YORK-BORN speedway superstar Sean Wilson has the benefit of 'home' advantage tomorrow night as he bids for individual glory in international competition.

The Sheffield Tigers captain, renowned as a driving force behind the club's successes, will attempt to keep his personal Grand Prix ambitions on track in a qualifying event in Sweden.

As reported in the Evening Press, Wilson is on course to qualify for next year's prestigious GP series, where he will compete as an individual against the best riders in the world.

He needs a top-six finish in Vastervik in tomorrow's Inter-Continental Final to reach the Grand Prix Challenge in Krsko, Slovenia, when ten places in the 2002 GP series will be up for grabs.

And the 31-year-old will benefit from the fact the meet is at his 'home' track in Scandinavia, as he also rides for the Vastervik club in the Swedish Elite League. Indeed, his latest ride on that circuit was only on Tuesday, when his team entertained Masarna, an outfit which coincidentally contained another York shale star, Andy Smith.

If Wilson makes it through, he will join a small band of riders from English Premier League clubs to have ever reached the GP series, most GP riders being members of British Elite League clubs.

Wilson - who rode in the Elite League before returning to Sheffield in 1999 to guide the Tigers to their most successful season ever - came close to qualifying in 1997 and missed out by just one point last year.

Updated: 12:02 Friday, August 10, 2001