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Regardless of it's one league or two. the sport has to acknowledge, more so the riders. that riding in front of less than a half decent semi pro football team. doesn't warrant them being full time professional Speedway riders. How has speedway got to such a point? Some riders do work, how many I don't know, but a lot of them don't! The older riders like Bomber will find it hard to cope, but lets face it, he's had a good run. But he like a lot of the others will have to cut down on their bikes and all the little extras they ask for and god forbid get a job!. There are too many youngsters who are no where near the standard to be called full time professional Speedway riders. Lets face it, if it weren't for the bank mum and dad they wouldn't be doing it anyway, because the sport has now got so far out of hand. why in the third division even the second division do riders have to have two to three bikes and big Mercedes vans? Go back to the 70/80s 90% of riders in the second division worked. That was when the sport had a lot more tracks, riders and supporters. It's a sad fact that come next season with all the top riders gone, the only option left open will be for riders to go Semi Pro. The sport in GB has to start to cut it's cloth accordingly, or sadly, there won't be league racing as we know it anymore, just amateur racing like over in the Isle of Wight.

Max has more than doubled his average this season. Last season, he averaged about 1.04, which was masked by the league minimum 2.00 GSAs. Now it's 2.35. Freddy's average last year was about 1.52 - now it's 2.70. Earth-shattering? No. But it is measurable progress.

Your problem here is that Poole and Glasgow are run by very successful businessmen who have no interest in losing lots of money just to keep the dying Premiership going. Where would you get the very large sums needed to persuade them to move up from? The Premiership has been living well beyond its means for years and is no longer sustainable. If the top level of British speedway is now to be roughly Championship level so be it, still a lot better than no speedway

The championship is a very huge jump from the NDL, you're riding against some premiership number 1s and riders that have been at the highest level. Max and Freddy last season were struggling for points (Max was even dropped). At the start of this season they'd have had a good meeting if they scored a point outside of heat 2 but now they're scoring 6+ points and really contributing. While they've not suddenly doubled their average like Cairns did I don't think it was really expected they would. They have definitely had a big improvement, Max and Freddy would run laps around their start of season selves, If they just had a bit better consistency and could carry their home form to more away tracks they would make a significant gain on their average but again it's a tough league so they'll need more time to build on that.

And then between themselves and sponsors pay riders the kind of money that they need to pay for, and maintain, those bikes and vans. Money far in excess of what the sports crowd levels and financial income can justify... And all to try and win something that they then systematically destroy the very credibility of due to using a truly ludicrous operating model for a pro sport... Imagine a couple of promoters taking the UK Speedway business plan and operating model to the Dragons Den programme, and asking for investment...? The Dragon's response would resemble those Martians in the Smash adverts of the 70's...

A league without Doyle, Sayfutdinov, Kurtz, Bewley, Fricke, Holder, etc can only be poorer for their absence. Ipswich have always had a decent fan base, but I am certain that attendances in the Doyle/Sayfutdinov era have been markedly better than before their arrival. I would also wager that they have put some additional bums on seats at away tracks as well. Dumb it down at your peril.

Maybe British speedway can exist without these riders and focus on the ones that want to race in Britain as a priority? This opens up opportunities for young riders to establish themselves and clubs become more stable as they don't live beyond their means by paying riders who don't see Britain as a priority.

There is radical change next year, heard this from the horses mouth so to speak but they are keeping it top secret,they are not telling anyone outside of the bspl or whatever they are called these days,whatever that means I don’t know but after I heard this and being made to wait it better be worth it, we can’t afford it to be a change of helmet colour

That last paragraph is a great point. Part of what makes pre-season so interesting. For the comments saying Glasgow should have gone with a stronger reserve, I've not seen any suggestions of which top rider they should have gone without to fit a better reserve in.

I actually have a feeling that there will still be the status quo in 2026. I feel like the introduction of Redknapp at this specific time when rumours are rife are perfectly (and intentionally) timed. Think of it like this: Harry Redknapp joins a team specifically built to re-build and improve the profile of Modern British speedway. His influence brings in much bigger/high profile league sponsers to the premiership, bringing in much more capital than we've seen in a long while. I very much doubt a championship team would turn down that kind of income/exposure. I can see 7 teams running 7 man teams in both leagues in 2026. Glasgow have previously said they'll never step up unless it's financially viable for them. With big sponsors involved, I can see them pulling the trigger. We then only need 2 more teams to join in to make this happen. Personally I can see Plymouth and potentially Redcar joining in as well.

It's a sad state of affairs when two riders on 2 plus averages have impressed you. I'm not being disparaging in any shape or form. It just shows how far the standard has dropped. I dread to think how low the standard will be next season. I would imagine the two riders you have mentioned, at least one of them will be in the 1-5. That will be replicated across the whole league. So the dilution will just keep on diluting until it can't get any weaker. Yet one things for certain, the price of admission won't being going down to reflect the lower standard of the sport!!

Nobody wants the stars out of speedway including me but we don’t have the money to carry on doing the same thing, they should get the promotion from each team ,get round the table with the top boys and say here is the pot we have which isn’t enough to carry on doing the same how do you propose we go forward ? And let’s here it from the top riders

Take out the big name riders and British Speedway won't exist in 2027, The promoters would get 1 dreadful year out of it and that's it. Barely anyone will fork out £20+ for a ticket, Couple of quid for a Programme, Couple of quid for Parking and a few quid for food and drink to see a watered down product that'll mostly feature NDL riders and journeyman. Do we trust the Promoters to listen? Absolutely NOT! They never listen and that's why British Speedway is in it's current state.

The Bears operated Ryder replacement, of course it’s true.

Well it’s true he works at a golf club in Thirsk and had work that specific day, he tried to swap his shifts to have the Sunday off but wasn’t able too as other staff had already booked the day off for the Ryder cup. I don’t see why he would lie about something like that 🤣 if he was available he would of guested as it’s extra money

While you do make fair points about the play-offs. This year in the Prem, the top 4 clubs were known for a long time, have they been racing to lower crowds half the season with people waiting for the play-offs to start. The Ipswich vs Sheffield matches had nothing riding on them, if they were for the title would've got mammoth crowds. For Speedway to be successful we want the Glasgow crowds you mentioned at every match, how do we convince fans that every match deserves their attendance not just play-offs? If every match had a "play-off crowd", there would be no need for them! Obviously I'm in a minority but if Redcar & Poole meet in 3 finals, why will they get bigger crowds in one over the others? Same 14 riders (unless using guests), same tracks, same rules, only difference is the name of the competition!

Absolutely, I’ve been saying the same thing all along. You pointed out the realistic and probable outcome to this one big league. it will be padded with NL riders completely out their depths and an horrifically imbalanced team set up. Do whatever it takes to get Poole and Glasgow to move up and drop same race nights if required. Top flight racing is a must if we want UK racing to survive.

Don’t think race night was Poole’s only reason for dropping down Finance had a lot too do with it .IMO

You say that, but on the other hand the riders you are talking about it all depends if they are riding in Sweden as well as Poland. If they are then I agree with you, but the ones who only ride in Poland imo, are not going to jack in British speedway and rely on Polish Speedway as their only form of income. As we all know it's a different animal out there as proved today. Brennan won his first race came last in his second and that was that. They are very fickle with riders and if they don't perform then they soon get dropped. The riders we are talking about need a safe back up and British Speedway is that and will imo continue. Only the top riders who you mention will not be riding here.

Let's hope they deliver.. A truly unique adrenaline fuelled sport that can deliver a great night out... Undermined by a dreadful operating model infrastructure... Will they ever realise this holds them back? Let's hope they finally, do..

Redcar are a better team, they deserved it. Edwards tried to give it away but King and Wright were on fire.

What were the Edinburgh Riders and Management doing to miss that? With riders, mechanics and management, there must have been at least 20 people who missed something happening in plain sight. How did those pesky Glaswegians hide it from them all?

And neither can a premier league with potentially four teams

Absolutely spot on. I found the Speedway Star recent edition which claimed something like "70% of fans want one big league" to be totally irresponsible. It seemed to be 70% of people responding to a dishonest question The question they were responding to was "Would you support one big league if it had 14 strong teams with good quality riders, and equally competitive teams?" But get that thought out of your head. A "yes" answer to that question is irrelevant. That's not an option. One big league, running on any racenight, would automatically rule out anyone who races in the Polish leagues. Gone would be: Max Fricke, Jack Holder, Brady Kurtz, Dan Bewley, Emil Sayfutdinov, Jaimon Lidsey, Josh Pickering, Ryan Douglas, Jason Doyle, Michael Jepsen-Jensen, Chris Holder, Tom Brennan, Luke Becker, Jan Kvech, Tobias Musielak, Nicolai Klindt, Matej Zagar, Keynan Rew, Ben Cook, Maciej Janowski, Rohan Tungate, Norick Blodorn, Francis Gusts. So that's 23 riders gone from Britain. So what will the Premiership bring to a new combined league? JUST ADAM ELLIS ! Every other rider who ride in the Premiership in 2025 (apart from Adam Ellis) doubled up into the Championship. We can't count them twice. So, the 5 teams joining the "One Big League" (Belle Vue, King's Lynn, Ipswich, Leicester, Sheffield) are bringing Adam Ellis to the party, but they need 5 x 7 = 35 riders. So these big 5 need to take 34 of the doubling up riders.... The remaining 9 championship clubs need 9 x 7 = 63 riders..... but 34 of them are not availsble because they can no longer double up. So suddenly we need a further 34 riders. Where are they coming from? We could look to the National League, but many of the NDL riders already double-up into the Championship, others are still only 15 years old, so even if we take every NDL rider right down to the lowest 3.00 newcomer, we still can't get close to filling 14 "One Big League" teams. Then of course, with no one able to double up, will riders be happy to have their income reduced by so much? Or will they quit the sport? What happens when someone gets injured? Where will replacement riders come from? ONE BIG LEAGUE CANNOT POSSIBLY WORK.

In all honesty, we should be thankful it's Poland who's calling the shots. What did we actually manage in the late 90s/00s when GB was in control? Everything Poland has now should've been GB, with the Sky deal, the top riders, the money, etc., etc. We ended up with green helmet covers, pissing money up the wall on one rider, and zero investment in fundamental parts of the sport.

The standard will have to drop sadly. Through necessity rather than desire. Britain isn’t producing as many riders as it used to and that next tier below the elite names isn’t as good as it was 10-20 years ago. There are still enough riders to fill teams, they’re just not as good as they used to be. The way the sport has been run is to blame for that. A big part of which has been doubling up. It is a massive stain on the credibility of the sport.

I'm told Artem Laguta is in.

Hindsight is wonderful but Glasgow should have stuck by Ace Pjiper.IMO

You would like to think so unfortunately that’s not how either riders or promotors think, when you’re in the sport you are blinkered to the good of the sport, you are sort of carried along with it, it’s not till you step away from the sport you become aware that we are literally peeing money up the wall, I’ve tried to point out recently which the speedway star actually picked up on that we are actually going no faster than 40 years ago but spending £1000s to achieve it, riders just don’t want to hear it or believe it, they are just chasing the next pay check and the tuners and promoters are just feeding their desires

Are you at a zoo

I doubt if Harry Redknapp knows enough about speedway to bring in new major sponsors so your comments are just speculation. Glasgow is owned by very successful businessmen who I can't see risking their future by joining the premiership until it would be viable for them. Again, why would Recar or Plymouth want to take the same risk? If this did happen, the Championship, as the most viable current league, would be so depleted it would be no better off than the current Premiership

Why not ? if you believe half the crap that’s posted on this forum then you got to believe one of the genuine posts !

Time will tell but I think you are showing ostrich tendencies on this one

I totally agree with the general point you're making, and there are far too many who think a Championship team place or higher = made it, but having said that, what jobs are we expecting riders to get? The world is a very different place to 30 years ago, it's hard for young people to get any job now, let alone one that'll be flexible enough to let them fulfill a full speedway calendar. The clubs do need to take a stance and call the riders' bluff to some extent, and make them realise it's either take it or don't ride speedway. The tail cannot wag the dog. However, it's very difficult to see how that would actually work in the current climate. I wish I had the answers.

The full article indicates he had several offers in DK but Varde fitted in well with his other commitments in Europe next season. In Varde's own release directly below Bailey's it stated that he is also expected to sign a contract in POL for 2026. Suppose the question may be whether he will even do the UK with other Continental Meetings such as SGP2 qualifiers etc. Hope he does follow the well trodden path of UK as so many of his compatriots have. Doesn't bode well for Poole I suppose considering we have no idea of next season League structure or fixture list. That's assuming they were even considering him of course. Can still hope of course as he is one very bright and exciting talent.

Yes I’m not a fan either but the sport needs villains

Just watching replay of Bydgoszcz v Gorsow ... Huckenbeck did deserve to go in heat 7.... Brennan must feel aggrieved. Overtakes Thomsen to win his first ride, then trails in behind Vaculik & Lebedevs then his afternoon is over.

The rev limiter was set higher than the engine actually revs during a race, that’s what you get when you ask a turkey to vote for Xmas or an engine tuner for a solution

Roberto lamberto singing the polish national anthem

How did Oxford lose, I thought having the second leg at home was an advantage?

14 teams without doubling up cannot operate in the uk unless you have two leagues. One league without doubling up cannot be more than 8 teams (max) and then if some additional foreign riders can be attracted to ride in the Uk - it’s not an opinion it’s just the sum of the math & available race nights.

You can pay on card for refreshments in stadium at Bydgoszcz... can't imagine you wouldn't be able to at Torun.

I’ve been waiting on a Glasgow fan reacting to this post but it might land better from one of us. You have obviously never seen the lad when fit. He was superb the last 2 times we were at Glasgow and he most certainly has a huge future in Speedway

Clearly from someone who has no clue about Poland 😂 immigration they are better than us in, road networks, policing their streets. I would feel safer living in Poland than in England, unfortunately some chose to leave the EU so now we are locked in the country with 3rd world citizens 😁 instead of locking them out of our country.

What a week I've had. At Leicester on Monday. The Lions get my support while I wait for Brandon to reopen. And watching them claw their way back to win by 90-89 was sensational. The tension waiting for heat 15 to start was palpable. The feeling waiting for the rerun to start after the Tigers had made the start first time round was almost unbearable. And for Max to fly off gate 4 to seal the deal was truly memorable (apologies to all my Yorkshire pals). Then to sit down and watch Glasgow Edinburgh on BSN last night was another treat. A hard fought meeting which either side could have won. But to achieve a 10 point swing in 3 heats is hard to argue with. So any lingering doubts that the play offs are a good idea have been banished, from my mind at least. P.S. The delight continues. I saw Dougy win his testimonial tonight and I'm off to Torun on Tuesday to see GB win the SON (I can dream).

I understand some people have very strong opinions on play offs but I think without them our sport would be even less interesting to many people, they provide drama and no doubt a very important stream of income for a lot of teams. I went up to Glasgow last night as a neutral purely and simply on the basis of it being in the balance and with the hope of a dramatic meeting which was delivered in droves going all the way down to a last heat decider. The place was absolutely packed, programmes sold out by the time I arrived, I’m sorry but if you remove the play offs you lose all that. Those that say that more people might attend league meetings if it counts more towards a league title may be discounting the fact that teams on the edge of the play off bubble these days may lose crowds because by August they’d be out of the title race and nothing to play for, with this system most teams have something to race for for most of the season.

Sheffield lost the league championship the moment they didn't score enough points at Leicester on Monday. End of story. integrity /ɪnˈtɛɡrɪti/ noun - 1.the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles. Seven Premiership teams signed up to ride this season, each of them knowing that a play-off would decide the league winner. It wouldn't seem very "honest" or "moral" to me that Sheffield be crowned champions despite losing in the play-offs. In fact, I'd say that's...the opposite.

It goes without saying but these need to be opposed, as long as the abbey Stadium is not redeveloped there is chance speedway could return to Swindon. Its the only leverage over Clarke Osbourne, can't give him permission for new houses until the new stadium is built or he will find an excuse not to build it.

Ace rode brilliant on the night and has ben the last few weeks. To get his confidence back up to the level it is has been very much a work in progress type of situation. Its still on going but we are certainly getting there. Jody had passed Nagel in Heat 6 on the line and then been all over the back of Dan Thompson in heat 9. I did deliberate over the change in heat 12 but decided in my mind that Jody was very capable of beating Perry or Hodder and deserved another go at Thompson. I agree Ace deserved more rides but I didn't feel anyone warranted being taken out of a ride. Tate led heat 14 with Ace until a mistake out of bend 4 saw him nearly run into the back of Ace and ultimately cost him 3rd place when Hodder past him. If that hadn't happened Im pretty sure they would have gotten the 3-3 that looked on the cards. Hindsight is a wonderful thing and afterwards its easy to say I should have done this or should have done that, however its a big balancing act about juggling with riders confidence while getting what I feel is the best results for the team. Hope that answers your questions Gav

Thanks for the insight. I still don't think it's a valid comparison to speedway though regarding admission cost. The stock car meetings at Foxhall always seem packed, they charge for parking as well plus they get the catering/bar income. Profits for these meetings I think will be way in excess of what speedway could make. Do you know if the admission cost for meetings with lower formulas is significantly lower? For speedway I'd estimate outgoings for each meeting to be around 25-26k, not adding in any profit margin. They have to recoup this of course but I'd expect stock car outgoings to be lower. Overall, I think the entry price for speedway is ok in the Premiership. Blimey, I paid £19 for a fish and chips meal at a pub last week plus £7 for a glass of wine - I'd have rather been at the speedway!