SOMERSET opened the new season in style going down by only two points to an Elite League Select in an opening challenge match at the Oak Tree Arena on Friday night.

With original opponents Coventry Bees pulling out the Rebels promotion team worked miracles to bring the Select side at such short notice and fans turned up in droves.

The Select side was headed by Eastbourne’s Bjarne Pedersen, and featured Coventry team members Edward Kennet, Richard Sweetman and Josh Auty, backed up by Ty Proctor, and former Rebels Jason Doyle and Kyle Hughes.

The Rebels tracked the remaining six 2011 signings, and were headed by a guest Elite League rider, Grand Prix star Chris Harris.

Despite this they looked to have their hands full with the quality of the opposition but the Select team was restricted to a 46-44 victory.

The meeting proved a huge success, with an extremely entertaining meeting enjoyed by the big crowd. For the Select the undoubted star was Bjarne Pedersen, but all provided a good share of the points, with Jason Doyle in particular showing why he became such a great favourite with the Oak Tree faithful.

The Rebels look to have a great 1 to 7 for the coming season; Kyle Hughes impressed in his early rides, but had a few problems later on, Travis McGowan showed enough to see that he too will be in the points before too long.

Had it not been for an engine problem in his second ride Cory Gathercole would surely have been another in double figures.

But the star of the Rebels team has to be Sam Masters, with his top scoring performance following on from his great Elite League performance for Kings Lynn earlier in the week, showing just what fans can expect in the coming season.

Although no one is predicting a Rebels title in 2011, they must have a chance of finishing in a good position.

The next step is a start to full league action, with this Friday’s visit of the Rye House Rockets, before the Rebels travel to Newport on Saturday.