2005.
CLUB HONOURS: Conference Trophy winner: 2005 [Armadale]; Premier Trophy winner: 2008 [Edinburgh]; League Championship winner: 2008 [Edinburgh]; Play-Off winner: 2008 [Edinburgh].
ADDITIONAL INFO: The Scotsman represented Premier League Champions Edinburgh in 2008, before making the switch to Berwick on loan in 2009. However, he was to lose his place in the Bandits' line-up in July, when the Borders outfit brought back popular Polish rider Stanislaw Burza. It had been expected that Lawson would subsequently re-join his parent club, Edinburgh, but he instead opted to link with Scottish rivals Glasgow later the same month.

LEGAULT, Kyle Patrick
DATE OF BIRTH: 30 May 1985, St Catharines, Ontario, Canada.
BRITISH CAREER: (2005-06) Sheffield; (2007) Mildenhall; (2008) Birmingham; (2009) Poole.
MAJOR HONOURS: Canadian Champion: 2003, 2004, 2006; Argentine Champion: 2009.
RIDER LINKS: Son of Fred ‘Hot Dog' Legault.
ADDITIONAL INFO: Legault has a good speedway pedigree, as his father, Fred, rode in Canada for many years. Kyle was to take his first speedway rides in 1998, prior to making his public debut at Paris Speedway in Ontario some two years later on 2 June 2000. The young Legault served notice of his emerging talent by sealing a first Canadian Championship at Welland, Ontario on 26 July 2003 and he went on to replicate that success at the same venue on 24 July 2004. He joined Sheffield in 2005 for a first taste of domestic UK racing but, after showing early promise, he unluckily fractured a heel in a spill at Workington in a Premier Trophy encounter on 23 April. After returning to the saddle a little over two months later, he firmly put the injury behind him and went on to record a satisfactory first term average in excess of 5 points per match. Remaining with Sheffield in 2006, the Canadian whiz-kid significantly upped his real-time average to 7.62, having recorded 356 points from forty-nine official appearances. There were numerous highlights along the way, as he helped the Tigers reach the finals of both the Premier Trophy and the Play-Offs. However, there was to be heartache for the South Yorkshire side, as they lost out to King's Lynn in each. At least Legault could look back on the season with the consolation of having reached heat-leader status and also the claiming of a third Canadian Championship. He subsequently enjoyed a tremendous 2007 campaign with Mildenhall, as he scorched to 309 points from thirty-one matches in daredevil fashion to post an 8.56 average. The Canadian had a quiet start, but soon began to turn on the style for the West Row regulars, who enjoyed his on-track racing brand as much as his amiable character before and after meetings. The only downside in a tremendous campaign was that he missed the final few weeks of the season through injury. This was after he had fractured his right wrist in his opening outing in the Grand Prix Qualifying Final at Vojens, Denmark on 15 September. Bravely, he went on to complete his programmed rides in the big event, but subsequent x-rays revealed the extent of the injury and his season was over. Having linked with Birmingham for 2008, the man from Ontario unfortunately suffered a broken right femur, as well as nerve and ligament damage, in a spill during the Brummies' home clash with Rye House in the Premier Trophy on 2 April 2008. The accident occurred in heat six, when he clipped the Perry Barr safety fence whilst chasing Stefan Ekberg and fell heavily on the home straight. After bouncing off the fence, he was inadvertently struck by team-mate James Birkinshaw as he lay on the track. He returned to action in early July, but his season was curtailed on 21 August, when he crashed in the nominated heat of a league match at Sheffield, breaking his jaw. After regaining fitness, Legault rode in - and won - the 13-round Argentine International Championship during December, January and February, prior to linking with Poole for the 2009 season. However, he was forced to pull out of his debut meeting for the Pirates after three rides at Eastbourne in the Elite Shield on 22 March, having aggravated his leg injury from the previous year. In mid-April, it was revealed that the Canadian had had a successful operation on his thigh, with the steel rod being replaced.

LEMON, Mark Ian John
DATE OF BIRTH: 12 February 1973, Bairnsdale, Victoria, Australia.
BRITISH CAREER: (1990) Poole; (1991) Poole, Middlesbrough; (1992) Middlesbrough, Long Eaton; (1996) Oxford; (1997-98) Poole; (1999) Eastbourne, Hull; (2000) Oxford; (2002) Oxford; (2003) Somerset, Belle Vue; (2004) Exeter, Poole; (2005) Exeter; (2006) Stoke, Reading; (2007-08) Reading; (2009) Newport, Newcastle, Swindon.
MAJOR HONOURS: Victoria State Champion: 1993, 1996.
CLUB HONOUR: Premier Trophy winner: 2004 [Exeter].
RIDER LINKS: Son-in-law of Tom Owen (born: 19 June 1951, Ormskirk, Lancashire).
ADDITIONAL INFO: Swindon applied for a work permit to sign Lemon in three successive years (1993-95), but they were refused the necessary paperwork on each occasion. The rider finally earned a work permit after finishing sixth in the 1996 Australian Final, subsequently joining Oxford. Having appeared for a number of teams in the interim, the rider from Down Under was the mainstay for Reading in 2007, despite being hampered by a nasal problem for much of the season, which required corrective surgery in September. In 2008, Lemon was named as Poole's No. 8 rider in a late season switch in place of Jordan Frampton, but, in the event, he wasn't called into action by the Dorset side. Having joined Newport as skipper in 2009, ‘Lemo' was axed at the beginning of July, when a shake-up to the side saw his place filled by Leigh Lanham. The Aussie - in his testimonial year - wasn't on the sidelines for long, though, being quickly snapped-up to fill a gap created by the release of Craig Branney at Newcastle in a move that worked wonders for the riders form, as he put together a string of tall scores. Later that month, he also finally linked with Swindon in a ‘doubling-up' role in place of Cory Gathercole, who was switched to the Wiltshire club's No. 8 position. Lemon's testimonial meeting duly went ahead at Somerset on 18 September, when an Australian Select defeated a Rest of the World Select 50-43. Although not officially credited with it, he helped Workington win the Young Shield in late October, appearing in both legs of the final against Rye House as a guest for the injured Kevin Doolan.

LEVERINGTON, Trent Ashley
DATE OF BIRTH: 13 May 1980, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
BRITISH CAREER: (2003) Glasgow, Armadale, Wolverhampton II; (2004) Buxton, Stoke; (2005) Glasgow; (2006) Stoke; (2007-08) Glasgow; (2009) Newcastle.
ADDITIONAL INFO: The Aussie sustained hand ligament damage whilst representing Glasgow in a home league match versus Scunthorpe on 18 May 2008. This occurred in heat thirteen, when visiting rider Andrew Moore brought him down while attempting a passing manoeuvre on the final lap.

LINDGREN, Jan Fredrik (Freddie)
DATE OF BIRTH: 15 September 1985, Örebro, Närke, Sweden.
BRITISH CAREER: (2003-09) Wolverhampton.
MAJOR HONOURS: Swedish Under-21 Champion: 2003, 2004.
CLUB HONOUR: League Championship winner: 2009 [Wolverhampton].
RIDER LINKS: Son of Tommy Lindgren (born: 19 November 1966, Östersund, Jämtland, Sweden). Brother of Ludvig Lindgren (see separate entry).
ADDITIONAL INFO: The rider has always universally been known by his second name of Fredrik (or Freddie). He is a Swedish international, who possesses a wealth of experience both at Grand Prix and World Cup level. Lindgren is a real fans' favourite on the Wolverhampton terraces, having shown great commitment towards the club since joining late in the 2003 campaign.  He is a very quick speedster and, in 2009, formed a dynamic late-match pairing for the Wolves with compatriot and captain Peter Karlsson, which ultimately led the Black Country side to the Elite League title courtesy of victory over Swindon in the Play-Off Grand Final.

LINDGREN, Ludvig
DATE OF BIRTH: 23 September 1990, Örebro, Närke, Sweden.
BRITISH CAREER: (2008) Wolverhampton; (2009) Birmingham.
MAJOR HONOUR: European Under-19 Team Champion: 2008.
RIDER LINKS: Son of Tommy Lindgren (born: 19 November 1966, Östersund, Jämtland, Sweden). Brother of Fredrik Lindgren (see separate entry).

LOWE, Adam
DATE OF BIRTH: 17 February 1989, Leicester, Leicestershire.
BRITISH CAREER: (2005) Boston; (2006) Stoke II; (2007-08) Boston; (2009) King’s Lynn II.

LYONS, Jason Rodney
DATE OF BIRTH: 15 June 1970, Mildura, Victoria, Australia.
BRITISH CAREER: (1990-91) Glasgow; (1992-2003) Belle Vue; (2004) Poole, Newcastle; (2005) Belle Vue; (2006) Mildenhall; (2007-09) Birmingham.
MAJOR HONOURS: Victoria State Champion: 1997, 1998, 1999; Overseas Champion: 1998, 2001; South Australia State Champion: 1999; World Team Cup Champion: 1999; World Cup Champion: 2002.
CLUB HONOURS: National Series winner: 1990 [Glasgow]; Four-Team Championship winner: 1992 [Belle Vue]; League Championship winner: 1993 [Belle Vue]; 2004 [Poole]; Knock-Out Cup winner: 2005 [Belle Vue]; Pairs Championship winner: 2009 [Birmingham].
RIDER LINKS: Son of Rod Lyons (born: 25 April 1946, Mildura, Victoria, Australia).
ADDITIONAL INFO: Lyons became a club legend in his initial season of activity with Birmingham in 2007, stringing together tall scores from the start of the campaign right the way through to its conclusion. He has remained with the club since and his wholehearted efforts culminated in silverware for the Brummies on 26 June 2009, when he joined forces with Tomasz Piszcz to scoop the Premier League Pairs Championship at Somerset's Oak Tree Arena. It all began for the Aussie on these shores way back in 1990, when he joined Glasgow and the man he had to thank for this was former speedster Sean Courtney. This came about because the Scottish club had signed Courtney from Berwick shortly after the conclusion of the 1989 season and the incoming rider subsequently travelled to Australia armed with a contract and a brief to tempt an upcoming prospect to sign for the Tigers. Courtney came up trumps with Lyons and the Mildura-born racer has remarkably been part of the British racing scene for twenty seasons now! Prior to that, he had originally started riding in junior speedway at the age of nine in his hometown, Mildura. And, giving a fine example of his early promise, he won the Australian Under-16 Pairs Championship in 1986, when accompanied by Leigh Adams. After two terms with Glasgow, a dream move into the top-flight saw Lyons link with Belle Vue in 1992 and he was to enjoy a long and fruitful association with the Manchester side. Indeed, he would go on and become known as Mr. Belle Vue Speedway and, during his time with the world famous club, he celebrated a much-deserved benefit season in 2001, with his testimonial meeting going ahead on 12 August, when Jason Crump emerged victorious from an individual contest. However, after completing twelve seasons with the Aces, a surprise switch saw Lyons join Poole on loan in 2004. He had long since been regarded as a track expert at the Wimborne Road raceway - emphasized by a brace of brilliant victories in the Overseas Final at the venue on 14 June 1998 and 17 June 2001, respectively - but the move didn't work out as expected and he was replaced by Matej Ferjan in June. The Aussie was quickly snapped up by Premier League Newcastle to take the place of Kristian Lund and the change of scenery worked a treat with the Diamonds. A return to the Elite League and Belle Vue followed in 2005 and, in a great year, the Aces topped the regular league table and went on to reach the Play-Off Grand Final. Although they were to lose out to Coventry over the two legs, the Manchester club did have the consolation of subsequently defeating Eastbourne to lift the Knock-Out Cup in October. Lyons took another look at the Premier League in 2006, when he was identified with Mildenhall and, of course, his move to Birmingham came a year later.