The following is an A-Z list of riders who are contracted to appear in 2009, at Elite League, Premier League and National League level.
NOTE: (1) All entries for the current season are as per the declared team line-ups, but do not necessarily relate to actual appearances for the named clubs, particularly in the case of No. 8 riders in the Elite League; (2) The symbol II after a team's name differentiates between a club's National level and higher league side, when more than one team was operated in the same season; (3) With regard to 'Club Honours', riders have been credited with a contribution to a league title-winning side if they rode in 6 or more matches of the team's league programme - and with a cup-winning contribution if they appeared in at least one leg of the final. This particular part of the Index is a work in progress.
COMPILED BY ROBERT BAMFORD
LAST UPDATED: October 31, 2009
RIDERS - O
OSTERGAARD, Ulrich Reinhold DATE OF BIRTH: 19 April 1981, Odense, Denmark. BRITISH CAREER: (2003) Eastbourne; (2004) Eastbourne, Isle of Wight; (2005) Isle of Wight, Eastbourne, Swindon; (2006) Peterborough; (2007) Birmingham, Peterborough, Workington; (2008) Reading; (2009) Belle Vue. CLUB HONOUR: League Championship winner: 2006 [Peterborough]. ADDITIONAL INFO: (1) Ostergaard was sensationally axed from the Birmingham side in early August 2007, after a conflict of interests between his British racing commitments had been created due to him being nominated for a reserve position in a European Championship round in his homeland; (2) The Dane first raced on these shores with Eastbourne in the British League Cup in 2003 and has spent periods at an array of British clubs since; his pinnacle being the winning of an Elite League Championship medal with Peterborough in 2006. Ostergaard enjoyed a fabulous season with Reading in 2008, ending the campaign with a 10.29 average (including bonus points) from forty official meetings. The Dane returned to the Elite League with Belle Vue in 2009 and was hitting his best form when he sustained a broken right kneecap and severe ligament damage during the Aces' Knock-Out Cup tie at Coventry on 21 August. This occurred in heat ten when, in mid-race, he hit the safety fence on the home straight. In October, Ostergaard came through a meeting in Denmark without any ill-effects and declared himself 100 per cent fit for Belle Vue's crucial Relegation Play-Offs.
OWEN, Marc DATE OF BIRTH: 20 August 1994, Haywards Heath, Sussex. BRITISH CAREER: (2009) Newport II. ADDITIONAL INFO: The teenage whiz-kid attracted considerable attention from a whole host of clubs but, having turned fifteen years-of-age, he chose to join Newport's National League side, the Hornets, in August 2009. Owen had made a guest appearance for the Isle of Wight in the No. 8 position in a home National Trophy match against Mildenhall on his fifteenth birthday, scoring 2 points from a solitary outing; this being his comeback meeting after breaking a wrist. Afterwards, he reported that the wrist was fine and accepted Newport's offer, joining the club as a replacement for Todd Kurtz.