SPEEDWAY - THE Oak Tree Arena, home to the Somerset Rebels, has been awarded the staging of the prestigious 2010 Premier League Pairs Championship meeting, the fourth time that the highly acclaimed track will have staged the event.

THE Oak Tree Arena, home to the Somerset Rebels, has been awarded the staging of the prestigious 2010 Premier League Pairs Championship meeting, the fourth time that the highly acclaimed track will have staged the event.

The Premier League Pairs is one of the Super 7even series of championship meetings that are staged during the speedway season, and is one of the three championship meetings that are specifically for the Premier League, the others being the Premier League Fours and Premier League Riders' Championships.

The meeting brings together the top two riders from 10 of the 14 clubs that constitute the Premier League and has been scheduled for July 9, the night before the eyes of the speedway world then focus on Cardiff's Millennium Stadium for the British round of the Speedway Grand Prix series.

Somerset Rebel, Ritchie Hawkins, has received a call up from Elite League Ipswich to be their number eight for the 2010 season.

For Peterborough based Hawkins, it will mean he will be 'on call' to cover for the Witches should any of their team reserves not be available.

The former British Under-21 champion has been getting a first hand look at the Ipswich track in recent weeks as he has been helping the management their with extensive work that has been taking place in the remodelling of the Foxhall Heath raceway as he explained.

The Somerset Rebels promotion has named the first two riders that will compete in the club's 10 Year anniversary meeting that will take place at the Oak Tree Arena on March19, these being Hans Andersen and ex-Rebel Mark Lemon.

2007 Danish champion Andersen, who will be lining up for Belle Vue in the Elite League in 2010, is one of the 15 permanent riders that will compete in this year's Grand Prix Series.

Mark Lemon is the second rider to be confirmed as taking part in Somerset's celebration meeting, providing a link to the club's past having spent the 2003 season in Rebel colours.

Since then Lemon has ridden for the likes of Exeter, Stoke, Reading and Newcastle, with whom he spent the remainder of the 2009 campaign after being released by Newport in July.

Always a popular visitor to Somerset, Lemon is one of what is hoped will be a number of ex-Rebels that will competing in the anniversary meeting, alongside three of the 2010 Somerset side and a host of top international riders that will comprise up the 16 rider field.

The meeting format will be that same as used in the Grand Prix, namely 20 qualifying heats, with each rider having five programmed rides, after which the top eight scorers will progress to the semi-final stages, with first two in each semi-final moving on to the grand final itself.

The Somerset Promotion are pleased to announce that the club's normal admission prices will apply for the meeting and that season tickets are valid for what promises to be a highly entertaining night of action.