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BELLE Vue have confirmed Polish youngster Damian Drozdz will make his UK debut with the Aces this season.
The 21-year-old lines up for Wroclaw in his home country and is now keen to make a positive impression in the SGB Premiership for the Manchester club.
Drozdz said: “I’m so excited to be riding in Britain this year and riding for Belle Vue is such a fantastic opportunity. It’ll be a good way for me to develop my skills as a rider and gain new experiences.
“With so many different types of tracks, I know it’ll be a learning curve but I think that is a big positive for someone like me. I relish new challenges as a way of further boosting my confidence.
“A few years ago, I had the chance to take a few laps around King’s Lynn but that’s as far as my British experience goes for the moment. But I’m eager to learn and I want to do well for the Aces.”

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SCUNTHORPE have set their opening date for the 2018 season as Easter Sunday, April 1 (3pm).
The Scorpions are primarily reverting to Friday racing at home this year, but their first meeting at the Eddie Wright Raceway will be on the Sunday of the holiday weekend.
Promoter Rob Godfrey said: “I can’t wait for the season to begin, and I’m counting down the days.
“Now our supporters can put Easter Sunday in their diaries, because that is the date when the Scunthorpe Scorpions will first appear at the Eddie Wright Raceway, in what will be our first fixture either home or away.
“There’s already a buzz around the town. The feel-good factor is back – people have told me that they are excited about the team we have put together.”

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UP to twelve clubs will compete across the Midland and Southern Development Leagues this season.
Representatives from both sections met at Birmingham’s Perry Barr venue for their AGM at the weekend, with the format and rules unchanged for 2018.
The MDL now includes the Birmingham Bulls, with the participation of King’s Lynn and Milton Keynes to be confirmed. Scunthorpe have withdrawn from the league.
In the SDL, the Isle of Wight join the competition whilst Bristol await confirmation of a venue, after talks with Swindon. Plymouth have withdrawn but Exeter will run at the St Boniface Arena, whilst Weymouth and Kent also have venues to be confirmed.
League leaders in both sections will be declared as champions, with no play-offs, although MDL and SDL winners may meet over two legs at the end of the season. A joint MDL/SDL Riders’ Championship Final is planned.
Both leagues will be co-ordinated by Laurence Rogers with support from Lawrence Fielding (MDL) and Emma Pike (SDL).
Rogers said: “It is a great pity to lose Nigel (Hinchliffe) who did a superb job running the MDL last year. Having cut back on my workload with Plymouth I know I can oversee both leagues with the support of Lawrence and Emma.
“The AGM was a good one with so much agreed without opposition and a real good feeling throughout the clubs.”
MDL: Birmingham, Belle Vue, Carmarthen (at Stoke), King’s Lynn (TBC), Milton Keynes (TBC), Peterborough.
SDL: Bristol (at Swindon TBC), Exeter (at Plymouth), Isle of Wight, Kent (at Iwade TBC), Reading (at Eastbourne), Weymouth (at Eastbourne TBC),

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CRADLEY have added 15-year-old Jason Edwards to their line-up as they prepare to enter the National Trophy this season.
Edwards, who has a league place with Eastbourne, impressed at the Heathens’ Monmore Green base in late-season appearances last year, including scoring ten points in the Golden Hammer.
Co-promoter Gary Patchett said: “Jason was unfazed by that despite being in the company of the best riders in the National League.
“He’s a very talented young rider and one that, had we been able to take a place in the League this season, we’d like to think would have been interested in a team place with the Heathens.
“But we're really looking forward to working with Jason on a slightly longer basis and it will be great to watch his development as the season goes on.”

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COVENTRY have appointed Martyn Macdonald as their team manager ahead of the National League campaign.
Macdonald will step up to the role for the first time having previously worked in the pits with riders such as Greg Hancock, Martin Smolinski and Steve Worrall.
He said: “It will be different from my point of view because I’ll have to get to know people a lot more, rather than in the past it just being the ones I helped.
“But quite often team management is something that people in the pits area decide they want to progress to.
“That was what I thought myself, I felt I’d really like to do it, and the opportunity is there to see what I can do.
“I’m looking forward to trying to bond the seven riders together to make a successful team out of it, and being more in charge of an overall outcome than an individual one.”