Peterborough and Rye House have elected to bring forward their League Cup clash – which will now be the Showground season-opener on Tuesday (March 18).

The sides were already due to meet in the East of England Cup but will instead go straight into official competition to avoid a clash of the original League Cup fixture with the British Under-21 Final, which will involve riders from both teams.

Rye House will still be without Jason Bunyan as he is in New Zealand preparing for his Wild Card appearance in the forthcoming Grand Prix.

Rockets boss John Sampford said: “A clash with the Under-21 meeting meant that we were without two riders and had no guest of suitable ability to call on. This way we are able to cope with just one absentee in the knowledge that our other riders are well up to the challenge of annexing the points we need - not ideal, but the best we can expect in the circumstances.”