Dave_minall

I struggle to believe that Kemp would be back. I know his average would fit but from what I remember Dickson has cut all ties with him due to some butting of heads late last season.

I always thought the AGM was minimum 2 days? I have a vague memory of them all gathering in spain for 5 days in the past.

Yeah it's a grey area. He's technically self employed as well so it's not even as if he's being "hired" in the traditional sense so I've NO idea what the rules are there.

I know integrity is something that's lacking from the BSPA, but I do believe them when they say "at least 5 clubs" - Ipswich probably tentatively agreed to run if they can't find another team to take their place. That's my assumption anyway.

As far as I know as he has an unspent conviction it IS legal to refuse employment, but I may be wrong.

Lets be honest here, the only thing that really matters with the AGM and in 2026 is which teams are lining up to tapes. Hopefully this is the real rock-bottom and that things can only improve and strengthen from here. It'll be a herculean task with everyone involved pulling their weight. Surely it can't get much worse right? ...right?!

Regardless of whether he has apologised or not, it's completely up to the general public as to whether they support his reintroduction to speedway or not. I think personally a lot of promoters will be prepared to give him a wide berth just purely because it could damage attendance if a convicted felon signs for a team. Speedway as a whole in this country operates on a bare bones level (give or take a handful of genuinely well supported teams) so in my opinion it's just too risky to give him a shot. Think of it from this perspective, if he applied for a job in a supermarket and they rejected him because of his past, would you be surprised? I wouldn't.

It's going to take a good 12-24 months to finalise and move everything over to Netflix (if that's the plan) so nothing will change in the short term. That's if the deal even goes through!

I think it's far too late to switch to one league now. Some championship teams have already named riders, if the BSPA did a u-turn and made it so, it would make a farce of an already farcical situation.

It was confirmed in the comments that it's simply Mark being Doyley's mechanic for 26. Incredibly tone deaf from Jason.

I could be mistaken on this - you could be right! I was of the impression that Chris owned the stadium and everything within.

I have a lot of respect for the late Tim Stone - he was definitely marmite to a lot of people, but he was always very nice, welcoming and respectful to us during my (short) time riding for the Mavericks. You always knew where you stood with him and he never minced his words. Plus the man lived and breathed Newport and it's such a shame things went the way they did there. I'll never forget we used to go down there every Sunday in the winter to practice, and planned to sleep in the van the night before, he offered us the option of putting our van in the pits (there was a lot of travellers in the area and often targeted Newport as a place to pitch up) and letting us sleep in a VIP box with heating - to which we gratiously accepted. He said "under no conditions are you to go outside before I get here in the morning though, the guard dog will have your pants down" - one night someone tried to break in and we found a pair of absolutely shredded jeans in the pits the morning after 😂😂😂

It's been said but every club is different. If it's Sheffield you're basically buying a ticket to put guys on a track, the fence and some equipment. If it's say Ipswich you'd most likely be buying the entire venue with everything that comes within. Privately owned clubs will fetch much more money (Ipswich, Leicester, Kings Lynn, the list goes on) but you'd have complete control. Tracks that operate under a leasing arrangement would obviously be much cheaper but don't come with the freedom to do as you see fit with the place.

I've got respect for Louis for doing this. Whether he did it for financial reasons or because he can't harmonise with what the future of speedway looks like in the UK, this must have been a deeply saddening decision to come to. If you cut him he would bleed ipswich speedway and he's also walking away from the legacy that his dad built. To decide to call it a day must have been the toughest decision of his life. But at the end of the day, if he deems the sport is no longer financially viable in Suffolk, I myself would rather walk away with some money in my pocket than risk bankruptcy at the age of 56.

This signing this early tells me Nicholls knows something we don't. There will either be the same league format as 2025 or he doesn't have a TV job in 2026. I am surprised though that he's not back riding for Oxford next year in the championship.