Former Cradley Heath and Coventry skipper Greg Hancock is being strongly linked with a move to Elite League newcomers Reading.

The Racers' move into the top flight under the promotion of Grand Prix organisers BSI was confirmed on Friday, and their arrival gives the Elite League a total of 11 teams for next season.

Promoters of all clubs - with ex-Peterborough boss Jim Lynch installed by BSI to run Reading on day-to-day basis - are meeting in Tenerife this week to thrash out the key details for next season, including the allimportant points limit for team building.

Suggestions that the limit will be reduced from its current level of 42.5 have cooled in the last week with several clubs advocating that no changes are made, but nothing will be certain until the official statement from the AGM is released.

But Reading do appear to be in a reasonable position from the off, and backed by the investment of BSI they appear favourites to land the prized signature of Hancock, who has been with the Racers' near rivals Oxford, on loan from Coventry, for the last two and a half years.

Slovenian sensation Matej Zagar is already on the Reading asset list and would form a strong top two with Hancock, with the Racers having the bonus of Zagar on an artificially low average due to the fact that he has not yet ridden in the Elite League - so some careful team building elsewhere from Lynch could make them immediate title contenders.

And if Hancock does indeed line up at Smallmead, it will disappoint some fans of Wolverhampton who had been hoping that their club would make a move for the 1997 World Champion, always a high scorer at Monmore Green.

But with Wolves promoter Chris Van Straaten already indicating that he knows the basis of his line-up for next season, it would now be a surprise if classy Swede Peter Karlsson did not take the No 1 race jacket in 2006.

Karlsson is a Wolves asset and had a marvellous 2005 season on loan at Peterborough, and with his brother Mikael Max still recovering from a broken thigh the options to bring in another No 1 rider appear limited.

Wolves' middle-order riders all face an anxious few weeks to see if they will be involved next season, but last season's skipper Steve Johnston is already being linked with a move back to Oxford, who are now under the promotion of South coast businessman Aaron Lanney.

Johnston was unable to live up to the expectations of the Wolves management and it would be a major surprise if he was retained.

Only Fredrik Lingdren from last season appears guaranteed a place in 2006 as the Wolves bosses look to make a significant improvement on their eighth position in the league table.

The Swede made rapid progress, particularly in the first half of the season, but if any other new riders are introduced into the top section of the team then there could be question marks over David Howe and also Adam Skornicki, who finished last season with Arena-Essex after a successful stint with Wolves when Howe was injured.