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Earlier in the winter there was a thought that radical change could be coming. Its certainly been a radical winter a u turn on ownership at Sheffield, Louis leaving Ipswich, Ipswich confirmed as running but no idea who is running it. As far as radical change in how the sport is run which is needed well that’s zero change. I find it staggering that it’s more of the same.

Seems positive from the club on pending signings saying at no point they have struggled to attract riders and that the final pieces arent far away so i think rather then negativity the clubs activity should be looked at with optimism as to giving fans the best side to allow the team be best served for a title challenge. I for one am excited for the pending news.

Agree keeping grounded is important at such a young age. It's equally important us fans need to be patient with these lads, and not put pressure on them from the off. Hopefully they will be with us in years to come.

Well... If it ain't broken.... Oh. Hang on......

The 2027 season? Don’t worry it might not happen (as the saying goes). It baffles me that some people think/hope that 2026 will be a blip and things will be put in place for a promised land in 2027 and beyond. The BSPL, as I understand it, represent the teams competing in British Speedway, but there is a divide because of the PL/CL split and own agendas of completing clubs. This insistence of clinging on to a top tier is becoming ridiculous, as has been proved for 2026. The sport has never been in a position to introduce promotion/relegation (yes it was tried a few years ago, move on), simply because it cannot generate a wide enough interest. Forget league structures, just start with getting teams to confirm that they will compete for a future season on preferred race nights. Build from there. See what league structure options are available on this basis. Only at this point should available riders be looked at. GP level riders will no doubt be unaffordable/uninterested, but you have to cut your cloth as they say. Nothing will change of course because UK speedway cannot accept/understand that the financial demands of top riders continually eat in to unsustainable resources.

Just take a look at the last 10 years of the u21 final. 13 of the 18 that appeared in 2016 final aren't riding anymore. The 8 in the u19 final that weren't in the 21 final aren't riding either. 21 riders that would be hitting 29-31 this year lost to the sport.

with the new rules, would riders like Richie Worrall, Steve Boxall & Lee Complin get average reductions? Be a bizarre situation if you get an average reduction because you couldn't ride when you were banned! But with Speedway you never know. It appears you can get an average reduction if you were unable to ride because you were in jail?

The term ”anti-climax” comes to mind. Nothing in the statement addresses the broader challenges around competitiveness, sustainability and engagement. Highlighting the Pairs gate selection change is cosmetic and an insult, delivered by an organisation blatantly keen to demonstrate that change has occurred, rather than one prepared to confront the scale of change required. As a Glasgow fan, I appreciate we’re in a strong and sustainable position, but that statement is concerning not for our future, but the sport’s in the UK. I don’t even know where to start with the Premiership. Three of five qualifying for the play-offs is a sporting disgrace; undermining competitiveness and credibility beyond belief.

Couldn’t keep me away up to 5 years ago . Then it became the odd meeting because of work commitments. That effort to go now though has gone. The lack of respect for the people who pay the wages , us, is unacceptable. Kept in the dark, only informed as a last result. The lack of ambition and direction in the sport is unbelievable. Clubs telling the sport where they’ll race and where they won’t. I find that laughable for a so called professional sport. It’s on its last legs as is my enthusiasm for it. Remembering Those days in the 70’s watching Bradford Northern at Odsal are great memories. It’s a totally different proposition these days.

Everything wrong with speedway in a nutshell. Jacob performs exceptionally well last season, beats some top riders, and ends up losing out the following season with no team place. No wonder young riders are giving up the sport so easy.

Considering the numbers in the Premiership this is all that could be done. Rightly so the Championship promoters didn't want the additional cost. HOWEVER they need to have plans in place for 2027 before the play-offs. As next season will bring a whole wave of new problems that cant be ignored and needs to be addressed head on. If they don't have a suitable plan in motion moving forward if the new Poland restrictions take place there won't be to many riders waiting for a contract. So yet another "speedway elastoplast" wont be a remedy from here on in.

Poland have already announced their plans for 2027 regarding rider availability and we've done absolutely nothing to mitigate this by starting our league transformation a year before them, it's not even been addressed... we seem to be just blindly sailing on, full steam ahead 🚢🧊

why Geoff ?, the points limit was set for 3 years at last seasons AGM.

Absolutely pathetic news from the AGM. Expected though. This sticking plaster announcement could have been made in November. They've been sitting on their hands for the last two months it seems waiting for a television deal to ride in on a white charger. Nothing about the shambles the sport is in now and how they hope to change it mid to long term, no transparency. Looking forward to things being even more grim this time next year and yet another bodge it AGM taking absolutely no accountability for the shower of sh** that is British Speedway nowadays.

Jonas Jeppesen is the rider i'd be going for at No.6.

I'll start with a few. Josh Auty, Zach Wajneckt, Josh Bailey, James Shane's, Henry Atkins, Ben Trigger. Probably a lot more that don't come to mind.

Yes as you say, exciting reserve duo. Jody and Cooper race and that’s what we like to see and why we go to speedway

I'd happily have Rocket Man at Ipswich. Been a consistent performer for years in this league where his GSA rarely drops. Track specialist around King's Lynn and Leicester too which helps in a 5 Team League.

There's already numerous topics setup for the AGM... do we really need another one?

and locksmiths, car keys etc. possibly a transferable skill for some cons ?

Which folk should graciously accept.

Thinking about it, they should really have a rising star position in the championship. Number 7 goes to an up and coming rider from the NDL level.

Same as our group Dean. We used to go anywhere to watch any teams so when Wolves shut I thought I'd do more of the same. The first season I went to 2 meetings then last season none at all. I'm thinking of going to a few next year but who knows , I might never go again

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow?

You forgot that some of the passengers are attacking the wooden hull with pickaxes

Not a mention of the sterling work that speedway futures Ltd habe done behind the scenes,not a mention of who the new Ipswich owners are if indeed there are any, a statement that told us very little but what did we expect really ? You don’t need to wait for an AGM to fix a problem and it’s clear they have no idea how to fix the sport, carry on doing the same and pound to a penny they haven’t addressed any issues of cost either for riders and more importantly the long suffering dwindling fan base

We were fortunate to be able to see Michael in full flight. A joy to watch.

The problem with long term planning is the continuing closure of tracks. It is getting to the stage where the shrinking number of tracks could lead to team speedway being unsustainable. Whilst we all like watching the GPs, almost everyone on this forum will have initially been drawn to the sport by watching the 7 v 7 team format. Supporting your team is a tribal thing, like football. Can’t speak for others, but this is why I love speedway and have zero interest in any other motor sport.

Absolutely. At the very least they should have announced the intention to set up a commission to look at the full range of options for 2027.

Quite easily, it's this year to year existence that has got us to where we are. They should be issuing a statement now addressing the current issues and putting the building blocks in place for 2027 and beyond, start by scaling back doubling up and introducing a proper youth system... that's just for starters.

...and Cardiff cost the organiser at least 4 times as much just on renting the stadium!!

I agree but feel Dickson will go with Justin Sedgmen

I’ve been watching a bit of the Aussie series on BSN and he does look much improved. However, I don’t think he goes well anywhere other than the NSS. I’d prefer to see `Becker and Lawson rather than Lindsey and King

It seems that DPP who the planning agents are claiming that they have satisfied all the requirements for the redevelopment of the Abbey stadium even though the status of the Studley is unknown. Interesting article in this weeks Star and some of their arguments including using the current state of the sport in this country to justify why permission should be given. The one hope is that the Council stick to their guns and refused to budge on the issue of a replacement facility. Sad that people like Clarke Osborne are allowed to walk on this earth.

There are your missing riders for one big league, too late now though.

Chris Louis, Ritchie Hawkins and Danny King all leaving together after winning the big one seems a perfect send off imo. I'm not sure Danny will be signed on a 6.50 after 2.5% Reduction considering it's only a 37.00 Limit, No value in that GSA imo considering he'd likely be riding as a Heat Leader rather than a Second String. Technical Track specialist Luke Becker for an extra 0.38 is a much better option. For me, Tobiasz Musielak 6.63 has to be the priority signing as his GSA holds a lot of value imo.

Cobblers...... 🤣

Richard Lawson does not have a PL team place.

More like he got an average of over 5, and then thought he was worth no1 wages.

Doyle and Ellis have signed in Poland, Sweden and Denmark so i belive that rules them out under the 3 league restrictions.

Some music suggestions for next year now then: White Lines (Don't Don't It) Just Say No Message in a (specimen) Bottle

There’s an update in the Speedway Star. Looks like it’s just 1 position to fill, we are hardly left with the dregs as some people like to believe.. COMETS OPTIONS WORKINGTON boss James Denham admits there have been some very tough decisions in putting together his team for 2026. With Jonas Jeppesen, Troy Batchelor, Tate Zischke and Vinnie Foord all confirmed as starters for the GT Tyres Comets, it leaves three places to fill. Denham says they haven't been short of options to complete the septet, and all are being explored having taken a different approach to team- building than in previous seasons. "We've had to go down a different route, because what we've seen the last two seasons is that we just need stronger riders in certain positions," said Denham. "Troy was pretty much the only man we could rely on, there was no-one else that we could trust. He delivered when he could but he didn't really have any support. "We needed to give him that support. We needed a proper number one this year, and Jonas is the right man. "Troy maybe isn't as strong as some of the other number ones, but he can mix it with those guys on his day. "That's the route we've gone down, and we have three other positions to fill now. We have some of that sorted but are waiting for the last piece of the jigsaw. "I think there are plenty of riders, both on the continent and in the UK, that would fit the bill and we're just trying to figure out which is going to be the best one. We're waiting for a few people to get back to us and figure out which is the best option to go with. "We need to be unbeatable at home this year and pick up as many aggregate points in the Championship, like we did that first year when we made the play-offs." As is always the case when it comes to teams putting together their line-ups, there are inevitably riders who miss out on places and this may end up happening to Comets' 2025 rider of the year Jacob Hook. Denham sympathises with his plight but with team-building simply coming down to numbers, he says these are the tough decisions that need to be made. He added: "We've had plenty of riders who have been interested in coming to Workington this year and we've had to make some tough calls with Jye (Etheridge) and Jacob, but that's how the points limit plays into our hands. "I'm disappointed for Jacob. Not only has it not worked out for us, but it hasn't worked out for any other team so far, so he might miss out this year, which is the downfall of his success last year."

IT seems the greyhound management at Monmore are not thinking that much clearer about the facilities they have there when a lot of their greyhound racing is is for afternoon bags when you only get a handful of people there,why are they ripping alovely seating area which has years left in it,the bar area is great,BUT it doesnt make sense to rip it all out just for an evening meeting or two at the track when what they already have in place was more the adequate to deal with the paying public.Madness from their management when the fixtures and fittings were more then good enough ,theres no way they are going to get that money back and the main crowd will only be on a saturday night,with the bags fixtures for about 50 paying folk.Clueless managent again for what gain.

May have nothing to do with the team structure that statement though. Depends whether you class the signing of Cookie as exciting news ? Probably divide opinion that one.

But if one of the last signing is on 7.99 / 8.00 🤔 average they would have to wait for this year's rules to be rubber stamped at the delayed AGM, to make sure the signing would be allowed, before tying up the rest of the team

Ipswich fans must be delighted to hear that they will be running in the 5 team PL next seson 🙂 They jsut need a new owner and 7 riders and all will be fine. Kings Lynn fans must be worried t hat they will no have to finish in the top 3 to get a coveted p.OFF place.

Very exciting reserve partnership we have got this season yes they're gonna have meeting where they don't always score well but it's going to be fun watching them develop over the course of the season UP THE STARS

Might sound daft this but its the riders that are killing the sport, they are asking for so much point money knowing the crowds attending can not raise enough money to keep clubs sustainable. Yes its a dangerous sport and they deserve to be well paid but the way its heading there will be no speedway very soon for these same riders. Yep I know its the promoters that agree to contracts but the sport is sadly not a full time job no more for the vast amount of riders. Years ago most the riders had other jobs nowadays they mainly are all full time riders needing full time money. I remember when Workington first started back i think there was only Stoney with 2 bikes now every rider has two bikes and even the reserves class it as a full time job.

I wouldn’t even eat chips wrapped in the O M!