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I just cannot, and will not be able to square away the fact that a track can be opened where nobody is calling for it, yet there have been multiple clubs that it would have been much easier to save but weren't rescued over the last let's call it a decade or so. It's compounding years of bad business with some more bad business.

Well if it all comes off at Northampton I wish them luck .

A lot of doom and gloom on here. At least they're trying to give it a go with Northampton. Come on, it's a new track for heaven's sake so at least give it a chance before all the wading in with negative comments. Some posters have said the BSPL should be attempting to get a track up and running where there's already a fan base but places like Coventry, Swindon, Wolves etc ain't going to be happening anytime soon. Northampton has been put forward, the owners/promoters seem to be keen to have speedway there so good luck to them. You just never know, it may turn out to be a resounding success. Fingers crossed.

What is the deadline for Northampton (if it is actually Northampton) to declare ya or nay? we are 11 days away from march, 27 days away from first meeting, the secrecy is beyond a joke, no premier fixture list, no statements to the paying public, speedway has committed some real shoot itself in the foot moments over the years but this is just another level

I wholly disagree with this and know so from experience My son currently lives and works not too far from Telford and has manages to get back to Ipswich for 7:45 Tuesday kick offs leaving sometimes as late as 4:15 For him Brafield would be about 100 mins, from Birmingham perhap 85, Wolverhampton 70 and Coventry under 60 Yes delays can always happen but 2 hours plus from those areas would be very unlikely

more music like this 😎

I suppose so much of that will depend on how well the owners promote it... Maybe they are excellent at marketing and presenting, and the "match day experience" persuades many to becomes regulars.... Let's be honest, the bar is set pretty low when it comes to that so maybe they can be a stand out performer?... The sport needs a success story, so let's hope Northampton can be it... It may also encourage others to follow suit if what they deliver is successful....

Not many meetings to fit in so they could start sometime in May... Only initially doing Away meetings will mean a fair few quid in reserves is required with no money coming in though...

Engaging with the youngsters is such a pain for us long time attendees. Quite why the track shop doesn’t stock club flasks and comfy cushions is beyond me. Could we ban kids altogether or is that just happening by default due to the jolly nature of those older fans around them.

Or this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvosxyowuEk&list=RDKvosxyowuEk&start_radio=1

Significant reduction in prize money for each squad in 2026, courtesy of Sportowefakty:

stop hating on British speedway 🤣

Sorry to be a part pooper. Anyone who thinks that you could drive from anywhere west of Coventry (e.g Greater Birmingham, Black Country, Staffordshire, Worcestershire or further west) in anything under 2 hours to remote Northamptonshire is living in cloud cuckoo land. It can take an hour to get from Wolverhampton to Birmingham or Birmingham to Coventry. The only way a Track in Braefield can attract any fans further west than Coventry would be to run on Saturday night or Sunday. Fans would literally have to take a day off work / school and fork out £40 / £50 in fuel. They may do it once or twice for novelty value but that is all. Its a financial disaster on the Perry Barr scale waiting to happen.

I think regularly attracting any worthwhile amount of supporters from defunct tracks is a myth...

Well, when I was involved in it 10 years ago, there were plenty of riders taking part in a dozen MDL teams. Any shortage of riders now is the result of the complete indifference shown by the BSPL or whoever is in charge. No effort has been made to encourage new riders, so what do they expect?

Both your comments above suggest that Liam has been snubbed by Edinburgh for ensuring he got a team place - Which couldn’t be further from the truth! The reality is there can only be 2x 500cc riders per NJL team and they all have to try where every they can to get a team place and track time. The NDL Academy team has packed in over-seas riders for this season. Leaving no hope of progression for juniors stepping up. Don’t make out this the fault of any of our local lads being unwilling to ride when they are all bidding against each other for what little team spaces there are, and still be overlooked for Aussie incomers.

Sorry, I thought you were asking who the stadium owners were.

Yet some of the owners of British betting companies were the biggest UK tax payers last year

Well, for at least the last 2 years, the riders have been consistently unable to put bums on seats, the same goes for the GP's.

Can’t compare him with Garrity and wrong to do so.

Braefield/Northampton, are they one and the same? There used to be a Track at Braefield many years ago - is this the same place? Just out of interest, when Braefield closed, the Track Record Holder was Pete Wrathall (former Sunderland 'Star'). I suppose if it does, hopefully, get going - then he will still be the Track Record holder?

4.37 - 2.5% = 4.26 ( his 2026 Championship starting average ), which when doubled is 8.52. Jake last appeared for Middlesbrough in the NDL in 2024, with an average of 8.67. This average of 8.67 is higher than his 2026 Championship average, when doubled. So because the 8.67 is the higher of the 2, Jake's NDL average is the one he last had in 2024. Hope that clears that one up.

redcarr annouced theres friday

I'm based in West London and in my time I've followed Wembley, Wimbledon, Hackney, White City, Eastbourne, Rye House, Lakeside and Oxford... I think it's about a 60 mile drive for me to get to Northampton, so I might give them a visit or two if it ever get's off the ground...

Should make for an interesting reserve duo 😁 Lee was a great character though and he's a loss to speedway. Hopefully he will make a return one day even if it's just to the NDL to help along the young riders.

I don't see why all the negativity, Northampton is easily accessible from many major roads, if you have been deprived of speedway I would have thought you would see this as a godsend.

Myself and 2 mates ( one of which went to Broadmoor, but enough of that) ran a mobile disco for a couple of years in my late teens with 2 Garrard SP25 MKIV decks running through a Marshall Valve amp and 2 Marshall cabinets, no sound to light in those days, lots of lights powered by rotary columns of microswitches on different dwell cams, all taken from old Xerox copier mechanical timing arrays.

Whilst i very much agree its hard to argue that more opportunities at a development level creates bigger competition in league speedway. Quick scan of 2015 shows 10 teams and 70ish riders. Around half of those went on to rider NL and several higher (some were already NL at the time). It certainly shouldn't be league places for all but it should be a case that those with enough ability can showcase their talents in the MDL/NJL and if they are fortunate to get opportunities from there so be it. The MDL was shrunk down to pointless numbers, those competing lost interest, for any starting out its hardly an inviting option leaving the majority of newcomers being the cream of youth rounds whilst the rest get discarded. The NJL is great with the focus on current and next generations but then fails to offer variety of racing across a night. The solution is to get a lot of kids into speedway, supply plenty of opportunities to get on track and learn how to race and hope from there BUT certainly easier sad than done.

The mind-numbing game of throwing balls at a line inside of the track during the interval should do it. So very 21st century.

Various roads surrounding the stadium may get parked, but may upset the locals, track is only a few minutes walk from the main A57 road with lots of buses, maybe able to park a few mile away and get the bus. Think the road outside the stadium gets closed for the GP, for league meetings plenty of parking on here.

I think you are getting a few crossed wires here. The first meeting back at Odsal was under covid restrictions with a crowd limit of 4,000. This sold out as we had been waiting nearly 25 years to get back there. Later that year the F1 World Final was held with a crowd of possibly 10k, but that was not the norm. As I said in my other post, F1 meetings would pull crowds of 3-5k on average. The other meetings that don't involve F1s have much smaller attendances. F1 drivers do not pay to enter, they actually receive start money and also each driver gets 3 additional mechanics/family in free. The other formulas 'pay to race' but these are the meetings with the smaller crowds.

We generally book parking at the school next door for the big meetings. You can book this on the ticketing website. The access looks tight but we've never had problems getting away quite quickly after the meeting.

Could have thrown a free programme in, might have made it a bit more tempting

10 years ago speedway was quite rosey. TIMES HAVE CHANGED .

Yer buy 10, Yer get none free!!!

Likewise, hardly missed a new era Newport meeting, went to a few at Somerset, ( awful drive down a regularly jammed M5) standing on a cold slippery bank and a circuit that was basically a big doughnut, never compared favourably to Newport, went to a few at Swindon as well, poor atmosphere looking through wire fencing across a dog track did not compare favourably either, once your team is gone it is hard to switch allegiance. I would rather attend a grass track now, slick operation, lots of good close races, but if Newport was to return I would be back in a heartbeat /

Birmingham, with Cradley, Coventry and Wolverhampton, (and even Stoke), within reasonable commutable distance, certainly would back up that opinion... Getting a new track should be something to celebrate, but you do feel that there is a certain amount of desperation with this venture, with allowing riders to double up (as we know how important that is), being the main reason for another top tier team... Let's hope whoever takes over can truly promote a high octane, adrenaline fuelled, exciting and dangerous sport, which brings in plenty of fans who then become regulars... If they can, then maybe it can become a template for others to do the same...?

Early to mid March at the latest.

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 !!

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

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.

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

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...

He rode for Eastbourne in 1982 and was fantastic averaging well over 9, sadly his last season in Europe. What a top three Eastbourne had that year, Ronnie, Kelly Moran and Gordon Kennett all averaging well over 9.

Great signing developing and gives his all well done club and mr pipe

As ever, winning at home is crucial, hopefully with some exciting racing.