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Big 👍 to the comets promotion and commercial team for having a stall at the worky Xmas lights switch on day

I spoke to the Royal Mail guy who delivered a parcel to me yesterday about it. He said they don’t make any money out of letters so parcels are prioritised as that makes money. He also said he offered to deliver mail that was stacking up for our area but they wouldn’t sanction the overtime. I don’t want to get the digital version because I like the physical version and my Grandson likes to have all the old copies, but I feel I’m being forced down that route now. I do feel sorry for the guys at Pinegen, the star is an important staple of our sport and I’ve been getting it since I was a kid.

Gone out of business then. But really at this point we’re splitting hairs. Businesses can operate at a loss of course, but they’re badly run businesses. They can’t run at a loss forever. You know that of course. Losing money hand over fist is a stupid business model. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to work that out.

You'll be waiting for a hell of a long time for any of that... they just move on to the next club. It amazes me that whenever a club closes you never really hear anything from the riders other than something like "it's a shame"... and then they pop up and ride elsewhere and leave it to the fans to fight the fight. I can tell them all it's more than a shame, it's absolutely bloody devastating!

Wanting the best isn’t wrong. Living beyond your means to achieve it is. And eventually you’ll just go bust. Sound familiar? The sport cannot sustain having the best riders here. You must surely see that. All this “not enough riders,” stuff is nonsense. There are plenty but because of self-created circumstances over a number of years they’re not at the level they once were. There’s not an overnight fix but the situation can be rectified over time. The answer is to cut cloth accordingly now to ensure the possibility of one day being able to have a thriving sport here again, including the best riders in the world hopefully. It might not happen, but it might. Carry on as we are and it is a certainty to not happen. Sometimes you have to go backwards before you can go forwards. Being solvent is a pretty good first step.

I've made a few of these, and this is an updated 2026 version, showing all Polish, SpeedwayLigaen and Bauhaus Ligan tracks and stadiums plus Warsaw. https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/edit?mid=1C3RGUldA6ob2i3hqjjN91Ah7LKMqJA8&usp=sharing

He wouldn’t make that mistake twice

Can't sign for Poole now then

'Don't stop believin'!!!😃

The way things are going a 6 team Premiership would be a tremendous achievement ahead of 2026

No it doesn't. Which top flight club has gone bust in recent times? Any company can trade at a loss so long as the Directors acknowledge the matter and continue to find funding for their enterprise, avoid trading whilst insolvent and continue to develop their business. Unfortunately, for now, it appears there are insufficient promoters who are willing or able to invest in bringing some of the best riders to the UK and so the resultant mediocre (especially if there is only one league) "top flight" of speedway in the UK will be even less appealing than current to national sponsors, media.

2 brilliant signings for Edinburgh so far

He isn’t doing championship anyway. So doesn’t matter.

The coverage of Speedway is so light touch and superficial (always has been) that I can't really think of it attracting anybody. The beauty of most sports are when you start to scratch the surface and go beyond skin deep and begin to understand the intricacies involved... what's the track like and are you going to make any changes before throwing back to a giggling presenter telling us that the absolute bilge we're watching is brilliant Speedway and great racing doesn't really cut it for most sports fans.

Spires? If not bust then certainly not sustainable!

Kildemand signs. https://www.berwickspeedway.com/news/meet-our-2026-number-one/

The ultimate one for me was Scott Nicholls riding for both sides in the ko cup final between Ipswich and Peterborough. That's why the sport has zero credibility.

It is the same story in Exeter. I feel sorry for the guys at Pinegen whose business is suffering through no fault of their own but due to the incompetence of Royal Fail.

Was never in doubt, 2026 was supposed to be the original plan but the way things panned out for us last year we thankfully managed to get him over for a few months last year to gain valuable experience. Shoukd kick on again next year, great kid.

Yes I am worried there may be no speedway. we had a save our speedway in 1995 and like many others I’m a member of the 400 club some 30 years on but this scenario isn’t a financial one at the moment. The club is extremely well run and has many sponsors and is viable. however next season there won’t be no tv money which is rumoured to be £60k. Not only that will the sponsors want to pay the same money for no national tv coverage ? Unlikely. if the league is reduced to 5 teams will fans pick and choose or stop coming so often because it’s the same old faces ? Chris Louis deserves a lot of credit and respect for what he has done for our club and I can only imagine this is his last resort. im guessing as this is his primary income he isn’t going to gamble it away in a 5 team league. Maybe some of the other teams which are subsidised by their owners are willing to? Who knows. I don’t agree with some saying he has thrown his toys out. Like all democratic organisations you reform from within but he seems to have reached a point where he has had enough and doesn’t like the direction the sport is going. there had been no mud slinging just a for sale notice going up at foxhall. im desperately hoping a resolution can be reached and Chris will carry on but I’m less optimistic. But thank you to John and Chris for providing us with such service over so many years.

Signing No 3 announced 6 pm on Monday UTC

Speedway, sadly, doesn't often own the land that ultimately can leverage any debt... Debt is actually good if you can make more money using someone else's, and then pay them back... Living off sponsors money, and only renting your track, with assets that only cover tractors, air fences, and starting gates etc etc, is pretty much, ultimately, built on sand...

Quite right. When you think about it, Speedway clubs are quite sensibly run. Very few turn a profit, but most break even or run with comparatively small losses that a club owner or sponsor is happy to cover. Those with the most affluent owner/sponsor may lose £70k-£80k. It's chickenfeed in the grand scheme of things. Let's look at the national sport of Football. Now some (not all) of the big 6 make a profit, but clubs in the Premiership, on average, lose £30M per year. In the Championship, average losses are £13M. League 1 clubs lose an average of £5M each, and in League 2 it's £2.3M lost by each club, every year. The problem is, Speedway doesn't have the profile that Football does. It's far easier to find an owner who will pump £20 million quid into a football club than it is to find an owner who will put just £50k into a Speedway club.

To be fair I think BT Sport did start to up their game towards the end of the GP coverage first time round with Scott Nicholls doing analysis on the big screen and even bringing his bikes in to show starting techniques etc. And Natalie Quirk was the most knowledge presenter the sport has ever had. I don't think the TV coverage has ever recovered after the sudden sad death of Nigel Pearson. Another marmite character (aren't they all) but one of the few involved in Speedway, along with Tatum and Louis who were/are articulate enough to be on TV. Not only involved in Speedway he did carry some credibility within the industry and who knows may have been able to carry some sway. Tatum should never have been lead commentator but much like British Speedway there was nobody else ever given the chance after a Tony Millard was edged out at Sky.

Tatum and that stupid screwdriver. It's insulting the intelligence of the viewers... Clearly TNT didn't go to town with the coverage. It was pretty mediocre by British Eurosport's standards and, if anything, regressed on TNT, which is a more premium channel. The talent wasn't brought out and neither was the budget. Tatum is an awful lead commentator and often he was sole commentator. Yes he was thrust into the position after Nigel Pearson's death but he's a (former) professional sportsperson who understands its a results game. Speedway can be boring, we all know that, but the opportunities would have been there for interesting links and three minute features to really bring the sport to life. Not once can I remember seeing any little behind the scenes features: what does a rider do to prepare, follow them for a week, feature an engine tuner building a bike at the workshop... No money was invested in the production and the sport had to stand on its raw product which, frankly, is not good enough for modern tastes.

If he ends up coming to the UK whoever gets him will be onto a major winner , in my opinion he's the best young aussie since Darcy Ward and like Darcy he's an out and out racer.

Would have Antti back no problem. Had 2 years experience now on away tracks, hopefully attack them with more confidence if he is back for a 3rd season.

Really cold afternoon outside the shelter of the arcade. Like you say big thumbs up to all on the stall 🥶👍

He isn't on the bspl payroll. But he very much deserves to be, looks like he is doing far more to save speedway than the bspl are. He could potentially save their bacon.

Spot on. So much is made of alleged lack of 'viability' when in truth, viability is a rare commodity in most sports - the vast majority of football teams are losing bucket-loads of money. Most recent speedway track losses are because the sport / stadia are seen as an easy target for rapacious developers.

Its a bit of a stretch to believe this could be the case, However as a promoter can't run two clubs in the same division and as CL has proven to be arguably the most competent of the current crop, maybe there could be some leverage going on within the top clubs knowing that a new owner & promoter for Ipswich can be found whilst he focusses attention on building and launching Northampton thus delivering a six club top flight. Interesting to see CL has resigned from the BSPL but not Speedway Ventures meaning his involvement in find a future for speedway continues and that is a positive sign.

A good listen, if only there were more/some people in Speedway like him, clarity, vision, knowledgeable etc.

I don't know if Brian Connolly is on the BSPA payroll or just an enthusiast but he seems to be working on all the ongoing battles. Interesting listen

That’s being generous to them

I agree. My experience of Swindon fans getting mobilised is a challenging one. There's still plenty of interest (petition over 2.300 signatures, social media groups very active) and they all want the sport back - until they have to actually do something to help make it happen! The sport's governing body are dragging their feet and doing next to nothing to help fight to resurrect these clubs or even participate in the ongoing battles.

Oh that elusive planning permission, that indeed is the only thing stopping the whole thing at the moment, it’s a lot of money to put up so cradley have got to jump through all the hoops to make sure the planing permission application doesn’t fail and there are a lot of hoops

Goes back to an independent body Iain... The sport is desperate for a vision, and strategic journey to deliver that vision... Sadly, too many have no thoughts as to the overall growth of the sport, as, basically, they have no interest in growing it... It is just an "affordable" hobby for many.... And, no disrespect to them either, as they are never going to get rich off any financial reward for winning any UK Speedway title.. Three leagues exist, where many have no interest in winning, given the costs of doing so could mean they close down... Not a great starting point is it?.. Too many promoters have far too many different individual agendas, needs and wants, to ever make the sport (in the UK) successful...

100% there is a need, and I think you know this. Those 6 clubs are not coming back anytime soon (if at all) but if they did that would make 2 healthy leagues of 10 teams. There would undoubtedly need to be some form of doubling up until such a point that a properly implemented rider development plan started to produce league quality riders... instead of the lip service we pay to such development at the moment with clubs being allowed to stage just a single development meeting a year.

Of course.. However .. Being profitable down to having great sponsorship doesn't help when developers move in... Having thousands in attendance every week does make a difference when you want to influence a local authority and, possibly even more importantly, having the local councillors of those thousands, having to listen to them and support their views... Or they get voted out..

I remember going to Swindon a few times watching Bradford in the mid 90's when Peter Thorogood was promoter, and he would always have a walk round to the back straight to say hello to the Dukes fans. Always seemed a real decent bloke.

What veterans are we talking about ?The championship racing is a lot better than any premiership meetings I have seen ,maybe apart from the playoff final or maybe Poole home meetings 😉

Very solid start to our 2026 team building so far, I’m assuming Hook is nailed on ( be extremely shocked if not ) but sounds like the promotion have got things in place. Already excited for the new season ahead it’s always a long winter !

Surely it should be the end of season figures we should be looking at? Seven out of the nine CL teams ended with a total average above the 40 limit, so starting next season on 40 means it is weaker?

Problems like this are usually caused by a number of things including running video on a device without enough ram to handle the processing of it, especially as you have a number of video feeds involved. Plus shaky wifi / slow internet. If you're not in the same room as your router you're asking for it. Always use a wired connection where possible. Plus the software you're using will massively affect how things sound. Zoom and Teams are obviously very popular but they totally screw your audio setup, and also squish the file as small as possible. If you are using those often they have a tick box somewhere for HD audio, that will help. Zoom & FaceTime are used by the BBC etc and they sound good but they run it either with video off and record the video on a separate cam or phone and put it together in production, or they use a broadcast grade version which isn't available in the shops.

So much pressure is put on young riders by a lot of Poole fans on here, with the expectations of Bailey and Rushen. Not 16 yet and talking of Poole must have them, we are gonna win with these kids in our team. Yes both talented young kids but let them progress at their own rate and enjoy the speedway without pressure or expectations. Look what happened to the last great hope Aston Boughen

That's just not true. All sports have good and bad matches. Speedway can be incredible and mediocre, like every sport.

Might have attracted insomniacs who then went to a meeting and solved their issue by watching tractors spending more time on the track than the bikes.