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I am often amazed by those business who ignore, and often ridicule, their most important asset - their paying customers!

Just been listening to Talksport and 'Arry was on (for a change!).... Very disappointing... He spent his whole time on there discussing Spurs and Thomas Frank, with the end of his conversation mentioning the sad passing of Billy Bonds.... I thought he may have at least mentioned his thoughts on how the Berwick team were shaping up, or maybe what he felt about Peterborough potentially coming back, but running at Oxford, or even his views on whether opening a track at Northampton would be good for Speedway.. Nothing... Just Football.... Maybe his life long love for the sport has ended?

What we are seeing here is the years of neglect and lack of investment or ideas for speedway coming home to roost, we have nobody else to blame but ourselves, when sky first gave us the 5 million in the 90s it was like giving a heroin junkie 5 million and saying put some in the bank for the future and spend a bit on getting some help for your addiction

Wanting the best isn’t wrong. Living beyond your means to achieve it is. And eventually you’ll just go bust. Sound familiar? The sport cannot sustain having the best riders here. You must surely see that. All this “not enough riders,” stuff is nonsense. There are plenty but because of self-created circumstances over a number of years they’re not at the level they once were. There’s not an overnight fix but the situation can be rectified over time. The answer is to cut cloth accordingly now to ensure the possibility of one day being able to have a thriving sport here again, including the best riders in the world hopefully. It might not happen, but it might. Carry on as we are and it is a certainty to not happen. Sometimes you have to go backwards before you can go forwards. Being solvent is a pretty good first step.

Glasgow aren’t just being smart business wise for their own benefit either, losing them would affect all the northern clubs. Glasgow bring a big following to Berwick for sure and I’m sure they take it to the other northern venues too, they’d also lose virtually all the away support they get at Ashfield. It would be a lose lose situation for those with the most at stake. There is nothing “brave” about what the teams in the Premiership are doing, it’s business suicide for most, you just need to look at recent history.

Entertainment wise? I would suggest with Glasgow, Scunthorpe, Redcar, and Workington, the second tier, overall, delivers better racing... With, the NSS being the only top tier track that consistently delivers a similar standard...

A few years ago, somewhere in the UK, when they had ten teams down from eleven the previous year... "Great, one less team this year, I could maybe get some of their riders and make my team better".. Then, the next year when they had nine, down from ten.. "Great, one less team this year, I could maybe get some of their riders and make my team better"... Then, the next year when they had eight, down from nine.. "Great, one less team this year, I could maybe get some of their riders and make my team better".. Then the next year when they had seven, down from eight... "Great, one less team this year, I could maybe get some of their riders and make my team better".. Then the next year when they had five, down two, from seven.. "This is absolutely ridiculous, we cannot run the sport like this, something should be done about all these tracks closing, there isn't enough teams for my team to race against now. Some of the second tier teams need to come up to my league. Some promoters are so selfish, and just look after themselves, they should all be like me, a proper team player"...

I've made a few of these, and this is an updated 2026 version, showing all Polish, SpeedwayLigaen and Bauhaus Ligan tracks and stadiums plus Warsaw. https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/edit?mid=1C3RGUldA6ob2i3hqjjN91Ah7LKMqJA8&usp=sharing

No way would any proper speedway fan not care if another team had to close……but I can certainly understand why no Championship supporter would want their league or team compromised to protect a league that was failing through no fault of theirs.

Glasgow certainly could be in the premiership, but business wise it isn’t smart. Oxford and Birmingham prove that. Poole could be but financially would be a silly idea. If for example belle Vue decided to drop down like Poole did. They’d never want to move back up. The only difference between the leagues are the big names. Entertainment wise there’s not a huge amount in it.

Then don't run the top division at such a level... A five, or even a six team league doesn't look good if you are trying to sell the sport to sponsors, TV, and fans.. Whether reality or not, the top league in any sport is seen as almost defining it... Something to aspire to get into... Something that delivers decent financial rewards.. Something that gains the maximum publicity for the sport.. Instead, we could end up with a five team league that more resembles an "Invitational Tournament", rather than a bona fide "National Competition"... 14 teams collectively actually do make the sport look like it is "National", and not almost irrelevant, and does, geographically, cover a large part of the country... Finding a way to get them into one league further down the line, (before more tracks are lost), has to be the way forwards.. You would hope that the next 12 months are, in the background, spent putting together that one league structure and the sport then relaunches itself in 2027 with a new operating model, a collective marketing plan, and a financially sound business plan that keeps all teams profitable... There have been far too many years of "let's, once again, make do and mend", so they should make this the last one, running with whatever they can come up with... And use the next 12 months to work out a strong plan which will deliver progress and growth from 2027 onwards...

Sorry to say that I am not one of the parties mentioned in attempting to buy Ipswich - I do hope they find a buyer however and manage to make it to tapes for 2026!

How about a little respect for keeping speedway going for nearly 60 years in their remote outpost?

Phil Morris gave evidence in person at the save coventry speedway enquiry and did a good job. He has also made the show slicker by standardising things and meetings over the last couple of seasons have moved through more quickly.

It is pretty clear / likely that no fixtures will be announced until after anything is confirmed. In the meantime, yes BSN "is a thing" and for a Christmas treat why wait till March, we're going to Australia for the Aussie champs and the FIM Oceana championship. £44.99 for 6 meetings. Fun for all the family and high possibility of Greg Blair fighting a kangaroo/snake/spider. You don't get that on TNT.

I think the Speedway Star has actually improved its output in the past 12 months or so... Given the internet makes many stories "old news" for a once a week magazine, they have increased features and interviews with not just riders and promoters but others within the sport... It also often brings detail to what gets said on here, eg a rider riding for a certain team, they will have the reasons behind the move. . Well worth £3.60 a week for a hard copy. .

Think Glasgow are being smart rather than”brave”.Thats why they are successful business men. They have worked hard to get Tigers to this position ,no need to throw it all away.IMO

Unfortunately speedway has too many mercenary’s and hangers on for its own good, we missed a trick in 2020 to reset the sport onto a different better path and it looks like we are going to miss another chance and plod our way into 2026

I was saddened to hear the news of the passing of Brian. I have known him since he rode at Workington in the 1970s and he was always exciting to watch. But I got to know him better in Redcar days, through my "gangs" road trips there over recent years. And Brian ALWAYS treated the Comets fans like myself with great respect. He always made a huge fuss with us from the moment we entered the arena, right down to ensuring the Comets fans got priority in the bar over any leftovers from the sponsors buffet ! Despite some of my gang asking him some very direct questions, he would always give them an honest answer. Not many non Redcar fans knew, but his involvement with Redcar even stretched as far as he personally emptying the bins after every meeting ! Rest in peace Brian me old mate. The Workington "gang" will miss you lots.

Radio silence has been broken by Leicester! LIONS 2026 UPDATE LEICESTER Speedway wish to provide an update for our supporters on plans for the 2026 season. The club is fully committed to racing at Premiership level once again, and although the full structure and team composition of that league has yet to be finalised, normal winter work is taking place including discussions with potential team members. British Speedway’s AGM, where regulations are ratified, was recently postponed but several league meetings between club promoters have taken place. It is known that the league will take on a different look in 2026 due to the sad closure of Birmingham and the fact that Oxford have elected to scale back to Championship and NDL racing having previously operated at all three levels of the sport. Elsewhere, champions Ipswich – who defeated the Watling JCB Lions in the Grand Final – were put up for sale recently, as were Sheffield prior to the end of the season. But Leicester wish to dispel any rumours as to their own involvement, as they seek to build on the last two seasons which have seen them finish as league runners-up on both occasions as well as winning this year’s KO Cup. Co-promoter and team manager Stewart Dickson said: “I can only speak from a Leicester perspective, but obviously I know our fans are keen to hear what’s happening, and we hope things can be finalised soon. “We are having regular Zoom calls with the other Premiership clubs, and there is very much a will to continue with this league. “Leicester are committed to the Premiership, along with the other clubs which remain from last season, and obviously we’re hopeful of satisfactory outcomes at Ipswich and Sheffield, hopefully the sooner the better for all concerned. “We still envisage there will be a Premiership next season although we do recognise time is moving on, and ideally we’d like to have our team finalised and announced, and to be getting season tickets on sale by now. “What I can say is that we do know what the likely structure will be in terms of team building, and therefore tentative talks have been taking place with riders. “There are plenty of riders who have expressed a desire to be with Leicester next season, and I’m very confident we will be able to put a competitive side together once again. “So at the moment, and on behalf of myself, Paul (Cairns) and Jen (Crossland), we thank everyone for their patience and we hope to have some more news in the near future.”

I think you have put an awful lot of work into this. You deserve, at least, consideration for your effort. I think it is a possibility - but crucially - you have not got all the riders that you quote, Steve Worrall, Retired, Brady Kurtz are just two examples. I do admire your enthusiasm and your work. Well Done.

There is a clue in my profile name who I support, & it definitely isn't Poole lol.

We are talking about the bspl here, farce is their specialty, just when you think they have took farce to its absolute limit, they suprise us all and they pull a new bigger farce out of the hat, in reality come January we wouldn’t expect anything else really

Listening to Carl Johnson on the Speedway 360 podcast a few weeks ago and he said Peterborough had been asked to make up the 6th club... Currently there is no Peterborough Speedway!! This is proof, if any more were needed, that those running the sport are completely delusional if not totally insane!

Surely they have to be looking at Perry pretty sure he has outscored every reserve that rode at Berwick this year

But this comes down to who controls the sport, the sport is run by the riders for the riders, don’t know how long I have been telling anyone who will listen this message, until a governing body gets hold of and control of the sport and dictates boundaries which everyone must adhere to then the sport will continue to decline with everyone in it for their own gain and you have to say with nobody to stop them who can blame them, as an example and I say this not to single him out but as an example but Brady Kurtz is effectively holding the sport in Britain to ransom, make it 2 leagues or I’m off, doesn’t matter what the fans want or what is the best direction for British speedway it what works for me, me me me me me

Come on guys, the writing has been on the wall for years in Uk speedway. You can speculate when it all started, but doubling up, over reliance on TV sponsorship, the loss of stadia to building developments, limited race nights due to Poland , and a steady dwindling of support at some have all contributed to the downward trajectory . To lay the blame for the current perilous state of the PL solely on Ipswich is IMO misplaced… one could look back and blame Swindon, Wolverhampton, Birmingham and Oxford “spires” . All have contributed to the slow and steady decline in Premier league speedway. The CL clubs have been complicit as well, failing to show any interest in accepting “ promotion” to the other league . We’re all right Jack comes to mind…….this is now surely about to be put to the test ?

Was never in doubt, 2026 was supposed to be the original plan but the way things panned out for us last year we thankfully managed to get him over for a few months last year to gain valuable experience. Shoukd kick on again next year, great kid.

Yes I am worried there may be no speedway. we had a save our speedway in 1995 and like many others I’m a member of the 400 club some 30 years on but this scenario isn’t a financial one at the moment. The club is extremely well run and has many sponsors and is viable. however next season there won’t be no tv money which is rumoured to be £60k. Not only that will the sponsors want to pay the same money for no national tv coverage ? Unlikely. if the league is reduced to 5 teams will fans pick and choose or stop coming so often because it’s the same old faces ? Chris Louis deserves a lot of credit and respect for what he has done for our club and I can only imagine this is his last resort. im guessing as this is his primary income he isn’t going to gamble it away in a 5 team league. Maybe some of the other teams which are subsidised by their owners are willing to? Who knows. I don’t agree with some saying he has thrown his toys out. Like all democratic organisations you reform from within but he seems to have reached a point where he has had enough and doesn’t like the direction the sport is going. there had been no mud slinging just a for sale notice going up at foxhall. im desperately hoping a resolution can be reached and Chris will carry on but I’m less optimistic. But thank you to John and Chris for providing us with such service over so many years.

Reaping what they sow by having the backbone to stand by their more sustainable model and not sacrificing one of their number to hold up the unsustainable top level for another year. The Premiership is the division killing off clubs, not the Championship.

It’s the same company that leases Foxhall stadium off the owners. You only have to look at the work done on the heath to see that Spedeworth under Dean Wood is a decent promotion to do business with. It does show the major issues the sport has when for years a speedway stadium Eastbourne won’t allow speedway to be ran there even the the owners are a speedway family. Couple that with Louis a guy who bleeds speedway getting out tells you all you need to know.

Competitiveness comes from teams of equal(ish) strength of course, not having a smattering of "world class" riders in the league. There's a "not enough riders" agenda whenever anyone mentions one league. The reality is that there are not enough riders of a suitable quality. It's not the same as there not being enough full stop. There are also not enough of these "world class" names to go around the top league in its current form. Hence having whipping boys like Birmingham and Oxford last season. The sport here wants to operate at a standard it can't sustain ultimately. A five team league is a horrible idea. It would be far, far too repetitive if the sides were to race a meaningful number of fixtures and then they'd probably still want to have play offs. Regardless of the quality of riders who might compete it would still be over exposure. Variety versus competitiveness has a sweet spot that it is probably impossible for British Speedway to meet in 2026, for me variety is more likely to make me go to meetings than seeing slightly better opposition but knowing they'll be coming to town again in a couple of weeks. And then again a couple of weeks after that. I suspect I'm not in the minority by having that opinion.

And Scunthorpe!!

To be fair if your taking a newbie to speedway Workington Redcar Glasgow Belle Vue are about the only tracks you know are a safe bet for a great meeting.

Great bit of publicity from Glasgow, showing the sport a way forward, meanwhile in the premiership they still can’t decide which bus to catch

Tomorrow full team announcement

Proposal to Restructure British Speedway from 2027 Onwards This is my suggested format to take British Speedway forward from the 2027 season. 1. Team Racing Format One national league consisting of 14 clubs. Each club races every other club home and away once, giving 26 league fixtures per season. Proposed clubs: Belle Vue, Ipswich, King’s Lynn, Leicester, Oxford, Sheffield, Berwick, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Plymouth, Poole, Redcar, Scunthorpe & Workington. The team finishing top of the league after 26 fixtures are crowned “League Champions”. The top 8 teams progress to an end-of-season “KO Cup” competition. 2. Rules & Team Building Teams are built to a maximum of 42.00 points. Rider averages are calculated as follows: Any rider with a current Championship average uses that figure. Any current Premiership rider has their Championship-equivalent average multiplied by 1.5, with a maximum average of 12.00. Any National League rider has their current average divided by 2, with a minimum average of 2.00. Team Composition Each team consists of 7 riders: No. 1 – Heat Leader Only one designated heat leader per team, always riding at No. 1. Nos. 2, 3 & 4 – Second Strings Form the main body of the team alongside the heat leader. No. 5 – Senior Reserve A rider acting as the senior reserve. Nos. 6 & 7 – Junior Reserves Development riders. Must be Commonwealth riders. This structure allows: Each club to include a genuine Grand Prix or top-level rider at No. 1. A strong Championship core across every team. A meaningful development pathway via the junior reserves with a clear link to National League-level riders. 3. Heat Format & Points System Because of the varied rider levels within each team, the traditional format is split into two parts on the programme: Support Card Main Card 3.1 Support Card The Support Card consists of 4 heats: Two heats where each team’s No. 6 & No. 7 race against each other. Two further heats where the Senior Reserve (No. 5) races together with the No. 6 & No. 7 riders. Scoring for the Support Card: Over the 4 heats, the aggregate result determines: 1 league point for a win. 1 league point each for a draw. 0 league points for a loss. So, the Support Card alone can earn a team up to 1 league point from the meeting. 3.2 Main Card The Main Card consists of 9 heats. The Senior Reserve (No. 5): Rides with No. 2 once and No. 4 once, ensuring 4 programmed rides. The Heat Leader (No. 1): Rides once with No. 2 and once with No. 4. Has two rides alongside No. 3. After the 9 Main Card heats: The scores are added up and league points are awarded in the same manner as the Support Card: 1 league point for a win. 1 league point each for a draw. 0 league points for a loss. Again, the Main Card can earn a team up to 1 league point. 3.3 Nominated Heats (Heats 14–16) After both the Support Card and Main Card are complete, there are three nominated heats: Heat 14, Heat 15 & Heat 16. Heat 16 is reserved for the two highest point scorers from the main body (Riders 1–4). Heats 14 & 15 are also nominated heats, with the restriction that: A rider may appear in only one nominated heat. This rule ensures: At least one of the No. 6 or No. 7 junior reserves gets a fourth ride. All other riders get at least five rides across the meeting. Scoring for the Nominated Heats: The combined result of Heats 14–16 is treated as a third card: 1 league point for a win. 1 league point each for a draw. 0 league points for a loss. 3.4 Overall League Points Per Meeting Across the Support Card, Main Card, and Nominated Heats, each team has three separate chances to earn league points. In total, a side can earn up to 3 league points from a single meeting. 4. Rider Movement & Averages Through the Season To maintain structure and development: A Junior Reserve (Nos. 6 & 7) can only progress up to Senior Reserve (No. 5) status. A Senior Reserve (No. 5) can: Move into the main body (Nos. 2–4), or Drop back into a Junior Reserve position, depending on averages. A rider in the main body (Nos. 1–4) can only drop as low as Senior Reserve (No. 5) and not into a Junior Reserve slot. This ensures a clear hierarchy while still allowing progression and reshuffling based on form and averages. 5. Race Nights & Rider Absences All meetings take place on the race night chosen by each club. It is up to each club to build a team suited to their chosen race night. In the event of absent riders, they are covered by: Rider Replacement (R/R), or An approved guest rider. 6. Example Team Line-Ups Below are four illustrative team line-ups of different strengths. These are purely examples for the purposes of demonstrating the system, not predictions of actual signings. Belle Vue Aces Brady Kurtz (Heat Leader) Norick Blödorn (Second String) Ben Cook (Second String) Jake Mulford (Second String) Ben Trigger (Senior Reserve) Jack Smith (Junior Reserve) Arran Butcher (Junior Reserve) Ipswich Witches Jason Doyle (Heat Leader) Jason Edwards (Second String) Adam Ellis (Second String) Jonathan Grahn (Second String) Cameron Heeps (Senior Reserve) Dayle Wood (Junior Reserve) Connor King (Junior Reserve) Glasgow Tigers Dan Bewley (Heat Leader) Ace Pijper (Second String) Chris Harris (Second String) Villads Nagel (Second String) Paul Starke (Senior Reserve) Max Perry (Junior Reserve) Jack Kingston (Junior Reserve) Poole Pirates Jack Holder (Heat Leader) Fraser Bowes (Second String) Richard Lawson (Second String) Tobias Thomsen (Second String) Will Cairns (Senior Reserve) Vinny Ford (Junior Reserve) Kai Ward (Junior Reserve) 7. British Championship Series To compensate for riders no longer doubling up/down between leagues, this proposal includes the creation of a British Championship Series. The aim is to: Provide more meetings for riders. Generate additional income via sponsorship, gate receipts, and streaming revenue. Help offset the financial “loss” from running a single unified league. Format A 6-round championship series held at: Belle Vue Glasgow Ipswich Poole Leicester Oxford The series features 16 riders. There are two Semi-Finals held early in the season at: Workington Sheffield The Top 8 riders from each Semi-Final qualify for the 6-round series. Riders apply to enter the series. It is not primarily aimed at GP-standard riders, but rather the strong domestic core. Example Semi-Final Line-Ups Semi-Final 1 – Workington (example): Brennan, Harris, King, D. Thompson, Howarth, Nicholls, Flint, Kerr, Barker, Mountain, Hume, Rushen, Gilkes, Ablitt, Morley, Scott. Semi-Final 2 – Sheffield (example): Lawson, Wright, Ellis, Cook, Kemp, Rowe, Worrall, Edwards, Jenkins, J. Thompson, Harrison, Bowtell, S. Lambert, Mulford, Starke, Cairns. The top 8 from each Semi-Final progress into the 16-rider British Championship Series. Each season, the host venues for the 6 rounds can be rotated to share the opportunity and exposure around different clubs.

I heard he fancied a home track with shale on it.

P!$$ing off the management possibly came into it!?😉

I agree. Top marks for wanting to make an effort to solve the problems, but sadly zero out of ten for execution. I'm afraid it's all a terrible contradictory nonsense. It would take too long to show everything that is wrong, but just to highlight some points: 1. OK, you want 1 league (we'll come back to the problems with that). But then you want just 8 teams in the KO Cup. So what do the other 6 teams do for those 2 months? That doesn't work. 2. You want a 42-point CL level for 14 teams. What's your calculation for this? The CL limit was 40 with just 9 teams. It would have to be much lower than this to staff 14 teams (even if there were enough riders available... which there aren't). You want a "GP or top-level rider at every team". So that's a Monday/Thursday league? Even then, where are you getting 14 GP or top riders from? And how do you fit all the fixtures in on Monday/Thursday only? No chance. 3. You seem to want a 16-heat format, with 3 nominated races. OK. But what about the other 13 heats? You say who you'd like riders to be paired with, but it just doesn't work. It's mathematically impossible. Are you wanting them riding against the same rider every time? It just doesn't work in any way. If you think you can make it work, please provide the heat-by-heat race format. (You can't because it doesn't work). - Then we have one point for a win and one point for a draw. Well, obviously that doesn't work, but it's ideal if you're trying to encourage race-fixing! 4. Well, we haven't got a workable race-format. But let's just assume you have everyone racing the same rider every race. Your GP stars would see their averages brought down to around 6-7. The best reserve would gain an average of around 8 -9 points. I'm sure you see all the problems with riding positions and bringing in injury replacement riders after the first green sheets. 5. Now, you're asking for a 7-days-a-week league instead. So if you're not sticking to the Monday/Thursday league with "top stars", you have just made about 25 "top star" riders unavailable. You now have no chance of filling 14 teams. (You talk about R/R, but this no longer works with your impossible race format, so you need a rethink on that too). 6. No disrespect to Connor King, Arran Butcher, Jack Kingston and Kai Ward, but your teams are an uneven joke. And you've only listed 4 "Example teams". Presumably this is because you have realised that it's impossible to fill 14 teams with a 42 point CL limit. (In fact it's impossible to fill 14 teams at all, as it would need 98 riders, and there aren't that many available). 7. A G.P. style British Championship would be a nice idea, but not economically viable without a big sponsor. A British Championship would need Bewley, Lambert, Woffinden etc, but they wouldn't commit to more than a one-off British Final (But it is the least impossible of your 7 items).

I've already posted a list of the number of riders active in the UK last year... there's more than enough riders to sustain 1 league, the race format would need changing to integrate some of these riders though.

Didn't help the number one's hoovering up all the money and then a lot of them leaving the UK as soon as the trough was empty.

Big 👍 to the comets promotion and commercial team for having a stall at the worky Xmas lights switch on day

The way things are going a 6 team Premiership would be a tremendous achievement ahead of 2026

I spoke to the Royal Mail guy who delivered a parcel to me yesterday about it. He said they don’t make any money out of letters so parcels are prioritised as that makes money. He also said he offered to deliver mail that was stacking up for our area but they wouldn’t sanction the overtime. I don’t want to get the digital version because I like the physical version and my Grandson likes to have all the old copies, but I feel I’m being forced down that route now. I do feel sorry for the guys at Pinegen, the star is an important staple of our sport and I’ve been getting it since I was a kid.

Rye House was a track available 365 days of the year and had a history of producing young riders. How many young riders have been lost to the sport or never had the opportunity due to the ineptitude of the pair of idiots(Chapman and Godfrey) in charge at the time that saw the track unlawfully ripped out?

I tell you who will notice... land developers, for British Speedway to "choose" to run without 5 clubs next season is unthinkable and would be a suicidal move. Just at the point where the likes of Coventry, Swindon, Peterborough, Lakeside, Rye House, Wolverhampton et al are trying to prove to the local and national authorities that there is a need for these tracks to reopen if the powers that be decided to do this it'd be close to game over for those clubs.

But what can they do if they want a 6 team Premiership & not enough teams want to join them? They can't just make Poole or Glasgow move up.