Will it be Holder, or a Batchelor party?

The Australian Under 21 Speedway Championship will be held at the 300-metre Gillman Speedway (SA) on February 3-4, with Queenslander Troy Batchelor and defending champion Chris Holder expected to lead the pyrotechnics display.

The teenagers - who were born less than a month apart in 1987 - are both coming off career-defining 2005 seasons, and in full bloom should have too much mettle for the other 14 riders who will compete on Saturday night.

Batchelor, a two-time Australian 500cc long track champion (2003-2004), has recently signed with the Coventry squad in the UK Elite League, where sporadic appearances with some of the world's finest speedway practitioners will be underwritten by another full season of Premier League (second division) competition.

It's a foundation which should see the gifted 18-year-old become a regular fixture in the Elite League in the foreseeable future - an ambition which Holder will also be harbouring.

Holder, on the strength of his brilliant win in last year's under 21 Aussie title, then went on to contest the corresponding world junior championship, and was eventually eliminated in a Polish-hosted semi-final after a spirited run through the preliminaries.

The experience was a defining moment for the Appin (NSW)-based rider, who began the world title as an anonymous antipodean, and completed the odyssey as another product of the renowned Australian speedway factory.

Holder and Batchelor will be joined by eight other seeded riders in this Saturday's final: Tom Hedley, Cameron Woodward, Mark Jones, Trevor Harding, Matthew Wethers Robert Ksiezak, Jason Doyle and Cory Gathercole.

All the other seeds are genuine contenders - Woodward, Harding, Wethers, Ksiezak and Doyle are also Premier League riders - while Ksiezak finished second in the Rory Schlein-dominated 2004 under 21 title.

Moreover, Wethers and Harding went 3-4 in that same final, while Woodward and Doyle motored to the same positions in last year's climax behind Holder and Schlein.

Meanwhile, Gathercole will also fancy his chances after finishing a great third in the 2006 South Australian title at Gillman - one of the strongest state fields seen in years.

Of the 10 seeds, six of them - Jones, Ksiezak, Holder, Woodward, Batchelor and Doyle - have just competed in the 2006 Australian senior solo title, where the opening round was held at Gillman.

Batchelor finished sixth that night, only bested by a band of speedway heavyweights: world No. 3 and track record holder Leigh Adams, Todd Wiltshire, Dave Watt, Adam Shields and Schlein. The Runcorn (Qld) lad then maintained his composure in the remaining two rounds, and finished eighth overall, ahead of Doyle (10th), Holder (13th), Ksiezak (14th), Woodward (15th) and Jones (16th).

A day before the under 21 final, a qualifying meeting will be held on Friday night, where 16 competitors will lock horns to decide which six riders will live for another day. Of the 16, three of them - Karlis Ezergailis, Michael Slade and James Holder - competed in last year's under 21 final, while the likes of 2004 Australian under 16 champion Aaron Summers may be a surprise packet.

The eight-year-old Gillman Speedway, purpose-built for motorcycle racing, is located on Wilkins Road, Gillman - just 8km from the Adelaide CBD. On Friday, gates open at 2.00pm, practice is from 6.00-7.30pm, and racing commences at 8.30pm. On Saturday, gates open at 5.00pm, followed by racing at 8.30pm.

The championship will be held over 20 heats, with a winner-takes-all final.