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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.

If Max and Freddy were to continue improving at this rate they will have good careers ahead. Max is steady whereas Freddy can't gate but battles past riders when possible. Too many young Brits have chucked it so don't see what unwarranted criticism achieves here. We finish top of the league and make the play off finals. That's plenty good enough for me thanks.

The split of opinions here is exactly the problem that needs to be solved. One big league (any race night therefore no star names or enough riders but otherwise sustainable). Or A Premiership (Mon & Thursday with star names but not enough teams). As per my previous post I think you can have both. But the Premiership needs to be slimmed down. 8 teams 7 home and 7 away. Get it all done over June and July when the sports channels have no football. Like The Hundred in cricket. Give the broadcaster something they can focus on and market to a wider audience for a shorter period. That probably provides enough fixtures for the star riders and promoters, especially if whatever TV money is for a small number fixtures. Less is more. But not for the domestic riders or maybe the stadium owners or supporters The solution, Premiership teams also operate a 2nd tier team. Alongside the other current 2nd tier teams ie 14 team league. Where the riders come from at this point I don't know so maybe 6 or even 5 man teams initially. You could even have a different promoter running the 2nd Tier team. Yes the 2nd tier teams might not attract the same attendances as the Premiership fixtures but the operating cost will be lower without the star riders. It's basically the franchise cricket model where the top stars move around the globe to play in different leagues for different franchises supplemented by local players who return to domestic leagues once the circus has moved to the next (town) country.

That may well be the case but until the sport sorts itself out those sponsors are few and far between and it’s not the fault of any one promotion, it’s the fault of the collective, the sport itself doesn’t know what it is or where it’s going, and if speedway doesn’t know how do you expect anyone else to ?

If they payed him!!

Are you at a zoo

Just hope the Rolling Stones can join the status quo. Ticket sales will go through the roof.

To make the racing closer, you want the gap between the top & bottom riders to be lessened. There will always be new inexperienced NL riders stepping up, but if the league on the whole was weaker, shouldn't be such a task for them to achieve the minimum 2.00 average. I'm sure no fans of these riders at their clubs would want to lose them, but if he likes of Lawson, Masters & Harris can race in the Prem as heat leaders, should they really be in the second tier? If we can get to the stage where Prem heat leaders / top second strings race, Prem & Poland / Sweden only, then lesser Prem riders double up in the Champ, there would a lot less guests needed in the Champ, a lot less hassle rearranging fixtures around foreign matches, a lot more youngsters realising a Champ place is a bigger possibility. Riders won't like it, some fans won't like it, maybe the likes of Poole & Glasgow would step up rather than run a Champ at second string & reserve standard (I've no issue with that). But something needs to be done to secure the future of the sport, carrying on as it is now, obviously isn't working.

It’s always the same with tracks falling foul to property developments.

What will 2026 UK speedway bring? A Headache

His brother has had his moments but always seems a decent enough bloke tbf. Agree with you re. Jack though.

Ipswich Leicester Belle Vue Sheffield Kings Lynn Poole with special agreement to be able to run Wednesday nights Thats would be my feeling of a Premiership next season

He is class on the bike and very stylish.But that’s where it ends for me .

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

If you make moronic comments then that makes you a moron. Don’t think any Glasgow fans replied to the Poole fan who made the comment as they probably didn’t want to engage with a moron.

One big league will rule out all the 'big boys' and also a significant number in the level below It won't just be Doyle Kurtz Sayfutdinov Bewley Fricke. It will also be the likes of Becker Pickering Brennan Ellis and even Bloedorn etc None of those will go with a UK slot ahead of Poland - I'd estimate ruling out 20-25 riders So when it's said let's have 12-14 teams 2h 2a so the loss of doubling up is negated that won't happen That 12-14 teams in reality will be 9-10 max with riders available even with those aging British non world riders as the new No1s and the current RS standard riders as heat leader It would also need a sizeable number of NDL/MDL commuting to full time racing meaning the gulf from top to bottom is still as huge as today but at a much much lower standard Charge £20 plus for that and it's a case of last one out please turn off the lights

Afternoon Nigel..

Congratulations Oxford Chargers!

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.

The whole system isnt fit for purpose Dean... Promoters will spend literally hundreds of thousands on riders, whose names will resonate hardly one iota locally with anyone outside the Speedway bubble. . Yet hardly anything in comparison to their riders on marketing locally which may bring fans in.. Simon Lambert? Robert Lambert? To the vast majority of the country, neither are known... They then also seriously undermine their own competitions with a series of self inficted, completely foreseeable issues, which often then result in some contrived, Mickey Mouse solution, which does nothing but further alienate an ever growing number of a frustrated fanbase . Self undermined competitions by the way that they then pay out huge money (in relation to the sports level of following) to try and win!! At the very peak of the sports success, only the very top riders had the financial packages to be fully pro... Now even some NDL riders see themselves as pro Speedway riders .. A ludicrous operating and business model has been allowed to grow unchecked for decades . However its probably too late now to reign it in and control it collectively I would imagine... As there will always be at least one promoter who will spend big to satisfy their longing for a trophy that their very own organisation does it's level best to devalue.

Boughen's starting average was over 3 points above Perry's. So for Boughen to start at reserve, would have meant replacing Harris with a 6 point rider (roughly guessing averages). Any alternative for another top 5 rider would have been starting at reserve, not Boughen. Naturally fans will want to improve on a weak part of the team, Monarchs fans want a stronger top end (but that means no Grahn at reserve) but with a low points limit, it's not easy to do.

Used to love Ipswich coming to visit. The battles between Kenny and Sigalos and Billy Sanders live long in the memory. Great times.

I love this cute notion that there's such a thing as 'TV money'!

It’s down to having a legitimate competition that captures the imagination. This then starts to build crowds that then starts to build atmosphere & then it self builds as people talk & want to get involved.