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It wouldn't be any surprise if Dan got "an offer he couldn't refuse" from Ipswich, which was so good it changed his mind about riding over here.. With the added bonus of riding at a GP track, (which will be brand new to many of his challengers for the World Title)... Basically. "A Self employed person decides to take up a good offer of a contract", and nothing more than that.. Poland offer up two year contracts knowing what the landscape will be two years in advance, and know that, regardless of success, they won't be penalised team building wise.. The UK don't know from one season to the next what the landscape will look like, and, regardless of zero success, you can stilll be penalised team building wise.. Don't hate the player, hate the game...

Come off it fella, this is a forum for opinions, people are allowed to voice whether they think a rider is good, bad or indifferent and who they may or may not want to see don their race jacket. It's incredibly sad that tracks go to the wayside, it's happening far too often and I feel you and the other Diamonds fans as I do the Robins, Brummies, Bees, Eagles, Racers, Panthers, Hammers et al but this 'just be thankful you have a team' stuff is really dull and adds nothing to the conversation.

Craig Cook. That’s crackers IMO

I'm sure that Deano will say I'm fit to be a BSPA member 😁 but I do think a huge part of Speedways decline is due to circumstances beyond it's control. Sport in general has suffered from less spectator attendance at all except the top levels in a couple of cases. It would be easy to think motor racing for example is doing well because of the success of F1 but the reality is that most racing takes place in front of friends and family. So many things have changed in the past few decades not least far more people working unsocial hours as a matter of course. I have an interest in Speedway but have not seen a live meeting since Cardiff because I work Monday to Friday nights, there must be a lot of people who are at work or finish work too late to attend Speedway. Far less people ride motorcycles now when probably in the 50's the vast majority at least had a family member who did so perhaps felt some sort of association to the riders (is that why banger racing still draws a good crowd when it's like watching paint dry as far as I'm concerned?) I think in the early days it was something working class kids could aspire to in the same way as boxing to make good money. When I was a kid my parents liked Speedway but it was my passion for the sport that had them attending two meetings most weeks, along with the fact that we had two relatively local tracks. Kids today have so many things they can actually do rather than watch, we might not consider playstation or phone games much but for kids it's often what they are passionate about. For sure there are many things that could be improved. For me the most important would be tracks that promoted passing, but of course many aspects of the presentation could be improved. However that is only really preaching to the converted. If Speedway is to have a future as a professional sport the only way forward that I can see is for it to be funded by sponsorship/ advertising created by TV and media presence. Otherwise I can only see a future where it is like the majority of sports. Funded by the competitors paying to be there at weekends except for the very best in the world competing once a year in each country for a World Championship.

Vinnie is easily the 2nd best rider on that list IMO. He also rode at No.2 for about 90% of his Championship meetings, unlike all the others who rode at the easier reserve spots.

I don't think there will be any Stars fan that won't be happy, with Jody back.

Jody Scott is the rising star again for the 2027 season.No surprise really and I am happy he is back,like no doubt most Lynn fans are.

I would have Antti back, very good around the GT Tyres Arena, just needed more belief in his own ability on some away tracks. Good professional attitude.

Tbf i am no fan of Craig Cook, but sounds up for it in the interview. Lets hope he lasts the season.

Think the choice between Holder snr and Pickering will come down to who wants least £. Rumour last year was Pickering wanted same points money as Holder jnr don’t think he’s at that level yet. Also at Sheffield over the years they shove the reserves to the right of the pit area away from the heat leaders another end of the pits was only Howarth who pitted in that area near the reserves to give help. Let’s see if that changes as we all know Ingram will be out of his depth at least to start the season he could do with being in with the big boys to put an arm around him Personally I’d prefer both Holder snr and Pickering to move on and for the owners to try a new approach

Freudian slip? 🤭

The championship should have rising stars and British U24 UK riders in the teams, then more experienced riders in the premiership

I don't see how it's going to benefit riders who with the exception of Jody Scott haven't really got past the level of a Championship reserve yet. And that's not meant disrespectfully, they're developing at their own pace which is fine. It's just a concern that you're throwing them in too early. Meanwhile you have someone like Joe Thompson who is still young but could miss out on a place altogether just at the point where years of struggle in the top division had begun to turn into good scores. The five aside from Scott would be better off linked to these clubs for the season but as riders who would step in if one of the reserves was missing. Or if both sides in a meeting are without a rider of similar average, they come in and the rest move up a place to avoid the use of guests.

What are the rules if a u21 rider gets injured, or as other commitments for FIM?? rising stars can only be replaced by other rising stars that aint on a list, assume you can only get another u21 rider in, and if so, what happens when all clubs are riding, obviously rr, but what if the u21 is at 6

The Speedway season ended differently this year but Max hasn't completely turned his back on Speedway, he just feels at the moment he needs to take a break away from it and we would like to Thank the Championship club's that contacted us for next year and Phil Morris regarding the U21 Premiership rising star position for their understanding at this present time.

When you take a step back and look att speedway from the grand scheme of things you have to conclude that the sport itself despite its woes and bad management is still moderately successful, not many other sports get the crowds either side of 1000 every week without any mainstream publicity or are even in the public consciousness, it’s expensive, it’s badly run and yet we still get crowds attending, cricket and tennis and other sports that get daily mainstream publicity and big corporate sponsorship but get less people attending outside the big events than speedway and on that basis two things really stand out, first is just how successful are stockcars and 2nd just think how big speedway could be if we got our act together and got mainstream publicity

Totally agree i get a meal before going into stadiums and with a copy of the good beer guide plenty of good real ale options around all tracks.

Just be thankful you will have a team to watch in 2027....

I don't reckon most folk will think that at all. I have been reading Dean's Posts for a long time now. I don't agree with him some of the time, but generally his Posts make sense and I have learnt a lot about what goes on behind the scenes in Speedway from him. I hope he keeps on going. This is supposed to be a debating Forum after all. It wouldn't be very interesting if we all had the same view on every issue.

This must be an AI mistake - surely the beer is BITTER 😉

I think that's a league winning team

Id reply to that with what about the other years and teams he has left up rubbish creek. The guy can ride no doubt, but I absolutely can not understand how he has a team place anywhere after proving time and again he can’t be relied upon.

The only thing he left hanging was the Comets fans and promotion. Anything the guy says should be taken with a pinch of salt. Sad really given what he can do on track, but his lack of self-awareness is comical. I still wish him all the best.

He says that every Season for the last 4 years.Best of luck with that signing.No doubting his talent BUT!

Cook be gone by end of April lol

Wow that’s definitely something else. No way did I think anyone would give him yet another chance. That’s some risk.

No surprise with Fraser. He hinted as much at the end of season party. Many people - including Fraser himself - didn't realise how bad his injuries were! Hope he has a speedy and complete recovery.

Ben Cook is off to Sheffield isn't he?

vinnie is a trier who doesn’t give up that’s what we need. He also has floppy Norris in his corner so will be getting some decent advise.

Imo there shouldn’t be an order, riders should get to pick where they want to ride, you can’t force a rider to ride for a team. Even if that gives an advantage to some teams over others

If you want to be part of a range of projects and initiatives aimed at helping to keep speedway in Britain alive then by all means visit http://www.speedwayunited.org as we use the findings from the British Speedway 2030 report which is being serialised in Speedway Star this month to come up with strategies to help the sport nationally and at club level. Many fans are frustrated and feel disenfranchised, unable to make any impact with what can feel like a sport run by people who are not listening. Let's make it hard to ignore fans and others with something to offer. For this we need numbers, people signing up to join Speedway United, subscribe to updates etc. and we also need action which may start small but evidence what coordination, collaboration and connection can do. During the course of my research for the Speedway Star articles, I don't see a magic solution to bringing in new fans or sponsors/backers, or to stopping tracks from closing but I do see passionate people who work hard and often subsidise the clubs to keep the sport running. Together we can do more for the sport and being active in ways that can help is a great way to stop feeling unimportant or distant from the sport you love.

Morris looked good winning Tai's testimonial.

I enjoy watching crashes in any sport,always have always will and I say yes push the danger element as a selling point although to be honest there are far more dangerous sports than speedway but yes push it but guests are not an acceptable way to to run a team sport, the tribal aspect is the way to push a team sport, it’s why millions follow football and speedway is no different although you wouldn’t know it the way it’s run

great shift from Bob - great guy too!

I honestly think that not only are guests necessary but should be used to market the sport. Tell people that Speedway is so dangerous and so many riders get injured that it is necessary to sometimes use the limited number of available riders to fill the gaps. Speedway is losing a marketing tool that could attract newcomers by not making a big deal out of it being mad, bad and dangerous in my opinion. Who cares if people only come to watch the crashes as long as they pay to get in and keep coming back? Guests only irritate existing fans I can't imagine anybody not attending their first meeting because of it.

That's all I did, voiced my opinion.

Dan is not all about money, heard a tail that during the summer was talks of a TV deal with clubs getting 150-200k 😲 and a northern club not many miles from Dan's home, was interested in going up and Dan said he would race for them at whatever they could afford, but that TV deal disappeared if it ever existed

That has 100% not been thought through and there will be panic when it happens in week 2 of the season

Palovaara back with the cup winners

And how much more successful it could be if those who follow the sport closely, but rarely attend, (but often turn up at play off time), all attended more regularly... It's a real conundrum... Those who run the sport, seem to do their level best to alienate their own fan base by the way they run it, yet, there isn't any Speedway without their money that they, year in, year out, throw at it... If only someone could work that conundrum, so much could get fixed..

Bomber

It’s pretty obvious the want to keep him onside for riding in SON.They know he would just take out another Federation’s Licence.Why not just admit they have got it wrong. er

While we stick to 2 nights a week we wont see anyone back. They dont want to fly into UK twice. Should be 1 night a week

League missed a trick again,2 home 2 away makes a better season.

Interesting move for him which will no doubt work out well. Not that it concerns us, but still glosses over the fact that the Premiership product is very poor, racing the same teams over and over again and having 4 out of 6 qualify for the playoffs is laughable. Signing the top stars is unsustainable for all but 1/2 clubs now and until those promoters see this the product at the top level while never improve. I had a BSN season pass in 2026 and barely watched any Premiership meetings. There’s a big reason Poole and Glasgow choose to compete in this league.

Nothing wrong with that as long as top 6 riders count towards points limit.

Surely there has to be some kind of average based cut off, otherwise you could end up with a rider at the top of the averages whilst riding at no.7?

Cooper never was a rising star.

Life's tough in the Ukraine, or is it? Judge for Yourself. Here is a video of the Ukrainian championship speedway meeting held at Lviv a fortnight ago.