NEWPORT Speedway is looking forward to what is traditionally its biggest attendance of the year at Queensway Meadows for the Welsh Open Championship tomorrow.

The event rounds off a great weekend of speedway with many fans staying on after the British round of the World Speedway Championship at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, tonight to enjoy even more top racing in South Wales.

The Welsh Open involves 16 riders meeting each other once in five programmed starts over the 20 heats followed by a Grand Final for the top four scorers.

In the field are several pre-meeting favourites who have stood at the top of the rostrum in major individual events at Newport including the Welsh Open.

They are Kevin Doolan of Ipswich and Australia, Ryan Fisher of Coventry and the USA and David Howe of Scunthorpe and Great Britain.

However, one rider who is having a sensational season is young Cornishman Ben Barker of Plymouth, Birmingham and the current Great Britain squad.

Barker is a robust and exciting rider who has been on the rostrum but not on the top step and will be as keen as ever to do well.

New faces to the event will be two Americans - Tyson Burmeister of Wolverhampton and Mikey Buman who was a top scorer on with a recent USA touring team and keen to put his talents in the shop window in the quest for a contract with a British club.

It is also a sign of how matters have changed in the sport that there will also be a Russian on parade in the shape of Leicester’s Iliya Bonderenko. USA v Russia on track!

Throw into the mix former Premier League Riders champion James Wright, recent track record holder Andrew Tully and rising British star Craig Cook plus Wasps Leigh Lanham, Justin Sedgmen and Mark Jones and an unpredictable afternoon of top class racing is in store.

Newport general manager Laurence Rogers, who has toiled to put together an attractive field with many riders committed elsewhere, said: “We have endeavoured to bring back racers who have dominated these individual events and thrown in competitors like Ben Barker who give 100% plus everytime the tapes rise on a race.

“To be matched in turn with class acts like James Wright and Leigh Lanham plus new faces like Tyson Burmeister and Mikey Buman. Plenty of variety and no doubt some surprises along the way.”

There will be a collection for the Speedway Riders Benevolent Fund during the interval and fans are invited to give generously.

Admission prices: Adults £17; Concessions: £15; Children 5 to 15 : £5; Children Under Five: Free; Family tickets - 2 A & 2C - £36.

Adults and concessions with an admission ticket from last night’s National League fixture between the Newport Hornets and the Dudley Heathens will be given a £2 reduction.