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Speedway riders are mercenaries it's all about what they earn . Winning is nice but getting paid is better . In a sport we're winning a title means nothing and there no financial reward you get the best deal you can

I normally make a point of not commenting on here as it can just descend into petty arguments, but I feel I should respond to some of these. We completely respect everyone’s right to decide whether to renew there season ticket, but it’s worth clarifying a few things about the fixtures. Season tickets are sold on the basis of a set number of meetings between March and October — that hasn’t changed. Gaps in the schedule aren’t “missing” fixtures; they’re largely there to accommodate away meetings on shared race nights and to hold reserve dates for semi-finals and finals in competitions like the Knockout Cup and BSN Series, its ok to say what if we don't qualify for them, but what if we do? Last season there was heavy criticism about fixture congestion late in the year during the cold wet months, so spreading key dates across the calendar is a responsible approach. A lot of the gaps have now been filled with Saturday NDL fixtures to maintain continuity, as we did successfully last season and the date for the Under 21 final is still to be announced to fill another gap. The idea that there must be a home meeting every single week isn’t really how modern sport operates. In most professional leagues, home and away fixtures alternate weekly or even fortnightly. For example, the NFL regular season consists of just 17 games across 18 weeks — and it remains one of the strongest sports brands in the world. Experience shows that when additional meetings such as challenge matches or individuals are added, they unfortunately don’t receive the support needed to justify them. In reality, it’s about quality over quantity — ensuring the fixtures we stage truly matter.

Complin & Boxall

I can't see that working tbh. Im not sure PB would get enough fans to make it pay. Plus if PB was to be the better team, Buster would only have to loose 100 fans, who would rather watch the Panthers, to loose any money he would make by charging rent. To risky imho.

Although the toilets can be difficult to exit from 😆

Danyon Hume Racing (31st Dec 2025 on FaceBook) I would like to take a moment to sincerely thank all of my supporters. The back end year has been an incredibly tough one following my broken back injury, and I am still currently waiting for the metalwork to be removed. Throughout this challenging period, the support, encouragement, and patience shown to me has meant more than I can put into words. I’m extremely grateful to everyone who has stood by me, and I’m hopeful that 2026 will be a far more positive year and I will back on the bike with no doubt. Thank you all for your continued support — it truly doesn’t go unnoticed. Happy New Year

And so many call for this to be reigned in and for riders to go back to basics Just have 1 or 2 bikes , be frugal with the add ons and increase the service intervals But look at the abuse for Drew Kemp when he breaks down a few times........ "He needs to be more professional and up his game" "This shouldn't happen at this level" etc etc

Thanks for that - saves us all a lot of time and money See you in 2027

But that is the point.... he didn't miss a year, he rode in the NDL. As I've stated before this "non-professional" League is a load of nonsense - if he got paid he was a professional in a professional league.

It's obvious that anyone considering running Northampton should have spoken to the Forum members here before throwing their money away. They would have put them straight.

I'd take more teams in any league to be honest. Wholly agree that the gap between Development and Championship has narrowed. More riders should be rising up from Development not coming down for what seems like easier rides. Been very poorly managed

I think the only way a 6th club would work is to revive a defunct track, like Eastbourne, but of course that track is not possible.

I was told it’s the same company as taking over Ipswich, could it be a case of they are putting the money up and getting someone else in to run it and maybe the money on offer to run it isn’t a good enough deal to attract a potential management team, with his MotoGP team the GPs and 1 or potentially 2 teams there is no way they could run it themselves, they have been in the GP series 5 minutes and have already cut the riders salaries, it has got to be a case of finances somewhere as both Northampton and the potential buyers both want it, I can’t see anything but failure written all over this, it was going to be a tough sell to the public if it was done back in November but a month before the season and not even the location has been announced, this whole thing smacks of desperation because imo they know they should of tried to make one big league but they dug their heels in for their own self reasons and have now gone too far to back down, I just hope this doesn’t have ramifications for speedway itself if it does backfire

Out of the 4 Confirmed Teams. 1. Sheffield (Strong Spearhead, Second Strings who've yet to reach their peak and are likely to improve again, Etheridge is much better than his 3.00 GSA who was riding with an injury when signed last season) 2. Belle Vue (Needs drastic improvement from Blodorn & Zischke imo but Kurtz/Bewley put up so many points so it's hard to see them outside of the play-offs) 3. Leicester (Huge potential throughout the Team imo, Loyal Riders to British Speedway who will all turn up every week, The Top 5 are all capable of increasing starting GSA's imo) 4. King's Lynn (It's a better side than what they've had in previous years granted but who in the Top 5 is actually going to increase their starting GSA? I don't see where the improvement is but that's just my opinion)

I'm not sure the problem is with Mr Kemp's bikes 🤔

Thanks for that. I wish that the powers that be would give some encouragement to the Midland league as well, an invaluable step for new riders. Not every one is Cooper Rushen!

As recent history has shown the local area has no desire for motorsport in the area or rugby ! If you have driven around the area you will release that the inhabitants are mainly Asian and they just don’t get motorsports so any fan base would have to travel and combine that with the costs of upgrading and developing a dilapidated stadium means it’s never going to happen no matter how many times people insist on bringing it up on this forum.

It's all about the money !! In 1997, both Stock Cars and Speedway were kicked out of Odsal by the Bulls as the Super League had recently come into existence and Sky were throwing money at it, so they no longer needed the rental income. Plans for a fully enclosed 'Superdome' were published, which obviously would have made motorsports unfeasible. From 2012 to 2017, the Bulls went into administration 3 times, also dropping out of the Super League in 2014, and the 3rd one ended in liquidation. The Bulls that exist now are a completely new entity formed in 2017. During that first period of administration the RFL had to step in and purchase the leasehold on the stadium to help keep the club afloat. At the end of the 2019 season, they were still struggling financially and could no longer afford the rent so they moved out to Dewsbury for 2 seasons, leaving the RFL with an empty stadium. During the winter of 2020, the last Stock Car promotion to run at Odsal (Startrax), negotiated a return to Odsal with the RFL and made agreement with the Bulls to come back in with them. Allegedly, this was very beneficial to the Bulls, as rumour is that they had fallen out with the Dewsbury chairman and were going to be homeless in 2021. Since the return, the pitch has never met the minimum size specified in the rule book, but the RFL seemed happy to overlook this. However, now they have been 'promoted' back to the Super League, it has become more of an issue. Unfortunately for Stock Car racing, this promotion means the Bulls will be far better off financially, and it also coincides with the Bulls taking over the leasehold on the stadium from the RFL, giving them far more control over what happens. Despite the Stock Car promoters still having several years on the lease agreement, they are no longer welcome at Odsal, and I believe legal proceedings have taken place, but the rumour is that this was more about compensation than any possible return. The fact is, that without Startrax reopening Odsal in 2021 (a massive gamble as we were still under Covid restrictions at the time), the Bulls would not be playing there now, and would certainly not have been in the position to be rejoining the Super League. Then their fans wonder why all stock car fans are wishing for them to get relegated, go bust, or both !!

Mayfield are not the prospective promoters at Northampton. Foam fence ordered. Plenty of work to be done.

Personally I don't think it was ever going to happen, my opinion is them in charge kept talking about or dropping hints about Northampton to divert most people attention from the bigger issues of a 4 or 5 ? team premiership and now 4 weeks before the official start of the season (klindt testimonial) NO fixtures have yet been released

Floodlights are going in within the 6 weeks. Dont worry

Ah that makes sense Poole did training day around the Stock car track 20+ years ago. A short distance out of town.

Bonkers isn't it and certainly in the UK there's not the money coming in to warrant that kind of expense hence promoters regularly doing anything between 50-100k losses most seasons.

Makes you wonder how the 8% figure was arrived at and by whom.

As Jamie has stated speedway is very , very different now and with only nine teams, four of which run on a Friday then there are bound to be gaps in Friday night fixtures. The NDL fixtures would have been the gap fillers but it seems they only want to run on weekends now so Middlesbrough have become a Saturday night fixture. I agree about strange decisions but thats the state speedway has got itself in, we all yern for the good old days but thats gone and we just have to accept it. Better occasional, inconsistent speedway than non at all.

I hope we keep being ignored, prefer it that way!

Surely if a small supermarket could draw 30,000 visits per week from the 33% Asian population of Bradford, then A Speedway team could draw a 60,000 gate from the 60% of white people in Bradford?

From my knowledge Cradley Heath shut at the end of 1952 then moved across to Monmore as the Wolverhampton Wasps! They did not close in mid season 1953.

I think they're very overrated tbh with a lot of question marks to answer. Cook has committment issues and he can't seem to ride any Away Track that's not named the NSS, One minor crash and it could be deja vu when it comes to Leszno. Kvech hasn't improved as a Rider anywhere over the last few years and has gone backwards, Maybe he's reached his peak? I like Paco Castagna but he's quite the journeyman imo and his great personality mostly covers that up tbh.

Nothing personal - it's called a joke.....

But you must remember it is kings Lynn

I was only on loan from stoke,,I did 18 meetings for them and went back to stoke in 98, as much as I enjoyed my time there,met some fantastic fans and picked up a sponsor that sponsored me for the next 20 years I can’t remember the circumstances behind the closure

Nobody did. Sadly, the stock car promoter was ready for retirement so allegedly gave up his remaining lease for a sweetener. Had he held out on his further year, both speedway and greyhounds could have also continued in 1998 and the administrators would have been forced to advertise it for sale as a 'going concern'. As a stock car fan I will never forgive him for this.

Those were the days eh . Proper racers. They were pals too apparently.

Can we bin this idea about speedway at Northampton. It's going to be 5 teams at a push indeed if we (Ipswich) pull our fingers out and get it sorted. Other than that I reckon next winter we'll be in the same position only this time with 5 teams the hand will be forced. If any rightminded and sensible businessman wanted to open a speedway track then they would have done it by now without all the fuss and speculation. And indeed and most importantly they would be already marketing it as a going concern.

As you were: FIVE TEAMS BACK FOR NJL – British Speedway Official Website

When is the sliding roof going to be in place? Maybe Speedway will relaunch there then?

Supplementary Reg 31. (as of Feb 01/26).... Any Swedish rider, who hasnt ridden in either of fhe UK two top leagues for a "few" years, (let's keep it ambiguous), and whose surname has two lots of consecutive consonants in it, comes in at an average of 4.50...

Yes its like they have an F1 mentality to something that in real terms is more like Banger racing. It feeds down from the GP level, which has become ridiculous as its competitors seek out ever more technological and mechanical enhancements to gain a fractional improvement. Needs a radical change but cant see it happening, sadly

I honestly don’t have a problem with the team or any rider. My gripe is with the way rules in British speedway are just made up with very little effort or thought. I’m still waiting for an explanation for the points deduction to Workington last year. What is the criteria that needs to be met when the 8% reduction is applied for? How does that reduction work along side other reductions? I have quite a few other questions but it’s a waste of time listing them as the first two won’t be answered clearly. As much as I’m a bore, the point in any rule or law in sports is it will affect all the same. If the application of either is inconsistent it brings the whole show into disrepute.

I don't think it's rocket science, it shouldn't be at least, get your meetings planned as far in advance as possible and have them when they're least likely to be rained off. If the reserved weeks aren't filled by cup meetings/rearranged cancellations then stick on a challenge meeting. Your riders should be available to race for you on your race night every week. As a fan I never had an issue with a rider missing for a national/international meeting. It wasn't ideal but it's when they're riding for another club somewhere that it really takes the biscuit.

Everyone complains about the lack of track time and opportunities available for prospective new riders to try speedway....... Fact Not many tracks offer opportunities, but different organisations offer these to facilitate new riders. They also give opportunities to facilitate rider improvement and enhancement. What actually happens is that their is no communication between each track when they offer these facilities and they conflict. Would it not be better that all tracks and training facilities communicate with each other so no conflict of same day activity conflict, meaning lack of numbers deem they cannot take place due to lack of number and all are cancelled due to lack of numbers?

yes probably another team to win the league then close down. ?