Rebels have Bandits in their sights.

The "Mike Manning Audio" Rebels are currently enjoying a rich vein of form, and will look to continue that on Friday (2nd June) when they entertain the Berwick "Anderson's Quality Butchers (North Berwick)" Bandits.

The Bandit have suffered a bit of a mixed start to their 2006 campaign, and have made changes to both their track, and personnel since the beginning of the season. After a disappointing Premier Trophy campaign all connected with Berwick will be looking for better things in the Premier League. The Somerset Rebels will be back to full strength, with the return of Stephan Katt, and will be looking to "hold up" the Bandits progress.

At Number 1 the Bandits track 28 years old Stanislaw Burza, who will be making his first visit to the Oak Tree Arena. The experienced Pole was recently signed as replacement for the departing Adrian Rymel, Burza has made an immediate impact for his new club. A member of Tarnow's Polish Extra League Championship winning team in 2003, he will not doubt be looking to lead Berwick to Premier League glory as well.

Rebels fans will welcome back a familiar face at Number 2, in the shape of David 'Victor' Meldrum. David was a popular member of the Somerset septet in 2002, almost becoming a cult figure in a team making their first tentative steps in the Premier League, but was replaced by Graeme Gordon early on in the season. An accomplished Ice racer, having spent the last winter racing in the "Xtreme Ice Series" in the USA, where he finished the season in 6th place. David's other winter pastime is Rugby Union, often playing for his home town Berwick's 3rd team during the winter months.

Lee Smethills is another familiar face to West Country fans, having spent a couple of seasons at Exeter in recent years. This is his second spell with the Bandits, having ridden for them in 2004, in between his spells at Exeter. Usually seen as a big track rider, Smethills has shown that he can be effective around the smaller Oak Tree Arena circuit, and his performance could be crucial to the final outcome of this match.

Smethills middle order partner is Czech born rider, and Bandits skipper Michal Makovsky, who is now in his 6th year at Shielfield Park. Makovsky was Czech National Champion in 1999, and made his UK debut for Berwick in 2001. He should have made that debut 5 years earlier, when he signed to ride for Long Eaton in 1996, but was refused a work permit. Makovsky was a member of Berwick's Premier League Four's winning team in 2002.

Another new face to League Speedway in Britain occupies the Number 5 berth. Andreas Bergstrom, a 27year old Swedish rider who toured the UK in 2004 when part of a Swedish touring team, which is when he first caught the eye of the Berwick promotion. He has made an immediate impact, not only at Shielfield Park, but on many an away track as well.

The Bandits reserve pairing will have a familiar look to Somerset Rebels fans. Danny Warwick, is a Poole based rider who must have one of the longest journeys in UK just to get to his home meetings! He is well known to Somerset regulars having ridden in many 2nd half's at Oak Tree Arena for the last couple of years. He was signed by Berwick as their C Grade reserve after impressing at their pre-season practice session.

His partner Craig Branney is also well known, having made several appearance for visiting teams to the Oak Tree Arena. He is also known to Rebels reserve Ben Barker, as the two were team mates in the Conference Title winning Oxford Academy team of 2005. Branney was Berwick's first signing for the 2006 season, and has had spells with Workington, Hull and Newcastle at Premier League level.

Somerset 'Mike Manning Audio' Rebel team manager, Mick Bell, has announced an unchanged line up for Friday's clash, including the returning Stephan Katt. The Rebels will be in confident mood after a good win in their last home match, gained without Katt in the line up. The Bandits will also be stronger than they were when suffering a narrow two point defeat in their last home match. They will be buoyed by the return of Stanislaw Burza to their ranks, as he was serving a one match ban for that defeat, after missing a Premier League meeting to ride in a Polish League match. This should prove to be a highly entertaining match, which will set up both sets of fans for the following day's Cardiff Grand Prix meeting.