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SWINDON boss Alun Rossiter believes his side can rise to the challenge of their mouth-watering Elite League opener against Poole.The Robins will travel to Wimborne Road for their first league fixture on Good Friday (March 25) before hosting the reigning champions at the Abbey two days later.Rossiter said: “Since we lost Oxford and Reading, Poole is our nearest club and it’s our biggest meeting. They always put together a good team and this year is no different, but there are high expectations surrounding our team this year.“We’ve had lots of people telling us they think we’ve put together a strong side this season, so we are feeling confident and we want to prove people right when the season starts.”(SPEEDWAY 2)

WOLVERHAMPTON star Freddie Lindgren has called on his side to get their season off to a fast start after the release of the Elite League fixture list.The Monmore Green outfit will kick off their season by taking on Belle Vue on Good Friday in the first ever Elite League meeting at the new National Speedway Stadium before hosting the Aces in their first home meeting on Tuesday, March 29.Lindgren said: “Nobody has any form at the start of the year so you never know what will happen or what to expect, but hopefully we can get off to a good start and build some confidence.“Belle Vue to start it going to be very exciting I think. The old Belle Vue track wasn’t a favourite for a lot of riders, but the new track is supposed to be really good. The stadium is going to be a great facility as well, so it will be good to ride somewhere new and hopefully there will be a big crowd as well.”

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IPSWICH promoter Chris Louis has explained the absence of Bank Holiday fixtures from the Witches’ 2016 schedule.The club have traditionally run at Foxhall on Good Friday and May Bank Holiday, but Louis says the ability to track a full side is more important to him than the financial benefits of those dates.He said: “Danny King, Lewis Kerr and James Sarjeant all ride in the Elite League.“We don’t have first call on them and Bank Holidays would see us missing one, two, possibly all three of them, and I’m not putting out a Witches side packed with guests.”

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SHEFFIELD co-promoter Damien Bates is confident the Tigers can overcome the absence of Jason Garrity for their first two home League Cup meetings to progress to the next round.With Garrity’s fixture clashes for Coventry in the Elite League out of the way early, Bates hopes they will be “firing on all cylinders” when they get their Premier League season underway as they look to mount a title challenge.He said: “We’ve got a tough group in the League Cup with some big meetings, but we are confident we can beat anybody at Sheffield and we’ll try to pick up enough points away from home as well.“In the first couple of League Cup home matches we’ll be missing Jason because of fixture clashes with Coventry, but we are already working on getting in good guests so we aren’t under-strength. They are the only clashes we have, so we’ll get those out of the way earlier and shouldn’t have to worry about being without him for any meetings then.”