Sport In Profile UK Issue 02 | Page 16

SOMERSET REBELS SOMERSET REBELS Images courtesy of Colin Burnett Somerset Rebels Speedway has achieved superb success over the past couple of seasons and currently sits at the top of the league again this time around. Sport in Profile Magazine caught up with their Press Officer Ian Belcher to find out more. Involvement He started by telling us about his involvement, saying, “I have only been the promoter for the last 4 years. I did not know anything about speedway until about 1999 when my father was approached and asked if he would be interested in a speedway track being built on the farm. I did not even like motorbikes 16 ISSUE 02 back then; after all I was brought up on a farm with cows and sheep! In 2002 when Somerset first went into the Premier League I was just the car park attendant and everything has just gone pretty fast forward since then.” The Role “I guess keeping everything going on a daily roll is one of my biggest challenges. I also have another business to run which is a function suite where we operate dinners, weddings, conferences and a load more. So running the speedway weekly as well is definitely challenging from March to October. The support we try and create with both our sponsors and our paying public on an annual basis is also very challenging