Leaderboard

Put it in your pocket and never let it fade away... or save it for a rainy day 🤔

Kurtz not signed for the Speedway Team Benevolent Fund ((I mean Belle Vue - sorry Ouch) so there is hope yet

Agree. Its a shambles. The amount of fixtures is ridiculous. The Premiership even riding home and away twice is still shocking. One big league was needed to sort this mess out. Limit teams to 5 or 6 riders and change format if not enough riders to go around. The gap in fixtures is not good enough. Its farcical. It seems that the majority of fans can see whats wrong with the sport but those numbskulls in charge can't. Pathetic.

A shame each team don't have two RS's to share the one spot... Especially as only 10 would be needed... Would give 10 young riders potential opportunity, and create some healthy competition for places, as any sport should... No guests required then either...

"I can promise that there is no better person to take the Witches forward and I am truly excited for what the future holds.”

Calculator is fine. Just the idiot operating it. Failed to apply full 25% discount to Flint's average.

It had previously crossed my mind that Kurtz could be on the move from BV and that "team 6" could be the place. Intriguing that BV announced Bewley when the other No.1's were being unveiled, and not Kurtz despite having a higher average. Didnt think that BV could fit both within the 37 limit but apparently it's possible. But yes, it could be that the kind and generous Mr Lemon, acting out of genuine broader interest (and im not being sarcastic) could be taking charge of things

Hopefully not Woffy or Lawson

How About 1. T. Woffinden 8.45 2. S. Nicholls ? 3. Richard Lawson 6.83 4. K. Rew 6.19 5. T. Brennan 7.05 6. J. Jenkins 3.46 7. J. Edwards (RS)

A reasonable argument in general although I will throw in this as devil's advocate Surely rather than saying the success of the play offs is the problem instead we should be doing whatever required to make the 'standard' fixtures seem as attractive Easier said than done for sure but would it really be better to jettison a handful of 3-5,000 attendances so that all meetings hopefully got an extra 200 or so The ambition should be to still have those big meetings but manage to capture those extra hundreds anyway

That tends to happen when riders are left in the dark …

we not got a social media guy as it stands and it shows

They need to be upfront with the fans and the riders about the state of the sport and prepare both for one big league. It’s already been established what the make up of teams will be and that our future top stars are the current 1-2 in the Championship. Polish rules and random race-nights will see the current set of top stars disappear from the UK. Doubling up will end so even some current Championship 1-2 (or more) will jump ship and we’ll end up with an NDL+ product. Nothing wrong with that at all at £10-£15 admission but that won’t be possible. Crowds will drop due to what’s on offer so if anything admission will go up to cover costs as has been the case for decades. The only way to stop this is to pay riders less but then you have additional riders turning their backs on the sport and standards drop further. Next season onwards we need to be looking at a semi pro/amateur level but unfortunately for us fans at an Elite admission (background costs remain whether Elite or amateur riders take to the track). I see crowds dropping further leading to the inevitable track closures. I think we’ll get to “celebrate” our centenary but after that it’ll be The Colts and the odd bank holiday meeting with top riders shipped back in to keep the NSS as a worthwhile operation. There is an alternative but very little ambition, know how and collective responsibility to achieve it from most running our sport.

depends how you look at the payment they get yes a top rider spends more on his equipment to stay at the top but 5 points from a reserve is often a better performance than 10 points from a no1 so why should points money be so much different for a reserve or no1 heat leader maybe points money should be exactly that a set amount per point regardless of team position just the signing on fee or start money be different depending on deal done per rider

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.

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.

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.

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 🚢🧊

They'll probably be the 3 remaining riders... questions are, once Picko gets a new average... who will be the sacrificial lamb/s? and who will be their replacement/s

The guy that bought the speedway GP from Warner brothers. So some serious money at Ipswich now.

Lidsey would be an awful signing the guy can’t ride our place why would you sign a rider hoping he can improve at your track when clearly he can’t do that He would have the odd good race when he pops out the start because the guy can’t pass wind How average over 7.5 is inflated because he goes well at the NSS Must be better options out there surely If he signs for us I would give him 100% support but I think it would be an awful signing

Mayfield sports

A Jarek Hampel type?? Not the worst role model to have..... To be fair he has improved greatly year on year and is one of a relatively small band that has the capability of moving up to higher levels May not be the box office mega signing like an Emil but not as shabby as some may think

Don't know why some opposition fans are desperate for Lidsey to join Ipswich thinking he'd be a terrible signing. Jaimon actually had more 1st places than 2nd, 3rd and 4th's away from the NSS last season and it'll be a much weaker League this year. Potential value in the 7.87 GSA imo, I'd put him in the same bracket as Musielak. The weaker the League, The more value their GSA's hold imo.

Worth keeping an eye on that 👀

Another thread, or another AGM?🙂

Certainly when the rule was created, it was a 25% reduction the FIRST time a rider leaves the RS system only. Otherwise a rider could manipulate his average to flip in and out of RS every 2 years. But who knows what ruling could be reached now "in the best interests of speedway"

What about Fredrik Lindgren. I believe he is giving Swedish racing a miss. Janowski is signed up for three teams I believe so he would not be available to race in UK.

This seems to confirm that, even if a 6th venue were to materialise, it would struggle to track a competitive team and be even worse than Birmingham 2024-25 both performance and financially.

There’s no real jeopardy at the PCMT as it’s just our individual meeting in tribute to the great man. The key to the big crowds is the level of the participants. Top riders attract a bigger audience, even at an increased admission cost. You’re right about the play offs and it’s great the extra crowds turn up but not so great for teams not in it nor the qualifiers. One of my gripes that fell on deaf ears when they came about was the implied importance or not of certain fixture in peoples minds. People, though they may not realise, like to be told what to do and adopt herd mentality. Back in the day all meetings had similar importance for most of the season. Even teams that knew they couldn’t win the league wanted to finish as high up as possible or beat the title chasing teams. This led to a consistent attendance. Now we are told that some fixtures are way more important than others, we naturally start to pick and choose. Play off finalist can make up some of the shortfall but others do not. The result for the sport as a whole is a nett loss. I think now as I did then that the play offs have had a lot to do with dwindling attendances but that horse bolted long ago and the simple fact that two teams get record attendances basically drowns out any other aspect of why they should or shouldn’t be adopted by our sport. I’ve said this many times without any kind of response, which says it all to me that even us as speedway nuts cannot persuade close family and friends to attend so any amount of advertising will currently fall on deaf ears. People don’t like speedway. The ONLY hope -and I’m too old to grasp what it is - is that some zeitgeist person or event presents itself that a social media guru can use to create the fomo effect. I’ve seen it happen with say Prime drink, Ibiza Final Boss, 6/7 etc but I cannot get my head around it.

The clubs and league do their own PPV - It used to be available through Fanseat but in 2025 went it alone. You will need to keep an eye on the league website Speedway ligaen. They will be pushing the PPV before the season starts.

Becker and Janowski have also signed up in 3 leagues so will not be back in 2026. Try searching Continental European speedway teams 2026 to find all other leagues and who has signed elsewhere.

Won't be Sweden if we have a mare as they are in the other semi. Germany won't be easy to beat in their own backyard though.

The frustration is that there is still a decent market for the sport in the UK... It's just not a market that team Speedway regularly attracts due to the nonsense operating model that is allowed to pervade, the lack of jeopardy and consequence to so many meetings and the leagues, the seemingly lack of any "decent prize" for winning anything, and the admission costs which reflect the outgoings being paid, rather than reflecting the standard of what is actually being delivered to the punters.. The NSS will have around 2500 watching the PCMM (presumably being ran?), and around 6,000 will attend each night at the GP's... So. If you put some "Proper Speedway" out, you can still get a good following for it... The Aces this year will, once again, run with crowds much lower than the PCMM meeting, as many Aces followers simply won't follow up their PCMM visit due to not buying into the league structures being used, and also due to saving their cash for the GP's... Yet, like all other tracks, will see a significant increase come play off time due to its natural "make or break" nature, which finally gives off some semblance of relevance for the sport.... I would suggest the sport has as many close followers of it who don't attend each week as those who do... What an opportunity for growth if anyone could actually ever lead it properly, using Vision, Strategy, and Ambition... NB. Having Mark Lemon and Rob Lyon on the Leadership Team is something that could help shape a better future... Getting cut through and agreement from so many of their peers, who want so many different things from the sport, will be the major challenge though, as always..

They weren't going to say any different though, were they? Dont think they'd come out and say we've struggled, no-one wants to come here, etc.

I'm afraid Christmas has come and gone but the turkeys are still here!

They have a two year plan now... Year 1 - Do exactly the same as we always do... Year 2 - Do exactly the same as Year One..

A 3 month plan and let’s get the season started first🤔👍

And how many would shell out £20k plus to kit themselves out and then commit to being anywhere between Glasgow and Plymouth on any day of the week for £50 a point?

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.

I'm thinking that he might be the No.6 now instead of Zischke.

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.

That’s what Berwick fans said last season and it still applies.

Ah bless the Aces, always here to help when options get thin.

Dopey,grumpy and sleepy. No clue tbh mate my initial idea seems to have changed. I do think you will have cook,worth the risk.

Good on you for putting faith in your own given you were the only team that could've picked Cairns instead

Welcome Jody Scott

If you crash and bend your bike or your engines blows up in your first race what do you do ?

And not for the 1st time LOL.