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UK Speedway is clearly hamstrung by doubling up.. Neither league can pay those top tier third HL's/SS's, and 2nd tier "one and fives" individually, what these lads want to earn.. Therefore, they share the costs, to ensure so many teams can actually exist at the level they want to run at, and riders get what they want.. The top tier need to have some "top talent" to justify their "top tier" status... And those who run the sport as a hobby have zero interest in what the top tier do, and have even less than zero interest in joining them, but do like using riders they couldn't afford if the top tier didn't subsidise them.. In short... Doubling up, and Guestfest after Guestfest, (196 in the top two tiers last year), actually renders the sport a ridiculously "hard sell" to both sponsors (from outside the Speedway bubble), and potential new followers.... (Not promoted well Richard? Really? How do you actually promote that?) Sorting this sharing of riders is the No1 issue, and the biggest barrier to the sport ever becoming seen as "authentic" by those who no longer attend, or wish to sponsor clubs.. To the likes of Richard Coleman, I say... Good luck... Many before have seen the huge potential in such a unique concept of motorbike racing in a town environs... And all then basically, gave up, and cleared off, disillusioned, given those incumbents who run the sport, are more than happy with their lot.. Us fans may see potential, those who run it, particularly as a hobby, don't feel any growth is needed... (Especially If it impacts them)..

And at the risk of repeating myself, this is exactly WHY a current “top league” is only suited to 5 clubs. You’re struggling to get the fifth (Ipswich) team competitive, let alone a 6th! 7th or 8th? Absolutely no chance, forget it.

The reluctance to go back to basics and 1 League (albeit slower standard)is going to kill the sport of completely.

Interesting comments obvs 😂🤷‍♂️

I haven't really been following much of the championship throughout the winter but I've just caught up on the teams so here it goes... 1. Poole - Who else? No matter what anybody thinks of the side they always end up winning. Also the reserves could be the secret to their success this year. 2. Oxford - Brilliant top 5 3. Redcar - They just build decent sides every year. Really like the Edwards/Jenkins combo, just lacks some support for Wright 4. Glasgow - Unbelievable number 1 and 5. A few riders I've never heard of it in there but I'm sure they'll do well. 5. Berwick - My wild card choice. Morris on that average is a steal and I feel they have 3 genuine heat leaders. Could be a dark horse 6. Edinburgh - A solid side, good strength in the middle but lacks a little spark for me. Feel they may struggle at reserve? 7. Scunthorpe - Not sure what to make of this side, best rider in the league with Pickering which should carry them most home meetings but apart from that I'm not sure where the big wins come from. 8. Workington - A fun team especially at home. I just don't trust Bach and Cook to have the consistency to deliver 9. Plymouth - I actually think its a decent team but I think that every year and they always disappoint. Would love it if they make the play offs but just cant imagine it. Got to say I think all the teams assembled are pretty good. If i was a fan of any of those clubs Id be optimistic of a decent season. This is a really good league this year

The last ten fixtures at Foxhall prior to the witches title winning year were DLLLWWWLLW with one of those losses being a last heat decider. 50% success rate for the witches. Last year was a disaster for The Aces particularly the early KO cup fixture where Brady was saving himself for the final GP some 22 weeks later.

I can only see something like: Tom Brennan 7.05 Richard Lawson 6.83 Tobiasz Musielak 6.63 Danny King 6.50 Scott Nicholls 5.25 Jonas Jeppesen 4.34 Jason Edwards R/S 36.60

I have seen on certain FB pages that the sport, to move forward, needs Coventry, Peterborough, Wolves and Swindon back... Who, it has to be asked, will ride for them?. Name those 28 riders of sufficient capability..

The supporters club are organising the annual meet the riders on March 26th at Venue 16 in Ipswich. Shouldn't it be at Area 51

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002rp7m 30 minutes in

Didn’t “have the pick of the rider market” due to how late this deal happened, so basically tempering expectations for this year, but they’ve already “got an eye on where the club will go beyond this year”. My personal take on it, was it sounded like we’ve already suggested. Stick with us this year, real business starts next year. Also discusses UK speedway in general and the state it’s in. A lot of it was just repeating what was in the press release.

What did he say?

I hope it all works out for Mayfield, for the good of the club and British speedway.

Mr Coleman will definitely deliver. I’ve heard he is mustard….

Not Kim nilsson then? PHB maybe?

Why are you limiting yourself to Monday and Thursday? 14 teams of 5, 6 or 7 riders any night that works for the club. And before you come back with where are the riders, I've already quoted some 130 odd that competed in the 2025 season. But as the powers that be have decided to cut back on the NDL and even fill those teams with the likes of Simon Lambert and Jake Mulford instead of really developing the youth, I fear that the opportunity may have been missed, 2026 was the season to merge, who's still competing at the end of '26 is anybody's guess. The sport is only heading in one direction currently and that is very sad.

At this stage and despite the various suggestions put forward by many on here the Ipswich team is yet to be confirmed therefore everything is up in the air until an announcement from the new owners. Having read the statement released, like many who have commented it is to be commended for the proposals but they have failed to understand the closed shop that runs the sport which is surprising given the amount of information that is available if anyone bothers to trawl through the dross that is in the public domain. Ipswich coming to the tapes in 2026 is a plaster over what distracts from the real issues that the sport is facing in this country. List the issues in no particular order, doubling up, rules made up as the season goes on, management of a sport governed by self interest, up and coming riders learning the ropes who think they should earn top dollar, parents backing siblings who feel that overseas riders are taking away from their over rated prodigies, race days determined by overseas schedules, GPs which have lost the charisma and fail to track the best speedway riders in the world but instead pander to a woke selection so that no one feels left out and a sport which in the UK has failed to promote itself to the point where even loyal followers cannot be bothered to regularly attend meetings. Nothing new but the same old mediocrity from the few promoters who over the years have dragged the sport down. No forward thinking, electric machines dismissed, failure by the governing body to consider something new in terms of format, a lack of fight by the governing body when it comes to track closures and a bunch of riders who think they should earn from the sport a living for twelve months by screwing the system over a window of six months. The sport needs a wholesale change in order to move forward but those in charge are gutless individuals who if it is a hobby for them should relinquish their ties and let the sport start over to give it a chance and if that means riders have to be come part time so be it. Change is needed.

He would have ridden here no doubt about it. There’s a few others that probably would as well if there wasn’t so much uncertainty and waiting around. Becker, Ellis, Rew a few that spring to mind.

Of course it will... You know that, I know that, and tens and tens of thousands of fans, who no longer attend, but still closely follow the sport, elsewhere, know that... The undeniable issue, is that those who are quite happy to run the sport as a hobby, won't ever, for one second, accept that.. Until, of course, their hobby doesn't exist anymore..

What was once a laudable development idea, that gave those moving up a "safety net", should their higher division aspirations be beyond them... Became the ONLY reason two tiers can pass themselves off as a professional entity..

If Ipswich didn’t have the pick of the rider market , what will the potential Northampton side look like

Doubling up became a total joke. One season an ENTIRE premiership team was made up of double uppers and there were two other riders used in that team who were also double uppers making it NINE in total. Promoters such as this one have presided over the steep decline of our sport, usually from a position of power at the top table. Little wonder we find ourselves where we are with this kind of promoter running the show. Danny King (Poole) Craig Cook (Glasgow) Jason Crump (Plymouth) Jake Allen (Redcar) Paul Starke (Kent) Anders Rowe (Edinburgh) Drew Kemp (Edinburgh) Cameron Heep (Kent) Jordon Stewart (Redcar)

I did wonder if this type of thing would continue so good on the supporters club for carrying it on. The other, was the professional photo shoot that Chris always carried out at Ipswich Sports club on the morning of press and practice. Wonder if that will continue also.

Would broadly agree with that, I think the top four you have identified stand out clearly from the rest on on paper. Unless Poole are scuppered by injuries they should win it at a canter.

More cock up than conspiracy, it is to be hoped

I hope that Mayfield sports are more savvy than the old GP organisers were when they bought Reading in the 00's and made many mistakes like p@ssing money on ridiculous wages and changing an iconic nickname. I trust someone has mentioned the ill fated Reading Bulldogs venture to Mayfield sports given its likely they won't have any knowledge of it? Also Ipswich speedway is a completely different level to what Reading speedway in the 00's was as the Witches must be the best supported track in the Country while Reading at that time wern't well supported and had been subsidised by the greyhounds at Smallmead for many years.

Wednesday 1st April Oxford Cheetahs vs Coventry Bees

Wednesday 1st April Oxford Cheetahs vs Coventry Bees challenge match.

If Thorssell is out of the picture, it HAS to be Jeppesen doesn’t it? Forget his up and down form for Birmingham, it was clearly a poor environment to race in with all the uncertainty and every rider there didn’t do particularly well understandably. But in his 10 meetings for Berwick he settled straight away and averaged 9.67 with bonus’ and shot straight to number 1. Leicester are built in a similar way to Ipswich and are the only ones with Kemp and Gilkes who could push the Ipswich reserves, but Jeppesen and Edwards should be dominant over all the others who look weak in that area.

They said park and ride gonna be available, details soon

And that’s exactly what we’re going to have to do also. Just hope enough people stick with it in the short term to give the new owners the financial support they’ll need to invest in something stronger next winter when more options will be on the table. A season of making a heavy loss isn’t likely to encourage them to splash the cash next year..

You’ll both have a brilliant time. Top class racing on a proper racetrack. Never first out of the gate is the nailed on winner at the NSS.

We can clearly see the team will be weak but at least we have a team and a club Maybe even Belle Vue will scrape a win at Foxhall this season lol

Not really. He agreed to do that quite a while ago. Any collapse in negotiations to ride over here wouldn’t affect his commitment to ride for Klindt in his testimonial. Be interesting to see how he gets on though.

One to tell the riders to make great starts and then ride as fast as they could..? And the other to tell them to turn left when they got to end of every straight..?

I look at streaming as an opportunity to see away meetings. I’m self employed so taking a whole day plus fuel to attend an away meeting is quite costly. Streaming has its place, I don’t think I can justify travelling away but I’m happy to pay to watch it on my tv.

Who is it

Now posting as tapewrecker

oi, im always right, just things change 😂

If people don't think about expanding speedway or building new tracks to replace closed down tracks, the sport will die even faster than them in charge are doing now. Remember Poole dispite bringing in the fans has Osborne behind the scene, so you could be without a stadium anytime. Property money talks better than speedway money