Rory Schlein serious on his Wolves return

Van Straaten and Schlein were reunited yesterday for the first time since the latter retired from the sport and moved back his native Australia after two decades racing in the UK, the last five of which were spent at Monmore.

The 38-year-old is now back in the UK and back with Wolves, having let Van Straaten know of his intention to return with a text message that simply read: “I’m on my way back boss.”

Van Straaten and Wolves team boss Peter Adams were then assessing possible replacements for Nick Morris after allowing his departure for Leicester.

“I’ll be honest, at first I thought it was a wind-up,” admitted Van Straaten, speaking yesterday at the home of the team’s long-serving sponsor Parrys International.

“Nick’s exit left us with quite a sizeable gap to fill and we were looking at possible avenues. Then it became apparent Rory would be coming back to race.

“He’d had a terrific season in 2021. His average was quite high. The highest he had ever done for us.

“If we took him in, all those avenues we were looking down would be gone and the room for the reserve berth was also reduced as well.

“So it wasn’t an instant decision, if I’m honest. I took a few days to think it over. Some people, of course, say you should never turn the clock back.

“But in the end, I decided to go with it. Rory assured me he was 100 per cent fit. I’ve looked at him today and he looks slimmer than when he went home. Any barbecues he had over there clearly haven’t done him any harm!”

Schlein was made to wait a little longer for his reunion with the Monmore track, as bad weather forced the postponement of last night’s scheduled practice session.

Along with reserve Zach Cook, he is one of just two new faces in the Wolves squad which will again be captained by Sam Masters. Luke Becker, Ryan Douglas, Steve Worrall and Leon Flint all return from last year.

Leicester made the request to retain Morris, who raced for them in the Championship last season, following their step up to the Premiership. Van Straaten’s decision to grant the request was motivated, primarily, by what he believed were the best interest of the sport, admitting he feared the league was at risk of folding it remained at just six clubs.

“I wanted more teams in the top division and we got that,” he said. “I think possibly the league might well have collapsed which, as a speedway enthusiast at heart, I did not want to see.

“The advantage of having an odd number of teams is quite specific in that if every Monday there is a team doing nowt.

“Some Mondays last year everyone was racing and if you needed a replacement, there wasn’t one.

“It is unfortunate what happened with Nick but if it was the key to Leicester coming back, then Nick Morris needed to be at Leicester.”