YOUNG REBELS QUALIFY FOR WORLD U21 SEMI FINALS

'Cases' Somerset Rebels duo of Sam

Masters and Kyle Newman came through their World Under-21 Qualifying Meeting in

Neustadt Donau, Germany, this afternoon to qualify for the semi-final stages of

the competition.

Masters finished 5th on the

day with 11 points from his 5 rides while Newman scored 9 points to finish just

a place behind his Somerset team-mate, the meeting being won by Poland's Patryk

Dudek with an unbeaten 15 point haul.

The Rebels have 2 more representatives

in the qualifying stages of the competition, Alex Davies and Tom Perry

competing at Blijham, Holland, on May 19th as they attempt to join

Masters and Newman in the semi-finals, which are being staged at Terenzano,

Italy, and Chervonograd, Ukraine, on June 2nd.

"It would be quite a coup for the club

if all 4 Rebels made it through to the semi-final stages," said Somerset

Promoter Debbie Hancock, "Sam and Kyle did tremendously well in their

qualifying meeting in Germany, and I am sure that Alex and Tom will not want to

be out-done by their team-mates when they ride in their qualifying meeting in

Holland."

Prior to all that, the Rebels hope that

the adverse weather encountered over the past few weeks will finally abate as

they look to stage their first home meeting this Friday (4th May)

since Good Friday as they welcome the Leicester Lions to the Oaktree Arena in a

League Cup group match.

Despite having recently beaten

Leicester on their own shale, the Lions have a number of riders who usually

perform well around the Oaktree Arena and can boast a heat-leader trio of

Magnus Karlsson, Kauko Nieminen and Lasse Bjerre that is the equal of many

a-team in the Premier League.

Backing up the Lions top 3 is ex-Rebel

Jari Mäkinen and Leicester's lone British rider, Simon Lambert, whilst at

reserve the East Midland side track the Danish duo of Jan Graversen and Simon

Nielsen, the latter making his return to the Lions septet following a spell out

with a wrist injury.

The Rebels track an unchanged line-up

for the meeting and will be looking for all 3 match points to keep their

qualification for the semi-final stages of the League Cup competition on

course.

"Leicester may have made an indifferent

start to the season," continued Debbie Hancock, "but they will, no doubt, be

looking to avenge the home defeat they suffered at our hands a week or so ago,

but by the same token it goes without saying that we will be expecting to bag

all 3 points from the match to keep the pressure on Ipswich at the top of our

League Cup group."