FOR SPEEDWAY fans who can't wait for the new season to open in March there is the opportunity to watch a field of 16 riders contest the New Year Classic at Newport on Sunday with tapes up at 1pm.

FOR SPEEDWAY fans who can't wait for the new season to open in March there is the opportunity to watch a field of 16 riders contest the New Year Classic at Newport on Sunday with tapes up at 1pm.

Those riders include two former Newport Wasps Niels-Kristian Iversen and Mads Korneliussen, who are now Elite League riders, plus the club's latest signing Anders Mellgren who flies in from Sweden with two other newcomers to British Speedway Daniel and Robert Henderson.

More familiar will be another set of ex-Wasps Chris Neath, Carl Wilkinson, Brent Werner and Jerran Hart while there is a lot of anticipation about the prospect of Kevin Doolan winning a third consecutive title having won the Prince of Wales Trophy in March and the Welsh Open Championship in June. Australian Doolan also comes to this Sunday's event on the back of winning the individual meeting at Scunthorpe Speedway last weekend.

Also qualifying for the Grand Final at the Lincolnshire Track were Jerran Hart and Ben Barker who are included in the New Year Classic line-up. Others to do well at Scunthorpe were Adam Roynon who was returning to the sport after a season away with serious head injuries and Chris Mills who scored nine points and reached a semi-final.

Bringing distinctive qualities to a competitive line-up will be the Premier League Riders Champion Ricky Ashworth and the Newport track record holder Andrew Tully.

Former Classic winner David Howe has had to withdraw because he has not recovered from a broken leg sustained at the end of last season and his place is taken by exciting young British rider Steve Boxall.

The 16 riders will contest 20 heats with the top four scorers racing off in a Grand Final.

The draw order is: 1. Chris Neath (Rye House) 2. Chris Mill s(Unattached) 3. Ricky Ashworth (Sheffield) 4. Kevin Doolan (King's Lynn) 5. Ben Barker (Coventry) 6. Adam Roynon (Workington) 7. Steve Boxall (Unattached) 8. Andrew Tully (Edinburgh) 9. Brent Werner (Unattached) 10. Andrers Mellgren (Newport) 11. Mads Korneliussen (Swindon) 12. Robert Henderson (Sweden) 13. Carl Wilkinson (Scunthorpe) 14. Niels-K Iversen (Peterborough) 15. Jerran Hart (Scunthorpe) 16. Daniel Henderson (Sweden)

Meeting reserves: 17. James White-Williams (Newport) 18. Tom Young (Newport)