Somerset Rebels have signed British under-19 speedway champion Stefan Nielsen for the 2013 season.
The Rebels line-up for next year is now complete, with talented 18-year-old Nielsen joining captain Jason Doyle, Nick Morris, Josh Grajczonek, Alex Davies, Kyle Newman and Tom Perry at the Oaktree Arena.
Somerset had originally planned to sign Brady Kurtz as their seventh rider, but were thwarted by red tape.
However the young Australian is expected to join the Rebels in 2014.
"We were hopeful of signing Brady and he was extremely keen to join the Rebels for the 2013 season, as were his parents Steve and Sue," said Rebels promoter Debbie Hancock.
"But despite representations from everyone, including his parents, Brady cannot be granted patriality until his 17th birthday, which isn't until late September, which effectively ruled him out for next season.
"Despite this setback, however, Brady is committed to joining Somerset in 2014, when he should become an asset of the club.
"In fact he is so keen to join us that he is coming over during the 2013 season just to be a part of the club and to get some laps in ahead of joining us for the 2014 campaign.
"But as the saying goes, as one door closes, so another one opens, and within hours of hearing that Brady would not be permitted to ride for Somerset next year, we had permission from Scunthorpe to speak with Stefan and then concluded a deal with him to sign for Somerset.
"A number of other clubs were interested in signing Stefan, but from the first minute we spoke to him, it became clear that he wanted to join the Rebels, and we quickly agreed terms for him to join us on loan from Scunthorpe."
Nielsen made his debut for Scunthorpe in the National League in 2011, and was a member of the combined Scunthorpe/Sheffield side that won the title that year.
This year saw him move on to ride for Mildenhall in the National League, where he averaged 8.83 including bonus points from 32 official matches with the Suffolk side.
He won the National League Championship, KO Cup and National Trophy as well as being part of the Fen-Tiger quartet that won the National League Fours Championship.
Nielsen won the British Under-19 Championship at Sheffield's Owlerton Stadium, and also finished seventh in the British Under-21 Championship back in April - a result that earned him a late call-up to ride in a qualifying round of the World Under-21 Championship.
