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BELLE Vue manager Jim Lynch says the Aces are looking to Danish rider Patrick Hougaard to make the step up this season.The 22-year-old is preparing for his fourth full season with the club and Lynch feels he should be capable of adding a point to his average.He said: “Patrick has an average of 6.22 and that’s ridiculous for a rider of his assets and experience.“He is one of the best equipped and smartest riders I’ve met, and if he doesn’t take his average to seven at least then I will have to work with him to find the reason why.”

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SOMERSET promoter Debbie Hancock says Jason Doyle will be back to full fitness this season following a winter shoulder operation.Doyle is set for a busy year as he returns to the Rebels, who he rode for earlier in his career, and also doubles-up in the Elite League with Swindon.Hancock said: “Doyley reports that his shoulder has responded well to the operation he had at the end of last season, and everything has healed up okay.“The surgeon who undertook the operation was amazed to think that Jason only effectively had somewhere in the region of 30 per cent use in the shoulder, yet he was still doing something as physically demanding as riding a speedway bike!”

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CORY Gathercole has stressed he is available and hoping for a call after finding himself without a club due to Newport’s closure.Gathercole had agreed to join the Wasps from Somerset, but the Welsh club will now not be competing this season leaving several riders needing to change their plans.He said: “It’s never an ideal time to say you’re not going to run, but especially now because it’s too close to the start of the season and everyone has pretty much got their teams picked. Obviously there are now another six guys doing the same thing as me in trying to find a job.“Whatever English club has me, I’m not going to say I can’t ride that day or this because I’m in Poland, they’ll get my full commitment for whichever club I’m riding for. So hopefully something comes up.”

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DANIEL Nermark admits he feels at home at King’s Lynn as he prepares for his return to the Norfolk Arena this year.The 34-year-old Swede enjoyed a successful spell with the Stars in their Premier League days, and will now appear for them in the top flight after spending 2011 with Birmingham.Nermark said: “I know the people quite well and I have a good feeling about the place. I like the way they run things, and it is part of the reason why I am going back there.“The track is good and it is quite hard to ride well on it. It is a good track to ride, and you have to be ‘on the ball’ to do well there. To do that every week, I think it helps you as a rider.”