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Just saw this in Northampton town centre...

I don’t really understand people using the fact Mayfield have made cuts at GP level as a stick to beat them with. The product was haemorrhaging money left right and centre. There was hardly a queue of people lining up to take over Warner/Discovery who wanted nothing more to do with it all. Any businessman worth his salt would be making monetary cuts to stem the flow of losses. That’s just common sense isn’t it? Really don’t understand the criticism there at all.

Problem is, and it's a big problem for not only Ipswich and / or Northampton, but British Speedway as a whole, especially at this extremely late stage, is that Richard Coleman does not have money at his disposal, he always uses other people's money. The guy wants to be Christian Horner, but is very much a "pound shop" version, playing with other's money. A google search regarding the new owners / investors of the "Tech3" MotoGP team reveals the following: Tech3 MotoGP Investors Pierre Gasly and David Blitzer are part of a broader investor group acquiring Tech3 MotoGP, led by Günther Steiner and IKON Capital. Additional investors include Main Street Advisors (led by Paul Wachter), Bolt Ventures (David Blitzer's firm), SLAM/TRAIL (Gasly's group), and others such as ALK Capital, Penman Holdings’ Barry English, Tom Stafford, Charles de Carvalho, and Dolphin Capital’s Richard Cook. Notice the absence of Richard Coleman as an investor? He may be the team principal, but he is basically "just" an employee as things stand. David Blitzer holds stakes across major leagues as co-managing partner of Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment (HBSE), owning the Philadelphia 76ers (NBA) and New Jersey Devils (NHL). He has minority ownership in the Cleveland Guardians (MLB, 25% with option for control), Washington Commanders (NFL), and previously Real Salt Lake/Utah Royals (MLS, sold majority in 2025 but retains stake). Blitzer also owns stakes in international soccer clubs via Global Football Holdings, including Crystal Palace (Premier League), FC Augsburg (Bundesliga), Brøndby IF (Denmark), and others like Estoril Praia (Portugal) and ADO Den Haag (Netherlands); additional investments cover Joe Gibbs Racing (NASCAR) and more. Tech3 MotoGP is based in Bormes-les-Mimosas, 65 miles from Marseille, in Provence in the south of France. Also, In the Speedway Star magazine interview dated September 27, 2025, Coleman discussed his new role as FIM Speedway Grand Prix (SGP) promoter from 2026, stating that the budget for the series would be cut compared to previous years, which we now know has cut prize money by around 25% - 30%, with racesuits also falling by the wayside in favour of a return to old style race jackets.. In the article, Coleman highlighted his involvement with the South of France-based Tech3 MotoGP team as Team Principal, noting he would attend some SGP events but not committing to all, amid Mayfield's growing Formula 1 engagements in addition to MotoGP with "Tech3"... While Mayfield Sports Events are viewed by some as saviors for Ipswich Speedway, given the extensive commitments outlined above, how will Coleman manage to fit everything in? He wont - Coleman will rely on SGP hosting tracks and loyal Ipswich staff to operate SGP events and league racing, while prioritising MotoGP. For example, the day after the two SGP events at Belle Vue, there is a round of MotoGP in Hungary, with MotoGP practice happening whilst the SGP is in full flow in Manchester. Wonder where Coleman will be that weekend, and other such clashing weekends? The probable hold up to Mayfield's heavily rumoured takeover at Ipswich? A lack of investment, other's investment funds, as Coleman himself hasnt got the money. The sport will find out he is a Walter Mitty character, who spins a good yarn, but who has as much financial substance as Arthur Daley & Del Boy Trotter !

I care for the wellbeing of the sport and that’s all,as of this moment mayfield have been anything but credible about their speedway venture, they haven’t even said they are the company doing it. So forgive me if I don’t share your enthusiasm for another possible speedway disaster, I’ll be happy to be proved wrong

With all due respect, where are they now flagrag? And now Dean is sticking the boot in too. Come on people at least give them a fair crack of the whip before writing them off as disasters waiting to happen ffs. They’ve at least shown up to keep the show on the road whilst those that lay on an excellent buffet have buggered off. Bizarre. Anyway, veering off topic here. Northampton. Can anyone upload the pics of the Holders there today? I don’t do Faceache. Edit: Just seen Haza’s post. Thank you

I am sure the UK Speedway Marketing Director, and the young team of innovators and influencers who work for him/her, are working on the launch even whilst we discuss it...

I dunno actually. We think along those lines because we’re part of a very very small pool of supporters that regularly frequent this forum. The vast majority of supporters that turn up at their tracks will have gotten on with their lives over the winter and been oblivious to the finer details of club sales and a new track. I’d bet there actually isn’t that many who are like kids at Christmas and want to know what they’re getting yesterday. A bigger number will be confused at there being no fixtures or season tickets on sale sure, but I’m not convinced it’ll be a dealbreaker! From a personal point of view, after a long winter I’m at the point now where I’ve missed the racing and I’m looking forward to getting up to Lynn in a few weeks to watch some Speedway.

Running on a Saturday and not a Tuesday is a major improvement..... Plenty of young kids (and obviously those who pay for them), now in attendance that wouldn't be there on a Tuesday... When they are there you can engage them so they pester their parents and guardians to return... Difficult to do that when they are at home getting ready for school/nursery on Wednesday morning... I presume Stox don't run on normal Mondays and Thursdays for a reason...? Around a quarter of a million people live in and around Northampton so a pretty big target market for a completely new venture to try and attract... Getting around "1 in 200" (0.5%), or so, to attend regularly will be the aim I would imagine, with visitors from surrounding tracks, and ex tracks, an hour or so away being some added extra income to chase.... Surprised tbough at the secrecy to be honest given, ordinarily in business, you would want "the world to know" who you are, what you are doing, and when you will be open.. Difficult to build hype when no one knows about you... (Just like can be said for the sport in general isn't it?)... Best of Luck to All involved..

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

Going by the time some say it takes to get there if he is 20 mins away that must be about a mile down the road ...

Don't think it's a HIgh Street Bank. He seems like more of a Merchant Banker.

I first thought CHolder was peering through a hole in the poster, like what you do at the seaside, being the O in Northampton!

Oh look. Polish troll is back. The one who said The SGP wasn't happening in 2026..... A few weeks before the 2026 SGP Calendar was announced. Now it's claiming that Companies House says Mayfield only came into existence in August 2025, even though Companies House clearly shows it was formed on 1 October 2014, and merely altered its name in 2025 to reflect its new move into MotoGP and Speedway

Steve Irving seems to have developed a mild allergy to facts when it comes to Richard Coleman and Mayfield Sports Events. A quick look at Companies House shows that Mayfield only came into existence in August 2025 — meaning any “track record of success” is, at best, still in the paddock. A quick Google confirms that while MotoGP’s Tech3 team has a long list of investors, Richard Coleman is not among them. Mayfield hasn’t even staged a single Speedway Grand Prix heat as event controllers yet, but somehow found time to slice riders’ prize money by up to 30%. Yet Steve calls their involvement “huge”… and he’s right, just not in the way he thinks. It’s a huge gamble — a huge leap into the unknown. Meanwhile, the much‑rumoured Mayfield takeover of Ipswich Speedway still looks some distance from the chequered flag. With February 18th upon us and no deal in sight, we’ll probably see the Easter Bunny before that contracts get inked. Maybe Steve’s just still got stars in his eyes from his favourite little‑known TV show, Track Idol, where he votes for Richard Coleman week after week — while the rest of us prefer the factual series Unblinkered. You have also never considered that, being born in the late 1960s, I have been in and around speedway for a very long time, nor have you considered that I have crossed paths with Coleman and know how he operates... For the sake of speedway, and people, fans, riders and others, potentially left high and dry by Coleman / Mayfield, but history says otherwise... Have you seen Flagrag's comments later in this thread ? : "Unfortunately Mayfield don’t have a great record with Speedway organisational skills. The GPs that they promoted operationally were a disaster with a number of important things that they forgot to arrange and in the end Discovery got them out of a mess by arranging the missing bits and bringing their operations team in. Even on the day little things were not arranged like buffet and food for officials , sponsors not getting their pit walks and badge allocation with track marshals names not on lists for practice just for the event etc "

That’s the problem we at Belle Vue have had for decades, knowing who will be in our league. Any of our current or past competitors can just decide on a whim that they are dropping out. It’s a nightmare and very amateurish.

This isn't an officlal poster... If it was, it would have also said... "And Bring a Friend!"..

As I've said elsewhere if the current crop of riders aren't putting the bums on the seats they can hardly complain if the prize money goes down while competing in half empty (and sometimes completely empty, SWC) stadiums.

Mayfield didn't ruin the GP's. FIM Leftists did by diluting the product when exluding Russian's and then replacing them with bang average out of depth riders in a box ticking exercise.

1st visit to Plymouth will be this season, dont think the club gets enough credit for work and effort in changes and upgrades to their track to improve the racing ,safety and over all entertainment. Fair play Plymouth ,best of luck for 2026.

Could have been passing through along the M1 and thought let’s go and have a look at the Stadium and stir a few people up it’s a photo that’s all . And it could be AI

Is it you that’s representing UK at Eurovision?!

Can imagine potential sponsors at Northampton has long time lost interest similar with other clubs to a lesser extent cant even tell a potential sponsor how many teams are in the league this close to the start of the new season in all honesty who would be the slightest bit interested in sponsoring a club ?

Think most regular speedway fans would have said we have to a step back and regroup,but the men in charge seem intent on self destruction.IMO. The Premiership is only in name apart from I/2 doz riders.

It's past getting the point where people now don't care what happens, then will be thinking twice about attending speedway in the future, then if the punters don't attend the promoters business plan ( if they have one ) goes out of the window. This applies to not just Ipswich it's the whole fookin sport

And if they followed Sheffield’s lead, “you buy 10 and get NONE free!!” 😁

British based riders and running on a night to suit the fans are probably the two biggest drivers.

And here he is again regurgitating the same old crap on various threads. You have a clear agenda here against Richard Coleman for reasons only you know. It’s blatantly personal.

And just how many people do you think are prepared to spend this amount of time travelling to watch speedway on a regular basis?

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.

We’ve had Pjiper’s and Harrison in various Berwick junior Teams but somehow not persuaded them to stick around for Bandits.Tell you something.IMO

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.

Must be cheap 🤪 been about for years and got no better, yet still gets signed up, where others show promise but don't get signed 🤔 my conclusion is less £ than someone else

It's like Richard Branson. They say he's a brilliant businessman, but have you tasted his homemade Vol-au-Vents? I found the pastry too flaky, and not enough filling. The bloke can't cook. I was up for a big deal, but they put me right off.

Those in charge of the sport have created their own self inflicted nadir. It is not just about Ipswich or Mayfield (assuming they are officially the new owners of the Witches) it is collectively where the sport goes from here. Club owners/promoters are treating loyal supporters with such contempt, riders think the punters owe them a living and the up and coming talent is squeezed out by the double uppers who selfishly could not care one iota about the pipe stream of potential talent that is trying to break into the sport. Promoters, management and double uppers are the ruinous tribe who are bringing the sport to its knees and for it to survive a radical shake up is needed. Ipswich have ignited an issue but in reality the sport is on its knees and things need to change.

No the other side of the world I understand and the new promoters have very deep pockets along with some great sponsors lined up

And the longer it goes on, many potential sponsors may lose interest in putting money into a local track, as the sponsor will have to include the money in a potential business plan and organise to bring contacts for a day out at their chosen fixture

Well, one week down of the latest two week turnaround! Will we get a sale confirmation by this time next week, or will we get another “update” of another delay? The suspenders are killing me! 😁

These issue are extremely common in commercial leases when a tenant wishes to sell a business the landlord can insist on robust and onerous conditions in simple terms guarantees .This may also include financial remuneration for allowing transfer or a complete new lease . Even the simplest commercial lease depending on the detail can cost a minimum of 3-5 K each party ,I would imagine in this case the costs could be significantly more .

At least Arthur And Del understood how to sell their products to the public...... There is a new Speedway track opening this year... I believe.... Or so I have read and heard.... Obviously it might be just a rumour... But, it might not... But, then again, it might be...

I appreciate the Luke situation given his age and reliance on family for Travel but he did turn up a lot at Berwick from an early age.Iam quite sure if the right over comes in he won’t mind the travel though.

Jacob Clouting 7.03 NDL 4.18 NDT Senna Summers 7.11 NDL 5.58 NDT Vinnie Foord 7.73 NDL 9.17 NDT William Cairns 10.78 NDL 9.56 NDT Ace Pijper 9.86 NDL 7.38 NDT Ashton Vale 6.38 NDL 4.44 NDT Ben Trigger 9.06 NDL 8.30 NDT Luke Harrison 9.68 NDL 7.89 NDT

Take your point. If they start charging it is not going to go down well. I would rather watch Mildenhall if that charge is introduced. I use to avoid speedway meetings when the tendency was for six man teams with that guy using the pseudonym of R/R. Now they want to charge you to park, an exorbitant amount to get through the gate for which you get just fifteen minutes of entertainment, a programme that no longer fits the board bought twenty years ago and the current cost of a cup of tea use to buy you three pints of Watneys Red Barrel or two and a half pints of Double Diamond back in the early seventies. What is the world coming to, I need to get me coat and get back on the trolley bus to New Cross.

The premiership with 6 teams is still a joke. Northampton have no fans as of yet. These are stone wall hard truths. I'm really hopeful Northampton gets thousands turning up week in week out but there aren't even any fixtures out yet. No advertisement. No news. Nothing told to the locals of Northampton speedway. Just rumours. So the people turning up are already speedway fans but they don't even support Northampton. I'm positive there is a new club, but I'm not exactly jumping for joy either. That's because we've lost so many clubs in recent times. Sorry for the negativity but if we all stop moaning nothing changes. Everything just carries on as normal. The fact that many fans online have voiced there concerns of a 4/5 team league has forced Phil Morris to add a new club. I honestly think if everyone pretended everything is great they would have done a 4 team league. Without us negative trolls things would get even worse. Fans have a voice and I'm using it to force change. Change like Northampton which is great news. Shame this couldn't have been sorted months ago...

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

Thorssell on a 4.50 is absolutely ridiculous.

I for one would be very happy to see Tai lining up for us, absolutely flew around Foxhall on his first visit in years for Sheffield a couple of seasons ago and remarked he’d forgotten how much fun he found the smaller tracks people hate on him and yet complain we don’t have any characters anymore 🤷‍♂️

Lifeboats that the Premiership teams have subsidised...

I guess you didn't read my post.

Why does everyone seem to hate Woffinden on here?