Thompson in as Morley pays the price for his low scoring

PLYMOUTH Gladiators promoter Mark Phillips said he has ‘no time to wait’ for riders to find form after replacing Ben Morley with Dan Thompson.

- STUART JAMES

The Gladiators need to find some wins if they are to make the end of season play-offs and after replacing the under-performing Paul Starke with Morley at the end of May, Phillips has decided to replace him as well after several below-par scores.

“He has not hit the ground running,” Phillips said of his decision to let Morley go. “I know it is awkward with him having a late start to the season, but he hasn’t shown his home form like he did last year and as we are still pushing to make the play-offs, so we can actually find some silverware, we have got to take every opportunity that we can.

“With it being such a small league, there is no time to play catch up and we need wins.”

The 19-year-old Thompson – along with his twin brother, Joe – was born in Nuneaton and rode for Leicester Lion Cubs after track time as their mascot. He was crowned British youth champion in 2020 and moved to the main Lions team for the 2021 Premiership season before joining Sheffield Tigers as their number eight rider in 2022.