Leaderboard

British Speedway has two options. A) make sure it is the one other league that riders choose or B ) strike out on its own. Remove the fixed race day and rebuild its own product. Short term the big names will stay in Poland but if we focus on developing our own riders in the long term we won’t be as reliant on Poland propping the sport up as it apparently (according to Poland) does right now. The bubble could always burst in Poland. It did here after all. It is in our best interests to have our own sustainable model here in the event of that happening.

I'll play devil's advocate As you and your team have no interest in being a part of it what the f@c£ has your opinion got to do with it

According to one promoter... "The No 1's".... Who all then pretty much effed off to Poland and Sweden as soon as the UK gravy train ended for them.. Personally I wasnt ever convinced bringing "the top stars" back a few years ago was going to be a "Golden Ticket" given the fact that when pretty much every single top rider (maybe apart from Tomaz Gollob), rode over here week in, week out, during the "Sky years", the crowds didn't grow, in fact, they kept declining overall... Which suggested the "top names" were not deal breakers as to whether fans were attending or not... Plymouth is a perfect example of where "the cast of the production" hasn't changed, yet the number of people now watching them has increased considerably, just by changing their "opening hours", which are now obviously more aligned to people's leisure time...

Fantastic interview with Gerry Facenna in the (ever excellent), Speedway Star... He mentions how successful the "Trust The Fans" mechanic has been in driving up crowds... Many years ago I mentioned to a promoter the very same idea of letting his fans bring someone in for free for three matches to see if they could be enticed to keep attending, with my rationale being "these people are not there now", so "no loss".... Never mind spitting his tea out, he nearly spit his dentures out!!!! His answer was "some will just take the p**s and come in for nothing"... I said that that was obviously a distinct possibility but if you explained it well enough, given the loyalty of Speedway fans, not that many would, and the possible long term rewards far outweighed any short term risk... It didn't happen and his crowds continued to drop....... Nice to see some promoters actually promoting... Best of luck to Glasgow...

Massive thanks go out to Emil Sayfutdinov for 3 loyal years of service to British Speedway and the Ipswich Witches. Never took the pish out of our League and he always turned up and gave it 100%, Off the track Emil spent a lot of time with fans posing for selfie's, signing autographs and having a chat and he always done it with a smile on his face. Emil wen't out on the highest of highs by helping Ipswich finally lift the trophy they've always waited for. I wish Emil all the best for the rest of his career and hopefully one day we'll see him back where he belongs and that's in the GP's again.

Couple photos from today, weather was awful! No Emil, Ellis or Brennan. Nice event though! 🏆

Sounds like the type of things British promoters would have said back in the 70's and early 80's and look at us now. Back then we were the Speedway powerhouse with everybody else struggling to get a look in. We didn't like it when all these World Championship qualifiers were being held in the back of beyond and the arse end of nowheresville. Poland are in effect killing the rest of the sport worldwide with riders being attracted to the ludicrous amounts of money on offer like moths to the flame (or flies to the 💩). It's down to the FIM to keep them in check but they seem to have little interest in Speedway other than the SGP series.

Bringing gambling to speedway is another way to dilute Joe Publics interest in the sport. Currently it is in the main an honest and dedicated sport. Put bets on races and I see countless engine failures, or tape exclusions, 2 mins exclusions etc. etc. Please no gambling for speedway.

No complaints with a two league (+NDL) structure in theory. I’d personally prefer one league but can see the reasons why two should remain (not enough riders is an absolute myth though). However, if it’s true that the Premiership is only consisting of 5 teams next season, then what is the point? In all seriousness. What is the point? It would be the same opposition 3/4 times and I’m assuming it would just be a Grand Final? As play offs with 4 of the 5 making them would be a disgrace. A 5 team league surely can’t be allowed, would make the sport even more of an embarrassment to the general public than it already is. 6 is barely acceptable, but 5 would be a complete joke

If Jack Holder comes. I promise I’ll support Kings Lynn 😂

The majority went on riders pay. Some of it went to promoters in the form of profits. nothing was spent on developing the sport or the facilities.

I’m with you on this, other than some sort of big deal I can’t see what they going to do that isn’t worse than last year, I have said for a few years maybe the top teams should ask to join the polish extraleague but the poles won’t let that happen so that’s a no go, I was told moths ago that something way different was happening but they wouldn’t say what but heard nothing since but a couple of things I heard recently which I know are true are very troubling but are complete contradictions to what is out there in the public domain and just don’t make sense at all, the bit that really throws the curveball is the Harry Redknapp thing, that man does nothing for nothing, he is on an earner somewhere and speedway on the face of it hasn’t got a pot to piss in so what’s the deal ?

The lads (from both teams) did brilliantly on Sunday, very wet and cold, but the lads got stuck in and produced some good racing. The ref offered to call the match after ht 10, but the lads wanted to finish the meeting, great credit to them. I'm always surprised by the lack of people who go to watch The Tigers in the NDL, more often than not the racing is good. And there's a chance of seeing young riders develop through the ranks.

Fair point and I'm not for one minute saying British Speedway has done a stellar job but comparing British Speedway with Polish Speedway is almost impossible as they are 2 very different things other than 4 riders racing each other over 4 laps. Many of the Polish clubs are riding on land provided to them historically by a socialist/communist government and have been subsidised by local governments ever since, and I'm sure it adds up to a tidy sum. Factor in the differences in land prices, apartment living as opposed to 3 bed detached houses with a garden add in cost of living, salaries etc. The 2 countries and their Speedway are almost beyond comparison.

Unfortunately upright engines are not the answer to any of speedways problems as much as I would love them to be

Couldn't agree more on both points. Personally I think Betting on Speedway would be a disaster. For many years we have marketed ourselves as a family Sport. Bring in Betting, and you will ruin Speedway as we know it. Introduce Betting and the Sport will be tainted with corruption in no time. I want to see Speedway thrive - but not at the price of dirty money. At the moment, as singy13 says it is largely, I believe, an honest Sport - that would all go out of the window if Betting were allowed. Not for me at any price.

It would be interesting to see what would happen if they said, as of tomorrow, everyone rides for the same money as the UK pay out.... The riders would be in meltdown and asking for much more from the UK and Sweden..!!! Imagine the UK promoters reaction then? And it isn't really their fault that the UK and Sweden haven't developed their own leagues and riders.... Both leagues have set race nights, with the Swedes still using the same night they ran on when they got many more punters in the Trick era... And, the UK initially used Monday, Wednesday and Thursday as their TWO nights where they had priority.... .. The fact is both the UK and Sweden have brought in journeymen after journeymen from abroad which took away many hundreds of chances for their own riders to race... Whilst the Poles ensured they developed their own riders by ring fencing positions for them.. I would actually think the Poles may have looked at how the UK has ran the sport since the early 80's and used that as template NOT to follow under any circumstances whatsoever... In fact. Doing exactly the opposite would become their operating model....

You could say that they're in fact bleeding the rest of the Speedway world dry by drawing all the riders away from other leagues, especially with their U24 league and the imposing of riding limitations. The lack of riders in those other leagues leading to a reduction in their crowds. They're doing the test of the Speedway world no favours at all. They certainly weren't subsidising the SoN and some rider wage expectations are certainly not subsidising non Polish Speedway... and don't forget their "World" Champion who rarely leaves his home country 😉

Is this true? so on the 1st of May we could change the temporary 2pointer for Simon lambet.

Maybe someone had a word in his ear beforehand??😉

Shouldn't be any playoffs with 5. Should just be whoever finishes top imo.

The Dean Machine makes a good point.Its on the riders. If they choose to take the chance of riding on Poland for 000s of zloty a point ... they take the risk of not getting paid and/or being instantly dropped if they don't score well. Not sure that Denmark or Sweden offer great paydays compared to the UK either ? For far too long the British promoters have been far too keen to sign up overseas riders in preference to supporting young home grown riders. This is now coming back to bite them on the bum . Already there is talk of signing the latest bunch of youngsters who appeared to show a turn of speed in the SoN. How about the CL limiting the number of overseas riders in each team in 2026 ? ? and using some of the NDL riders instead. Bet you there would be one or two promoters who would object and not agree ?

I think I will give a shout out for Peter Craven. I never saw him ride live, but having watched videos etc. I reckon he had a terrific style.

Take a look at your number 1

Agree can’t see hardly anyone being there to be honest. Strange time when people are at work and seems hastily arranged too. Not enough time for people to even book the day off work as not enough notice given. At least the groups of Romanian’s will be there to see it! Gathered around the cornhill on a daily basis making everyone else feel uncomfortable 🙄

Not entirely but this one does…

I don't think I'd go for Jack Smith, previously defended him as I thought he had a few years barely getting a chance, but after a season at number 7 with his average dropping below 3.00, I'd look elsewhere for a reserve.

But professional sports ARE NOT moving away from gambling sponsorship. Also betting markets for speedway are numerous, well beyond place results. In other words speedway & the betting industry could work well as a partnership. Don’t knock it based on a biased opinion but embrace it as a positive way forward.

What a loss to British Speedway. Such a great rider with an amazing personality. Good luck for the future.

May just have to try 'that little bit extra' in every meeting, as opposed to in the play offs.

My guess is: 1. Bomber 2. Not a Danish Rider 3. Flint 4. Danish Rider 5. Howarth 6. Hagon 7. Hodder

Can see Nick staying and D/UP with the Lions.

Surely it's Michael Tomalin time, if PB come back.

I think Bailey will need to qualify for a visa through Aussie titles other problem is if one gets injured it’s a hard ave to cover

As the sport barely runs 6 months of the year now, 'semi-pro' could mean 6 months pro and 6 months working to fund their semi-pro speedway career. Riders may cry about this but if the sport keeps heading in the direction it is then their speedway career will become an amateur hobby. Everyone needs to wake up and realise this. Unnecessary costs must also be cut so that riders and clubs have a chance at survival.

The more I think about it the more I don’t know why they don’t run a premiership team out of Buxton, the rent is cheap enough and with the right promotion I would think they could get around 700 crowd, maybe if it was run as Wolverhampton then more than 700 is possible? it’s sounds ridiculous but no more ridiculous than some of the ideas I hear being banded around at the moment, it doesn’t have lights at the moment but that surely isn’t an unclimbable hill

Good name for a speedway rider. Hope his bikes dont go Bang(s) Hugh Skidmore was the most appropriately named.

Balance of youth and experience in the team... Simon Lambert confirmed 🤣🤣

This is exactly it. Plymouth are 99.9% of the time competitive at home. As people state there are a limited amount of people left that go to the speedway purely because they love and study the sport. But people go because there is a great vibe currently at Plymouth, everyone is welcome, the production that is produced is aimed at getting people to come back, the kids get involved, the promotion are forward thinking, it’s all more than just 15 minutes of racing. on top of that the track has been really good and the new potential plans for the track of the winter is only going to enhance the racing further. and as said above the fact the Scott Nicholls is prepared to return must mean Plymouth are doing something right. I think Plymouth will have a strong team next year that should compete for trophies and it would be nothing less than mark and co deserve.

This is the crux of the problem. Imagine being a speedway rider in this day an age asking for a job somewhere? "I can't work nights, most weekends, ideally not much during the summer either. Oh, and I might be off sick for a while if I crash and get injured" "When can you start?"

Licences have not yet been issued. Today's confirmation from Gorzów was that they'd found the way to repay their debts, which they had to confirm before the licensing process begins. Look at the latest post on the club's FB page, that explains it pretty clearly.

More likely 500 fans at £25 as VAT needs to be deducted. That said, a good portion of the two riders “pay” is met by sponsorship rather than gate receipts.

You can understand if the teams with "top level riders" are reluctant to part with them... Their rents won't drop yet their admission costs will need to, to reflect the significant drop in standard of the riders on view, and crowds wont increase to cover the reduction in admission charge, riders costs may drop but would crowds match the ones delivered with the top riders there? Sponsors also may only want to be involved with the "top riders" and could either pull their money completely or reduce it due to, again, the drop in levels.. So many teams need so many different scenarios... A proper self inflicted cluster eff...

TBH I'm surprised more clubs haven't adopted & adapted 'the Oxford model" of operating 2 or more teams out of the one track. Like, keep essentially the same riders in each team, e.g. from Championship to Premiership level, swap out say a reserve / 2nd string & add GP level rider. So regular speedway each week, watching the same riders with no "he rides for your track one week, against you the next week in a different team"....

Have to chuckle sometimes, how much longer are King's Lynn fans going to keep making excuses that "Strength in Depth" is the right way 🤣 The only time it's ever worked is when the big guns are restricted/banned/leave. If the big guns are back for 2026, King's Lynn will be, yet again, Premiership Deadingtons.

I think the complete opposite, to me he's at the stage of his career, when he's got to decide if it's time to leave the Champ behind & just do Prem with Poland (& Sweden)? This year his average would've made him a number one at Berwick, Edinburgh, Plymouth, Scunthorpe & Workington! If he stays in the Champ, I've no doubt he'll average above 9 & be one of the top riders in the league.

Second nature to Lynn fans 😂

1. Lambert 7. Rushen for starters

It probably will with Mr Roger’s involvement