THE Somerset Rebels made speedway history on Friday night when they qualified for their third successive Premier League Championship Grand Final with a 54-36 victory over Ipswich at the Oaktree Arena.

The Rebels are the first team to achieve such a feat, setting up a Grand Final clash with Edinburgh.

The first leg of the Final will be held at Somerset’s Oaktree Arena on Friday, October 24 with a 7.30pm start, before the return leg the following night at Edinburgh’s Scotwaste Arena (7pm start).

The match is a repeat of last year’s Grand Final, which saw Somerset win their first-ever League Championship crown – and Rebels team manager Garry May says his side have defied the odds.

He said: “As I said previously, very few, if any, of the speedway pundits gave us any chance of reaching the final once again when asked for their predictions at the start of the season, in fact most predicted that we would just scrape into the play-offs.

“But I knew this team had the ability to go all the way when I first put it together, and after what has been a long, hard, season, we finished second in the Premier League table with an 100% home record, and continued that form through the play-off semi-final matches to book our place in the Grand Final for a third successive year, which is a record within itself.”

“Last year’s final against Edinburgh was a classic event, both legs being close fought affairs, and I am sure that this year’s Final will be just as exciting, especially as Edinburgh will be looking to avenge losing out to us last year - while we’ll be wanting to defend our Championship crown, to be the first club to achieve such a feat since this Play-Off system were introduced to the Premier League.”