TIGERS will renew their bitter rivalry with Elite League giants Belle Vue on the opening night of the Owlerton season.
The Aces will be in town on Thursday, March 18 – and whilst they won't include Danish Grand Prix star Hans Andersen because of a prior booking at Swindon, they will have new signing Peter Karlsson alongside highly- rated duo Charlie Gjedde and Patric
k Hougaard. Karlsson won the Elite League title with Wolverhampton last year and will be making a rare visit to Sheffield where he last appeared in the mid-nineties.
It means a high-profile start to the season for Sheffield – and a bumper crowd is expected with plenty of Aces fans making the trip across from Manchester.
Tigers owner Neil Machin said: "In recent years we have always tried to field a very attractive opening fixture at Owlerton, the Elite League boys love to give it a blast on the fastest track in Britain.
"We have tried to bring Belle Vue to Sheffield in previous seasons but rider availability has always been complicated.
"Even during the negotiations for this meeting Hans has asked to be allowed to fulfil an outstanding commitment to ride in Bob Kilby's Memorial meeting. We are cool with that, to a degree it balances the team strengths as we are keen to run our new 1-7 without feeling the need to strengthen up.
"I am indebted to David Gordon and Chris Morton for all their hard work and in particular for allowing us to track their team for the first occasion in 2010. We will make the Belle Vue fans welcome at Owlerton just like we did in the old days, Sheffield fans can start to rehearse their banter now!"
Sheffield's press and practice day will be the week before opening night on March 11 with the start time to be confirmed.
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