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I remember the old National league having an outright ban on guests. You used your own junior's or RR to cover injuries but if RR you had to name a number 8. However there was a certain amount of doubling up certainly in the mid 80s Carl Blackbird rode for Mildenhall in the NL & Ipswich in the BL Richard Knight rose for Mildenhall & Wimbledon & Nigel Flatman spent many years riding for both Ipswich & Peterborough. Granted none of the above was a full on as today.

I’m with you here I’ve never understood the issue either! Why does it matter if Harris rides for a different club, in a different league, and against totally different opposition? How does that affect Kings Lynn in a totally different league? The answer is it doesn’t. It’s far worse to have Premiership riders, guesting for a different Premiership team against teams that are in the same division as you! Having one of your team helping out a rival whom you’re competing against and potentially helping them gain a play off place at your expense, has always seemed bonkers to me and far more damaging to the Sports credibility.

And he is still living in a mansion at our expense.

Keep Howarth

Just get a life. This is a speedway forum not for imbosiles like you

Louis certainly seems to have been a bit of a "James Hunt" this winter.

Dickson may remember Drews attitude for Berwick which was good

It was a bit like James Hunt and Murray Walker at times wasn't it!😅

Does that mean Kelvin won't have Chris at his side to correct him during the GPs ?

Promoter Chris Louis plans to take time away from speedway once the sale of Premiership champions Ipswich Witches is complete. Louis hopes to be able to confirm the name of the buyers within the next two weeks. He put the Witches up for sale in November after they beat Leicester Lions to win the title for the first time in 27 years, and it is now going through due process. "Once we're in a position where the sale is complete then everything will move very quickly," Louis told BBC Radio Suffolk. "I had two or three other offers that didn't suit me personally or my vision of putting the club in safe hands. "It's unfortunate because it feels like the club is so far behind the other teams coming into 2026, but I'm very proud of the fact that we've found what I believe to be the right owners and hopefully it all goes through smoothly." Ipswich Witches agree sale to new owner Published 3 days ago Doyle confirms GB speedway exit with Ipswich up for sale Published 11 December 2025 Ipswich have confirmed their place in what, at the moment, will be a five-team Premiership this year but have yet to finalise a rider roster. "The way I've done things in the last few years, season ticket sales would have started at the beginning of December and the team would have been announced before Christmas. "It's different in 2026 but it's to be expected, it's a big thing to sell a business and it takes a bit of work with all the due diligence to do. "But I think we've found the right people for the club, I don't think it could be in better hands and I'm excited to see what they do with it and what the future holds." Louis plans to attend meetings at Foxhall Stadium in the new season but does not, at present, intend to have any direct involvement in the sport. "I received an offer from a Polish club three days after putting the club up for sale but it would have meant far too big a life change for me, moving to Poland," he added. "I want out of the sport, it's time for a change. I'm looking forward to a different lifestyle, I won't be travelling around quite as much. No firm plans yet." Chris Louis was speaking to BBC Radio Suffolk's Wayne Bavin

He did say “work was well underway” on the team in the update last week so who knows whether that meant he was working on it, or he knew the potential new owners were working on it. Very much doubt though we’ll see any rider confirmed until the sale has been completed. Still lots of questions unanswered. Are some of the current team (as in the volunteers who helped Chris at the club) staying around in their roles? Or are the new people going to have an awful lot to do and find a new track man, presenter, etc as well as a new team manager? These were all very loyal to Chris Louis as much as Ipswich Speedway.

Terrific, but still, what is the actual problem with doubling up/down?? What damage is caused by, lets say, rider Anaz Shtinks from riding for King's Lynn & Scunthorpe, compared to King's Lynn & Lublin?? What's the difference to British Speedway overall??

Thanks for the link Badge. Well this is quite interesting to me because I was convinced he would be running things on behalf of the new people/person, at least in the short term but that doesn’t seem to be the case. I was also pretty sure he was involved still in putting the team together but reading that I’m not convinced that’s the case either! He really doesn’t seem to want anything to do with the sport anymore which is a surprise I’m sure to many! That stance may change in the future who knows.

So has team building commenced or will we find that out in 2 weeks?

Even riders like Tom Owns and John Jackson were never quite able to bridge the gap between the two leagues.. Hence, they became renowned as "stalwarts" of the NNL.. However, giving the young UK lads the chance to move up with an assurance of still keeping their 2nd tier role, should they not survive at the highest level (in the world at that time), was a sensible idea.. Doubling Down was the biggest problem as it meant established top tier riders dropped down.. Meaning fixed race nights were a must... And spaces that should have been used for development were taken by established riders.. I presume for those riders and promoters it was a win/win given the 2nd tier got HL's subsidised by the top tier, and the top tier promoters got HL's and SS's subsidised by the promoters of the second tier.. With the riders benefitting from both the most.. Unfortunately it has meant any injury to a DU results in two Guests to replace them the next meeting for both his clubs in the two divisions, and two more Guests each time if he doesn't return for several weeks, and, as they could be racing Mon, Wed, Thu, Fri and Sat in the UK alone, it has meant Guest numbers have become out of control, as there simply often is not enough time for them to recuperate before they are needed again.. Also, given the age of most of the 2nd tier HL's who double up, there is a huge hole approaching in the not too distsnt future to be filled when they finish their careers...

You need reporting for stalking my profile every hour 💦 Now go away mug.

Cry more 😂😂😂

Cheerio

Do I witness abuse of profile picture again.You are naughty putting Arthurs photo on yours

Agreed I can remember I think it was Joe Owen who an 11 point man in the old national league being called on by the british league and he struggled at reserve in the top league the gulf back then between top men in division2 and 1 was massive when the likes of Havvy and Andrew Silver moved up it took them a while to get established and they were both super naturally talented riders.

As a professional team sport it’s all wrong signing for two teams while also guesting for other ones. Just dosent look right in my opinion. Imagine Phil foden playing for Man City on a weekend, then playing for Stockport on a Wednesday. Different sport I know, but professional so on the same lines .

He carried on building wheels of all sorts, I had a friend, now deceased, in Rochester Kent and Malc Simmons built all of his classic bike wheels

Doubling-Up was originally set up to allow young brits to gain experience in the higher division/league, while still riding regularly in the lower division/league. That is great as a principle, but it was allowed to get out of control, so that any rider (depending on converted average when doubling-down) could race regularly in both divisions/leagues - so much so that there have even been accusations of senior riders dropping their top division/league average so they they qualified to double-up. If you can't see a problem with any of that, then fair enough - as always, we makes our choices.

depends how you look at it he was the queens son so that makes him a prince cant change that just his big brother decided to drop his title to try keep the snoopers looking in to rest of dodgy goings on in the family