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Only "superstars" can have top quality races??? Look up Heat 14 from the Glasgow v Edinburgh playoff semi (British Speedway Network posted it on their Facebook page on 27th September) It was a fantastic race between Perry, MPT & Flint swapping places. Then contrast that with the dross that was GB v Poland at the same track which had Bewley, Woffinden, Zmarzlik and Janowski, 3 of the 4 riders that had just competed in whatever they call the World Pairs final these days, and next to no passing all night. It was one of the worst meetings ever at Ashfield. The only worse ones I can think of were ruined by rain. Glasgow fans are very happy with the entertainment on show at Ashfield every week. Star names do not mean better races. Glasgow fans want to race Fridays, and the promotion fought long and hard to get it. They also have the derbies with Edinburgh and Berwick and rivalry with Poole, and to a lesser extent Redcar and Workington. They also have a competitive team. And they run with (what the promotion deem to be) acceptable losses each year. All of which would be lost propping up the failing Premiership. The Facennas are working hard to build up the speedway at Glasgow but that move would not make any sense and could jeopardise the future of the Tigers.

As an Ipswich supporter it was great to win the league after so many years. However, based of course on endless speculation it would appear like the Premiership is acting like a playground bully. Unfortunately apart from Ipswich the business model would appear not to work, root and branch review will not work. The tree is dead. It requires chopping down and a new one planted.

I appreciate that but there's also option 4, racing part-time rather than expecting a living from British Speedway when the sport cannot sustain giving them that.

Full series here.

Because steve(or should it be Stephanie, you never know these days)how would the ex prem teams sign whoever they want and leave the championship teams "chasing shadows"there are championship teams who have better promoters and sponsors than most prem clubs,maybe some of the prem clubs would end up chasing the shadows

Do you really think so? The riders who have “signed” for Championship clubs would soon be backing out of those deals quicker than a rat up a drainpipe. The fact is, those clubs that would be “dropping down” are more desirable clubs to ride for who more than likely could/would offer better deals. The first thing Ipswich would do for example, is take Scott Nicholls off Plymouth. Those deals aren’t worth the paper they’re written on. Pure delusion to think those riders would stay loyal to the Championship clubs they’ve already agreed to ride for, if they’re suddenly offered a better deal by one of the clubs currently in the Premiership. They’ll go where the money is and rightly so. 99% of riders have been dumped by clubs over their careers when they’ve hit a sticky patch, so none of them can cry foul when it’s their turn to be dumped. It works both ways.

And if you can't get along for any reason can you ask Bomber to replace you?

Trade stands, nostalgia or promotion, it doesn't matter what you call it, everyone who wants the sport to continue has to try and do their bit. If by pushing an open door tomorrow keeps the door open then great. If you let the door close it gets locked. I will be there early tomorrow and also at the offroad show in Telford next year trying to keep a little bit of that door open.

I'm not in the know by any stretch Steve but plenty on here who are reasonably well connected hinted last deal was roughly 100k per club.

But where is the Premiership money coming from if no TV contract??

Whilst I take your point, that the future is the way to go, I do not agree with your your premise regarding Doris and Bob. You need to think about ALL Speedway Supporters and that includes the elderly. There is a theory that you can learn from History. Perhaps you could look back to when Speedway really was popular, when good folk, young and old, flocked to Speedway Meetings for the noise, the excitement, the smell, the thrills, the spills and the entertainment. Look at those points I make now. How many apply today? Noise - Yes, Excitement - Yes, Smell - No, Thrills and Spills - Yes (too many of the latter, these days), Entertainment - No, not really. No second Half from where you grow your future riders. I would argue that Speedway, which purports to be a Sport, has lost it's way. The Grand Prix system, I believe, has degraded the Sport in this Country. It is too gimmicky. I just mention the laughably named - Last Qualifying Round/Race. Too many places are given to the top riders from the previous year - these riders are SELECTED from their efforts this year for the World Championship for next year. What is fair and equal about that? Then we come to the League - no the wonder Supporters drift away when their Team win the League, only to find they have to win another competition to win it AGAIN (Play Offs aka: an injustice) - not fair. If you want another competition - fine - but don't call it the League Championship, for that it isn't. They (the Promoters) have changed what used to be a great Sport that people used to attend enthusiastically, into fifteen races - and that's it. Bare minimum offered to Supporters. High prices to be paid, when money these days is extremely tight. Finally the riders themselves have lost touch with the Supporters. No going for a drink afterward as in the old days. All of these things add up. Well, I am off to get my flask and my blanket - it is cold this time of year. Much Love Doris and Bob.

They really don't. The likes of Chris Harris, Danny King, Peter Kildemand, Sam Masters, Charles Wright, Richard Lawson, etc, etc, pick up a "top-up" wage from the CL, to supplement their main PL earnings. If the PL were to collapse, those riders would either need a big pay rise from their one remaining British team or they'd need a foreign league place, which would bring clashes with any British team who don't ride on either a Monday or Thursday. e.g. A collapse of the PL would see Danny King's Plymouth signing fall through. He couldn't ride solely for Plymouth money. He'd be better going to Ipswich on a Thursday and picking up a foreign league. The CL absolutely need the PL to survive, or else it will be the end for some of them.

Sounds like a name for most speedway promoters !!!!!

You have a higher opinion of BCP than I do

I have no idea why “Poole Keith” is laughing at your post. He (or she. You never know these days 🙄) knows damn well what you’re saying is true.

Poole is different to Swindon though. He doesn't own the Poole Stadium site. He only leases it from the Council. Having said that, Cala Homes have shown interest in the site in the latest 'suggestions' to be considered in a revised Council Local Plan!! If the Council accept the 'suggestion' as a firm proposal and then include it in a new Local Plan, which will have to be approved by central Government, then that plan will go out to public consultation.

Who says Championship clubs are trying to destroy the Premiership? It's failing on its own. I think what is happening is that no Championship club wants to risk their business by stepping up and taking huge losses. Remember also there is a history of teams stepping up being screwed over and having to sign the dregs as the Premiership teams won't share out the heat leaders to help a new team at least be competitive to protect their business. They are all too focused on winning and keeping the new team as whipping boys which racks up the financial losses as fans rarely support an uncompetitive team in big numbers. Plus from a Glasgow perspective, there would be no special fixture in the calendar to sell. No Edinburgh (you could easily sell a Glasgow v Edinburgh contest at anything), no Berwick for localish rivalry, no Poole (silverware rivals). No offence to anyone but the fixture list would all be a bit 'meh'

what's weekends got to do with anything 😁

Last time it was held at the NSS at the weekend a few years back I seem to remember the crowd being quite good

I don’t think that’s true. They pick up two wages. It’s not a top up. If the Premiership teams are cast out into the cold then there won’t be a top league for those riders to ride in. It’ll be Championship or no job here. The Championship needing the Premiership and vice versa is a falsity. The Championship is in a stronger position.

Sadly, there are indeed a lot of insular, narrow-minded, stuck-in-the-past, head-in-the-sand speedway supporters, who think it's still 1940s Britain with Hitler, Rickets Diphtheria and Ringworm. Of course we all love old Doris and Bob, who turn up at their club every week with their rattle, tartan blanket and Thermos flask. They tell us great stories of how when they lived in London, they would cycle to a different track every night to watch speedway, go dancing, have some fish and chips, and still have change out of a farthing. Doris and Bob love a Saturday morning in a village hall looking at a 1961 Ove Fundin rosette. But should Danny Ford spend "just £15" (plus fuel, plus food, plus 10 hours of his day) travelling a 320 mile round trip to a village near Coventry to talk to Doris and Bob? Will this increase Poole attendance? Will it increase his business turnover? Of course not. I ended up talking to Phillip Lanning at a meeting earlier this season. He handles a lot of the marketing for Glasgow and Belle Vue (two of the more forward-thinking clubs in terms of marketing - and two of the clubs who don't bother wasting £15 at the village fayre). He was saying how they both spent thousands on strategic partnerships with Facebook and the media company which owns the biggest local newspapers in Glasgow and Manchester. (Reach Media, I think?). He said the Facebook advertising won't necessarily be seen by existing fans as it's not targeted at them. It can be targeted at very specific demographics of interest, and feedback is monitored. Speedway has to move with the times and use the clever marketing technology which is available. The social media generation of Youtube, TikTok and Instagram are who we need to attract. Doris and Bob are not the future. The past is a foreign country; They do things differently there.

i don't think anyone expects the ship to be turned around in one go, but harking back to the plymouth example they have made the wise move of running on best night for their punters and this year they have learned from the Klindt issue and signed two english based riders and i would imagine they will try and do likewise with the other five. So they should have a situation where they are running on the best night, the seven riders barring injury should be present fo 80-90% of home meetings they can then move onto getting sponsorship and improving track and stadium facilities. Its lots of small wins built on top of each other that win the day we just need to see even a handful of small wins to start things off that's the issue at present.

All they do is hire a room out, so in a way why would you, justu like if you hired the room for a big wedding, would you expect it to be on the motor museum website 😗

That is why Poole Speedway and BCP need to be on their toes, they are preparing the ground work.

You've completely missed the point. (perhaps you haven't been following the thread from the start?) No one is suggesting Doris and Bob should be ignored. No one is saying they shouldn't be catered for. They are absolutely an important part of our speedway family. As important as any other fan. Maybe more so - they've been there through thick and thin. And no one has knocked today's Collectors Fair. Everyone seems to agree it's a great product and they have praised the fans who organised it. It's a great way for super-fans to pick up old programmes and memorabilia, and see old bike, old leathers and wallow in brilliant nostalgia with like-minded friends. A great day out for fans. What we've been reacting to, is a crazy suggestion that all 2026 club promoters should be there because it's a chance to market the sport to new fans. Of course this is nonsense, and this is what we are all disagreeing with. This collectors fair provides a great day of nostalgia for diehard existing fans (Doris and Bob). But young Oliver and Amelia are at home playing on their smartphones. They were born in 2015, so they are not interested in a show of oily old 1960s bikes. They've never heard of speedway. And 30-year-old Tarquin and Jennifer, who run their successful dot.com business, (who could be a potential speedway sponsors of the future), are not wandering round a village hall collectors fair on a saturday afternoon either. In short, there are no ordinary members of the public, potential new supporters, for promoters to market to. It would be a completely pointless waste of a day for Chris Louis, or Matt Ford, or Gerry Facenna to be there at a collectors fair, selling the sport to Doris and Bob, who have been there and bought the t-shirt many years before Tarquin and Jennifer were born. That's what we are disagreeing with - The suggestion that current promoters should be forced into wasting their time at a collectors fair when there are far more important issues they need to be addressing.

BCP will see right through him, he’s done it far too many times now.

Does that mean anything?

The greater Premiership costs are purely down to 'top' rider wages and expenses and are therefore funded by a combination of wealthy owners and/or sponsors but clearly cannot be afforded by some eg Oxford ( possibly Sheffield too having lost their main sponsor and being up for sale). Clearly there is a limit to what the public will pay also.

It’s not going to happen for many many reasons, but talking hypothetically if they went with one league then any deals currently done would be null and void. There is absolutely no way you could have all the current Championship clubs practically sorted, and then five clubs joining them having basically nothing to pick up. That just won’t happen and anyone thinking it would, are completely delusional.

I’d be staggered if that is the case! The train of thought was the clubs were getting next to nothing, but the exposure of the sport on a mainstream sports channel was what made it worthwhile.

If Cala homes win a bid to build on the stadium site, they must find an alternate site for the stadium built before any works can take place the new stadium would need to be finished. We all know what will happen with Osborne involved if that didn’t happen.

Any reaction from Spidvej?

it could but with what we know so far if its two leagues they are trying to do all the right things to get foundations in place for a decent season.

I even heard them being played over the pa at Belle Vue once a few years back... how's that for down with the kids!

Great band. Seen them live a few times

Trouble seems to be that the East of England Agricultural Society whom I believe own some or all of the land do not seem to want speedway as part of the leisure plans they have for the Showground .

no mention of a speedway fair on the British motor museum website

I believe (also not an expert) that Superbike uses modified production bikes while Motogp are purpose built prototypes. This means that there is more tech on a gp bike which helps them go faster. I see it as Motogp is the F1 of bike racing while Superbike is the GT3 but with less of a performance gap.

Monkey Tennis!!!! Or... Youth Hostelling with Chris Eubank.. A Haaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!

Awesome! Saw them in Nottingham on the Wednesday, brilliant show 🤘. I wonder if they were playing "Still Counting" at the AGM? 😂

Essentially as of course with the haves and have nots. British Speedway simply doesn't have enough people to participate in it, and whilst the powers that be have turned a blind eye. The chickens have now come home to roost. As I see it the only way ahead IS 1 league and blood the youngsters (wherever they are from). Otherwise those that propose that a top league is a must may not have anything to support next season.

British speedway currently isn’t even preaching to the converted, it’s preaching to nobody at all, last month I went to the Stafford motorcycle show, thousands of motorbike fans over 2 days, there was one Indian guy selling curtains and another selling mobile phones, now it’s about £350 for a stall there, did they sell a curtain or a mobile phone case ? Probably not but they are out there trying and it was just 2 stalls out of place but it was 2 more stalls than the whole of speedway had, we and I mean collectively and that includes every club have got to push our sport at every opportunity and every event possible, even if it’s preaching to the converted or even outside of our comfort zone, this is not a brag but with the different shows I’ve done I’ve done more to promote speedway than British speedway itself

I understand the frustrations that clubs are not falling over each other to smash down the door to get a premium pitch at this show. But in all honesty it's not really about the clubs, It's aimed at the supporters & collectors & gives a chance for those that have collections of club based items that are not normally seen outside their own homes to be shown off. I have been the last two years & will attend again tomorrow, it's amazing to see what has been put together over many years from clubs all over the country by dedicated people that should be applauded for their efforts to put their collections together & allow others to enjoy them on one Saturday of the year. This is not about the BSPL, SCB or FIM it's about us, the regular folk that just enjoy speedway & everything that goes with it

Absolutely agree with you. There's no point in any club having a presence at this collectors' fayre. I'm in no way knocking the show. Quite the opposite. It's a great idea, lovingly organised at huge time and energy by some ultra-devoted fans. If you want to pick up that missing 1969 Nelson v Crayford programme, or buy a vintage "Happiness is 40-38" badge to sew on your anorak, then it's perfect. I love the history of the sport, and I fully recommend taking the grandkids to see a restored 1930s Rudge, or the leathers Ole Olsen wore in the 1972 World Final. But it has no value to a 2026 speedway promoter. The audience are speedway fans, and highly-devoted fans who know everything about the sport already. There will be zero members of the general public paying £10 to go into a Speedway collectors' fayre. So no potential new punters to sell the sport to. If it were a motorcycle show in general, with a chance to reach out to others from different bikesport disciplines,or some kind of Business expo with a chance to network with potential new sponsors, it might have some value. But it isn't. So enjoy the show if you go, but don't think it's a place for clubs to promote their businesses. It isn't.

It's an absolute disgrace and shows the regard the BSPA (Clubs) have for their fans and complete lack of respect. Speedway star announced it was obviously 12th November then changed to the 6th of January via the speedway star. Nothing on the official BSPA website, which is poor and before the goody lot start coming back with 'its delicate and confidential' and that's why nothing can be said. Come on! they don't need to give details just give the supporters some basic information instead of radio silent and hope! Lets face it, Oxford and Birmingham didn't close yesterday! We have known since August (promoters knew longer than that) have they sat around for 8 weeks hoping someone will wave a magic wand and hope everything will be sorted, get real! It's a poor show and the fans deserve better.

Again huge risk it would most likely have to be midweek and Peterborough to Lynn is roughly an hour each way without traffic hold up's , plus loads of boro fans not happy with Buster due to how it all ended at Peterborough, I can't realistically see more than 300-400 people turning up best case so whoever took it is most likely looking at six figure loss .

Batchelor would fit in well. Good gater, which is essential for Wimbore Road. Just had a season at number 1, and dropping to the slightly easier number 5 in a weakened league means he should increase his average

Might work for anyone interested in trying to cop off with a senior citizen.

Plymouth were robbed again.

If it was up to me 100% British Premiership Speedway would be back on Sky Sports unfortunately it’s not my decision I am however having words in the correct ears . There may be some interest if the right deal was available and if a decent league sponsor could be found to support with the production costs as Speedway was not planned into 2026 plans . I am a great advocate of BSN however it’s very much a niche closed product so can foresee some potential issues with sponsorship for clubs