The Brummies have brought in Chris Mills and Ritchie Hawkins.

Former Ipswich rider Mills is as a temporary replacement for Polish favourite Tomasz Piszcz, whilst Rye House regular Hawkins to will cover for the unavailable Tyson Nelson.

Piszcz is back in his home country to have surgery on a cartilage injury sustained in practice.

Team boss Graham Drury said: "Piszcz's doctor in Poland told him he could probably carry on riding and maybe get through the season but there would also be a risk he could aggravate it by crashing.

"The other option was to have an operation now and get the knee back to full strength and I told him that was the more sensible thing to do.

"We don't have an Elite League meeting until April 5 at Swindon so it makes sense for him to get the surgery done now."

Hawkins, 29, will share a team position with Josh Auty for the Brummies until Nelson is able to return from Australia, having seen the start of his season delayed by paperwork issues.

Hawkins previously rode for Drury at Workington, and is set to go into his second season with Rye House at Premier League level.

Drury said: "I had a couple of riders in mind to bring in once it was obvious we had a problem with Nelson but I know Ritchie, I worked with him at Workington and he's a good lad.

"He knows Josh Auty will start the season as the first choice for doubling-up but we will give Ritchie opportunities and I'm sure he will be looking to take them with both hands."