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Who are these Northampton fans that would go to Leicester or even Oxford ? They don’t exist, what’s the point of having a new team that doesn’t have any fans or a track or any history of fans that would still be alive, inventing a team and expecting fans that don’t exist to attend a track miles away from the town it’s supposed to represent is stuff of the matrix

There was a match presented to the paying public last week at Leicester. It was a double header Leicester vs Belle Vue in the NDL followed by Leicester vs Kent in the NDT. In the first match Leicester tracked 2 guests and R/R, Belle Vue 1 guest and R/R In the second match Leicester tracked 5 guests 1 of which didn't start and Kent R/R In the second match Leicester tracked 3 riders who were riding for Belle Vue in the first match. In the second match Kent tracked 1 rider who was riding for Belle Vue in the first match. The 2nd match was scheduled to start at 20:30 but didn't start until after 21:00 and the 2nd match was abandoned after heat 14 due to the curfew. I was toying with the idea of attending this as my last match of the season as it's a long close season. I asked Leicester Speedway a simple question on TwitterX of how much the admission price was only to get no reply... so I didn't bother. Everything that is wrong with British Speedway encapsulated in 1 night! And the powers that be are proposing business as usual as the cure... the sport is finished!

I'm beginning to realise that the "radical" change that has been mooted for next season is in fact no change... and that, when you think about it, is quite radical for a sport in a terminal decline!

Extenuating circumstances that night though Iain... So let's be fair... That FIFTH Leicester guest in the 2nd meeting was unavoidable.... Sadly, it was time to stop taking UK Speedway seriously as a "proper" team sport, about two decades ago.... The GP's and other FIM competitions started to grow, and maintaining your place in a Polish team started to take up many rider's focus and priority... This resulted in guestfest after guestfest, particularly at weekends, as riders pursued their own individual ambitions... With these riders usually being the "big names" and the largest beneficiaries of "the Sky money"... UK promoters, knowing these riders would be missing, still insisted on putting out League racing though... I remember one night at Lakeside, the Aces went there with four guests (Arena track ringers) and RR due to a national championship, and GP qualifiers, taking place around Europe... I was staying in Canary Wharf that weekend and would have gone until I saw the line up... You simply couldn't then, nor (particularly in the internet age), even more so now, take team speedway seriously in the UK... Which is a shame as the raw product is still very sellable.... But, only if the infrastructure underpinning it made more sense, and had more credibility and jeopardy... They desperately need a "Big Sponsor" to ensure a "Big Prize Fund" as that naturally will get interest from the wider UK public and media.. However. You have to doubt that ever happening unfortunately given its operating model is so open to ridicule.... What we have, and have had for probably the best part of two decades now, is probably pretty much "all there is", as surely those running the sport must have seen the decline in crowds as easily as the fans who still attend have... But, given not much seems to have changed when radical change was clearly needed, nor even researched as to why so many who still follow the sport, no longer attend, you can only presume all is thought "OK" at the high table and "same old/same old" remains the order of the day... Roll on next March eh?

Zero - being Zero.

I’ve thought exactly this. If you’re going to reinvent a club from the past and stage their meetings elsewhere, why not a more recent and successful club like Coventry? Still wouldn’t be ideal but I’m sure they still have a big enough fan base that would travel to watch the Bees again. At least in the short term. The novelty would inevitably ware off with the travelling but by that time they’d hopefully have made progress in returning to Brandon or another location closer to home. Who on earth local to Northampton, is going to travel miles to watch a team ride there? It’s been an awful long time since Speedway was raced in Northampton so I’d be surprised if many there even know what the sport is!

I agree insanity but I think if there isn’t another team to make it 6 then there isn’t a league at all and that is purely my thoughts

Can’t believe anybody is seriously proposing a ‘ NOMAD ‘ team comprised of riders from other clubs and sponsored by those other clubs. In the words of McEnroe……” you cannot be serious !”

On the other in 22/23 Louis spent all winter chasing Emil when no body gave it a hope in hell of happening! Ended up doing 3 years as a witch. Louis & Ipswich are slighty different to Schroeck & Oxford.

Here is what I think, 1 rider 1 mechanic 1 bike allowed in pits, reduced points money, no gaurentees, any race night , 6 teams with 1 unknown team run by the rest of the league just to make the numbers up, possibly Northampton, 6 riders per team, has to contain at least 3 Brits, 1 rider of 8 average per team, this is not fact or even what I would do but just some ideas

bring back black/yellow helmet cover lol

Had the good fortune to meet an avid Plymouth fan over the weekend he informed that immediiately Scott N arrived the whole team and club seemed to get an incredible lift .In no time at all his merchandise was flying off the shelves and he was being lauded by almost every supporter .His approach to riding ,team mates and the fans meant in his opinion his return for 2026 was crucial even if he may no longer an out and out number 1 at Champ level . It was great to witness this enthusiasm which we don't see a great deal of within our sport these days !

A shame to see Danny leave - almost as much for his off track/mentoring with some of the younger riders. Hope he gets fixed up somewhere. Would love to see if we could build a team to keep Pijper/Scott at reserve (if we can entice Scott to stay). Would mean a slightly weaker main body but would always leave us with good reserves.

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"....

Got to start with the reserves I think. Hopefully Pijper & Scott are signed for 2026.

King was a very good team man, excellent with the youngsters , still capable of big scores and a thoroughly nice guy . Sad that he seems to be forced out by a rule that doesn’t appear to have been thought out very well . Hope he gets fixed up quickly, if he hasn’t already been. Whilst Redcar have always shown loyalty to riders… Will the Bears take another gamble on Riss ? Jenkins to come back ? Allen pencilled in ? Might need to find a couple of 2/3 pointers with potential and that won’t be easy.

My understanding was more along the lines of the promotion wanting to operate at the top of the top table. The first season was a reasonable success with a Saturday race night. Season two with the fixed race night was a big problem and the money ran out (I believe). Second tier speedway with a Saturday race night was ideal for Rye House. It was almost an unsinkable ship if managed correctly. For one reason or another it wasn’t, but the sport’s governing body should have seen it for what it was, a rare example of a club that owned its site and had no restrictions. That was worth saving for the benefit of the entire sport at almost any cost.

I'll be absolutely gobsmacked if its not 36 for the top five. We shall see.

After Jordan Jenkins announced he's not riding for Oxford next season could be better worth a go at Scunthorpe always seems to score massively when riding against the Scorpions. (9+1 from 5 and 13 from 5 on last couple of visits at number 5) His injury record isn't the best but it's somebody different other then the usual Scunthorpe go with.

Taking Laguta's spot. Before that it was 2018/2019, again being Lambert. Previously to that it was Iversen. The issue with King's Lynn is always financial. Strength in depth on the cheap & when we've gone with 'real' No1s the rest of the team is bargain bin finds. The JC years are the only time the club has been genuinely competitive. Next season, King's Lynn need a genuine No1 & to hold on to Kvech & Cook as a top 3.

Not enough for me. Like it how it used to be one a week

Its difficult isn't it Mike I do feel bad putting the boot into promoters when you have the likes of Tolley doing six figures plus, but running on Mon,Tues or Wed you are on a hiding to nothing before you begin in my opinion, I keep harping on about it but Plymouth are showing what can be done when you run on a night that the public not the riders want. Appreciate the flip side is if you took this approach in the prem currently you might as well close down as half the riders wouldn't ride here but longer term I do think stripping back to riders committed to UK starting at Championship standard and trying to build back up is the way to go. At the current rate I can't see the top league lasting more than another 2-3 years particularly if no tv deals means weaker teams and higher prices , meeting same team 3-4 times at home per season rinse and repeat.

Can you imagine explaining that to a newcomer

As we are all keen avid speedway fans and use this forum to have fun with other fans from around the tracks, my concern like many others is the potential drop off of the sport in the UK. It has always been the case that fingers are pointed at the things that dont help the sport by the powers that be whilst the sport in this country is being left to diminish to the point clubs will disappear once their owners one by one walk away. Its about time fans are listened to as barely any clubs are financially stable and all that seems to happen each AGM is rulings/stipulations to further detract from the wonderful spectacle speedway is by further adding penalities to a failing sport. The biggest concern for me are the cost of riders which seems to be driven by the cost of parts and the requirement for it to be used as a professional revenue and the subsequent lack of fans which maybe down to various blaize approaches over the past 20 years has created a disconnect for fans on the perifory. We need to act now to give the sport in this country a chance of survival. Fans deserve to have a voice and be heard on the top table as without fans only vast individual sponsors will float any club.

That’s why I don’t like the 1 eight point rider rule per team. As long as each team sticks to the team average that’s fine in my books

Another rider who I'd target if No TV deal happens is........Scott Nicholls. Last Premiership GSA was 5.69 (5.55 after 2.5% Reduction) and he'd score bucket loads around Foxhall @ No.2 imo.

Congratulations to Marky_Mark who is this year’s winner! His team was Scott, Simpson, Foord, McGurk, Hodder, Summers & Rushen. A few people got caught out by picking a rider who averaged lower for 1 club than another, like Rushen at KL compared to Leicester. However not picking Rushen at all was a huge mistake. Only 3 people picked Simpson who doubled his average and only 1 person picked Etherington who also doubled his average 1. Marky_Mark 60.86 2. Szkocjasid 57.03 3. Millersfan444 56.14 4. Islander15 55.23 5. Secsy1 52.62 6. Paul Johnson 52.38 7. Speedwayfan8 52.33 8. RS50 51.08 9. Pottering Around 49.80 10. DJC 49.08 11. Dukes 47.00 12. Bluenose 46.43 13. Technik 43.72 14. Scunny Dan 43.18

Insanity has got the sport in the trouble it is in.

Development League or not it can’t be run in a shambolic way that it was.

Just another track that got bigger crowds at weekend when the majority of the country has its leisure time... Regardless of who turned up to race....

Just an observation but my experience of Rye House from the early days of the open licence and the Ace of Hearts to the time that the Rockets moved from Rayleigh to Rye House (and many a rockets fan took the coach from the Weir), RH was a weekend track and Saturday, Sunday and the odd Bank holiday Monday but no way should it ever have been run as a week day track. It a great venture and a shame that it has been lost to the sport.

I can't see the logic in running a prem team at an existing club under a different name, it just strikes me as more desperation to get the numbers up in the top league, I just hope whoever is taking this on has uber deep pockets as sadly I fear they are going to need bucket loads of cash to burn, would love to be proved wrong and its a success.

I was trying to hold out a slim bit of hope White Knight.

Yep still posts in banditoos thread now and again

Certainly sounds like the input of Mr B Bishop is certainly having a positive effect.....

Thanks to Islander15 for doing this. Would anyone fancy doing this next year for the other leagues as well?

You never know. I think Poole in top flight

Expectation levels by both riders and fans is the root of all the existing problems. Riders are asking ridiculous pay scales, making many of them unemployable even though they are the ones putting life and limbs at risk every time they ride. Fans are more often than not, expected to pay through the nose for sometimes second rate presented meetings and short entertainment value at embarrassingly long drawn out meetings. Forget league structure for a minute and take a long hard look at the factors above. Potentially a rider salary cap and a feasable entry fee at all tracks in each respective league.

Bailey got a visa yet?

He'd be one of the first names on the team sheet for me on a 5.25 tbh. With a rumoured 36.00 Limit, Teams have to find track specialists on GSA's between 5.00 & 5.50 imo especially if they want to have a strong No.1/No.5 combo.

People need to stop seeing TV coverage as a tool to promote the sport. If that’s the aim then the promoters should take out some prime time advertising on television. The days of flicking through the channels and stumbling upon something are long gone. There are too many channels and streaming options. Television companies aren’t going to give out a deal to help push speedway to the masses. They want something that is established and will bring eyes to their channel. The promoters need to make the sport an attractive proposition for a broadcaster to take an interest not expect a TV deal and for that TV deal to suddenly attract fans through the gates of tracks.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but maybe teams should have invested all of the money into the stadiums/land/facilities and then used the increased revenue on riders, rather than just going straight for the riders. This would also have prevented a lot of the issues we are having now of teams be kicked out of their stadiums or being priced out due to the increased price of land and shrinking revenues

Northampton Nohopers?

Whether you agree with it or not, on what ever grounds, betting is a huge opportunity, Just need to push the ethical betting button. Lobby to get greyhound racing banned on the basis of animal rights, plenty of evidence to support that. Low and behold huge gap in the betting market and lot's a new/returning venues 😉 I'm not a gambler myself but it's a huge part of culture within affluent males. I suspect you'd have to go all in with the bookmakers (i,e, let them dictate what they want) and that might not necessarily be league racing but hey if it brings sufficient funds into the sport.... The sport is made for betting... ...even to the point of having lengthy gaps between the action to allow for more betting. It's not like the sport has many more throws of the dice...

I think Max Perry has scored more points at berwick than most away reserves

Wish the Bandits a successful season in 2026.

Presumably the championship are trying to address the issue that has now blighted the Premiership where the outcome of the league is clear before a race is run If it spreads the better riders throughout the league and stops the top 3 or 4 from signing effectively 2 number 1's then I'm in favour

None. The largest range they've ever worked to in recent years is a 3yr plan. At that, in the main, they've folded after a season. The issue is always the 'self importance' of the promoters. Their minds can't see past 12 months. Their interest is not about the sport overall, but only the functionality of the club they're running.

They have had almost 30 years of coverage and the fanbase is probably (at best), half what it was 30 years sgo... Promoters have had hundreds of two hour advertisements for their businesses and done nothing to make the sport look "popular" via the optics... I am always impressed the way the directors can focus in on thirty or forty people stood, or sat, together to make it look like a "crowd" is in attendance... Unfortunately, they then have to show the racing using a wider angle and the swathes of empty spaces and seats become clearly evident... When Sky first covered the sport, kids got in for free and they had face painters there, bouncy castles etc, and a "roving camera" that focused on the face painted groups of kids waving and shouting into the camera. This then often led into the adverts, and was the first thing you saw when they came back for the break. Giving the impression I presume that Speedway is great to take your kids to, and "fun".... Nowadays nothing appears to be done to create a "fun" atmosphere when on TV... A 2 hour advert that others in the entertainment industry would kill for and use to create interest. Imagine several restaurants being filmed for two hours, several times a year, with just four people eating in them each time they were on TV? They would ensure the place was packed, even if they all didn't pay!!! Sports that can only half fill their stadiums often close parts down to squeeze the crowd together and use the closed sections for large banner advertising of their sponsors... I always think the NSS, as an example, there are many others, that could benefit from that when on TV, ie fill the grandstand so the camera inside the circuit covering the start makes the place look full, (rather than it looks now due to hardly anyone sitting in the sections at the start of the home straight), and advertise your sponsors on the back straight... Just charge standing prices for one night in the grandstand, and credit the ST holders with any difference. (If they moan about it)... Put simply, Speedway, uniquely when measured against other "niche" sports, hasn't progressed one iota via the huge amount of TV coverage it has had... And you have to question why?.. So not sure what positive difference any other satellite or streaming service would make to it now.. The real issue without the TV coverage will be the lack of the six figure payment that the teams got rather than if it grew the sport or not...

British Pathe News????? 😲