EKBERG, Stefan
DATE OF BIRTH: 21 January 1972, Motala, Sweden.
BRITISH CAREER: (1994) Oxford; (1995) Eastbourne; (2005) Glasgow; (2007-08) Rye House; (2010) Rye House.
CLUB HONOURS: League Championship winner: 1995 [Eastbourne], 2007 [Rye House].
2010 STARTING AVERAGE: 6.78 (PL).
ADDITIONAL INFO: Known as ‘The North Star’, Ekberg first represented Rye House late in August 2007, when he provided a key spark to the team’s Premier League Championship run-in of that year. Remaining with the Rockets, he suffered a couple of niggling injuries at the start of the 2008 season. Firstly, he broke his jaw in the chin area when a puck hit him in the face whilst he was playing in a local ice hockey match in his native Sweden. Then, he fell during Rye House’s home match against Birmingham in the Premier Trophy on 5 April, sustaining severe damage to one of the ligaments in his thumb, which was subsequently encased in plaster by his local Swedish doctor.

The Swede was in the wars again on 17 June 2008, when he sustained a broken collarbone in a track spill in his homeland. He was representing Vastervik at the time in a home league match versus Elit Vetlanda, when he was brought down by Ales Dryml in heat eleven. That meant a spell on the sidelines, before he bravely returned to action for Rye House within a month. But then, in the Promotion Play-Off semi-final tie at King’s Lynn on 8 October, he sustained career threatening back injuries that were to cost him a team spot in 2009. This occurred in heat one, when he hit the Norfolk Arena safety fence particularly hard.

Having worked on regaining fitness, early in January 2010 – with Andrew Silver ruled a non-starter after his comeback year had ended with concussion – Ekberg was announced as the final piece of Rye House’s team-building jigsaw following his season’s absence. And the Swede was clearly out to make up for lost time. Prior to the campaign, he embraced a stamina improvement programme by playing ice hockey – at which he is of professional standard – three times a week and jogging in the snow every day.

EKLÖF, Linus
DATE OF BIRTH: 3 March 1989, Eskilstuna, Sweden.
BRITISH CAREER: (2009) King's Lynn; (2010) King's Lynn, Peterborough.
MAJOR HONOUR: European Under-19 Team Champion: 2008.
CLUB HONOURS: League Championship winner: 2009 [King's Lynn]; Premier Trophy winner: 2009 [King's Lynn]; Knock-Out Cup winner: 2009 [King's Lynn].
2010 STARTING AVERAGE: 5.30 (PL), 3.00 (EL).
ADDITIONAL INFO: The Swede was signed by King's Lynn in May 2009, as a replacement for long-term injury victim Christian Henry. He had been spotted by Stars' co-promoter Buster Chapman in a World Under-21 Championship qualifying round at Rye House on 15 June the previous year, when he notched 7 points. Prior to his 2008 appearance at Hoddesdon, he was also a member of the Swedish side that won the European Under-19 Team Championship at Rawicz, Poland, on 22 May, when he accrued an 11-point haul.

Having linked with King's Lynn, it was to be success all the way for Eklöf, as he posted an excellent real-time average of over 6 points per match and helped the side scoop a glorious treble of the League Championship, Premier Trophy and Knock-Out Cup. It was therefore little surprise in November, when the Stars revealed that he would remain on board for the 2010 campaign. And, late in January, he was named as Peterborough's No. 8, having watched and enjoyed several top-flight meetings at the East of England Showground during his first term in the UK.

In March, his position with the Panthers was upgraded to that of a ‘doubling-up' rider, alongside Klaus Jakobsen. However, at the tail-end of May, Peterborough elected to dispense with the ‘doubling-up' system, replacing Eklöf and Jakobsen with permanent reserve Mathieu Trésarrieu. And, although he was maintaining an average in excess of 7 points per meeting with King's Lynn, the Swede decided to retire from the British racing scene in June due to personal reasons. He was replaced shortly afterwards in the Stars' line-up by Chris Mills.

EVANS, Barrie Charles
DATE OF BIRTH: 16 April 1984, King’s Lynn, Norfolk.
BRITISH CAREER: (1999) Mildenhall; (2000-01) Arena-Essex, Mildenhall; (2002) Newport, Rye House II; (2003) Hull, Rye House II; (2004) Wimbledon, Newport; (2005-07) Stoke, Stoke II; (2008) Stoke, Mildenhall; (2009-10) Mildenhall, Dudley.
MAJOR HONOUR: Conference League Riders’ Champion: 2003.
CLUB HONOURS: Conference Trophy winner: 2000 [Mildenhall]; Four-Team Championship winner: 2003 [Rye House II]; Pairs Championship winner: 2004 [Wimbledon].
2010 STARTING AVERAGE: 8.46 (NL).
ADDITIONAL INFO: Evans created a unique record when, having won the Conference League Riders' Championship and CL Four-Team Championship in 2003, he also scooped the CL Pairs Championship alongside Mark Burrows on 2 June 2004, thus becoming the only rider to simultaneously hold all three titles. In July 2008, Evans asked to be left out of the Stoke line-up, in order to take a break from racing, having struggled for form. He was subsequently deemed to be withholding his services and was handed a 28-day ban, before he resumed riding with Mildenhall. The move completed a full circle for Evans, as he had been the Fen Tigers' mascot prior to making his official racing debut with the club in 1999.

He remained with the Suffolk outfit in 2009 and enjoyed a good season that saw him rewarded with the Rider of the Year award. Unsurprisingly, at the end of November, Mildenhall revealed that Evans would remain on board for the 2010 season. And he was maintaining an average in excess of 8 points per match when the Fen Tigers ran into off-track difficulties, which culminated in their early closure. Evans wasn't idle for long, though, as he was drafted into the Dudley line-up early in August as cover for the injured Jon Armstrong.