Wolverhampton have confirmed a date for the prestigious British Under-18 Championship to once again be staged at Monmore Green.

Ipswich's Daniel King took the honours last season but is now too old to defend his title, so there will be a new winner on the trophy on Monday September 5.

The meeting looks set to provide an open contest with no Elite League riders involved, and local interest will surround Jack Hargeaves, currently riding for Stoke in the Premier League after coming through the ranks with Wolves.

In addition the top two Under-15 riders, Josh Auty and Ben Taylor, are included in the field and it will be interesting to see how the highly-rated youngsters contend with more experienced opposition.

The Under-18 Championship is one of two individual events which will be staged between now and the end of the season at Monmore, with the popular Olympique meeting coming up in October.

Wolves' play-off aspirations have faded fast since mid-July, with the serious injury sustained by Mikael Max leaving them having to book guests for their No 1 - and some have been more successful than others.

Fortunately, one of the more successful ones, Coventry captain Scott Nicholls, is stepping into the breach for tonight's clash with Ipswich - ironically Nicholls' former club - while Oxford skipper Greg Hancock has been booked for next Monday's big match against Poole.

The play-offs are contested by the top four clubs in the Elite League, and with five matches remaining Wolves can score a maximum of 48 points. Fourth-placed Eastbourne are already on 42 and with other teams in between, it would take a series of unbelievable results for Wolves to stand a chance of making it.

However, they still have plenty to ride for as the Craven Shield competition is being re-introduced this season which gives a late-season opportunity for honours.

Nicholls goes into tonight's meeting in tremendous form after roaring to a 15-point maximum for Coventry in their 54-42 win over Arena-Essex at Brandon on Friday, a result which further enhances the Bees' chances of overhauling Poole for second place and gaining the advantage of a home draw in the play-off semi-finals.

Nicholls said: "Arena battled hard but it was a meeting we shouldn't have lost, and fortunately we didn't. They played their tactical moves well but we all rode strongly and it was a good win.

"We had some bad luck, but everyone had encouraging rides and that's important as we really want to be in that top two.

"I feel good at the moment and I'm happy with the way things are going. I've got a really busy run coming up so I just want to keep the momentum up for myself and the team."

Bees go to Ipswich on Thursday, and Nicholls added: "That will be tough, but we've proved already that we can win away from home, and at some places where people perhaps didn't expect us to.

"It really helps that we now have a full-strength side with Sebastian Ulamek coming in, and we can go on and win there."