HGould

Martin Clunes Doc Marten

exactly! Weekend has definite possibilities Monday / Thursday YUK The other elephant in the Room BRANDON! Brandon reopens, that surely kills Northampton stone dead!

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.

The other Yank who rode in that 81/82 team from memory, who I thought on his day was as good as Penhall was Ronnie Preston. I was told years ago that he wasn't in the Costa Mesa Californian group which almost all of the others were, so was always a bit off the radar. Not sure how true that was but he always went underrated in my opinion.

Put it like this... If shale contaminates the doggy sand at Mildenhall, then the dogs will be quickly told to like it or lump it only not quite so politely! If Arc do take over Oxford dog licence and Ownership, I'd fear a similar scenario to Monmore...where the dogs would rule!

The mind can play tricks at my age, but I have looked back and double checked. The Speedway Star last week suugested that 5 Clubs had confirmed / requested to join in 2026, that the League hoped to have 8 teams. Whether there are enough teams to stock 8 teams would be a moot point, so I am not sure if they would have a 4 + 4 split. It may be that 5 or 6 teams is the limit for one League Oxford Buxton have publically confirmed they wish to race, not sure anyone else has formally confirmed. It would be strange without Edinburgh and almost certainly Redcar, and equally, with their facilities, Leicester. Whether Belle Vue retain their long association, or Kings Lynns impressive roster want to return in unclear. Scun/Sheff; Plymouth and Workington seem to have made absolutely no comments at all and it has been publicised that Kent are trying to tie up a long term stadium agreement to justify considerable investment in a new air fence. Mildenhall have confimed they want to run NORA and I wonder if a few more in the South like Kent / Plymouth / IOW might go down that route.

Deane Woods Spedeworth owns the Stadium does he not? Lets think outside the box then. He just does a deal with BSPL to lease the Stadium to the BSPL/ Speedway Futures , not a specific Promoter , the BSPL stick a tried and tested and trusted promotional Team in there to run it on behalf of BSPL. May be linked to Speedway Futures? who pick up the Financial accountability. Is this a model for the future (excuse the pun) to grow the Sport. Speedway Futures become almost like a "Speedway Administrator" picking up Tracks in Financial Difficulty - taking on financial responsibility and putting in registered and regulated Promoters to manage day to day on a set salary. Instead of milking the Promotions for fees and bonds and everything else the BSPL / Speedway Futures becomes the financial funding point. In which case - they send two accomplished fire-fighters in to secure the future. Van Stratten and Adams would be the most logical pairing (at least for 12 months) given the small number of Fixtures.

Dean Have the utmost respect for you and certainly no intent to "shoot the messenger" However, and as a lifelong Aston Villa and Birmingham Brummies supporter, it does pain me to say this, but this sort of activity by anyone involved in Speedway / Bangers at The Wheels or elsewhere is not only going to end up in instant failure, it is also going to go in the face of a massive Private / Local and Central Government investment. The Plans for the site are incredible and will give the City and Region a Global presence. If I hold my nose and gag refles, I have to admit that this development will not only be the best in the UK but probably in Europe Central Government have allocated significant future funding for the Transport Network to link the City / KnIghthead Park / the NEC and Airport and Rail Network finally up via new Rail new Tram and new pedestrianised and cycle walkways. Local Government areinvesting millions in to similar projects. Knighthead have got planend investment in to the Stadium and massive local area in excess of £3bn They are looking not just at Soccer but facilities that will allow European / Commonwealth / Olympic sized bids and other Sports and the biggest Concerts etc. They appear to be close to announcing the proposed Stadium and Training Complexes as the new National home for the Soccer Lionesses from 2032. With the connections they have in US Sport (Tom Brady) there is a genuine move to give Birmingham the UK US Football franchise long promised to London and also the option for other US Sports including Basketball. They have the Film / TV Industry nailed down too with links to the Creator of Peaky Blinders (btw writing the next Bond Movie) and much more. As much as it pains me to say it, from a football and speedway perspective, any attempt to stall this would not land well with anyone in or around the City. If Speedway / Stocks have a sense of commonsense they will drop this, and seek a compromise site elsewhere in brown belt land and in fact there may well be options just outside of the scope for this development on the Airport side adjacent to NEC / Airport (where noise would not be an issue) . Wheels has been an option since the Speedway closed there, of it wasn't a considered plan then . now is certaintly too late. A site adjacent to A45 corridor around the Airport / NEC perimiter might be the best option right now!

well well at least it's not the usual poole issue of phone pics ahem nor is it phone pics again for Mr Lawson ahem ahem - this time (those that know know! especially around worky way!)

"we are heading for something really big," ----- Could it mean that after more EGM's and more EGM's that the PL situation has unravelled to the fact that there are currently only 4 Clubs. The PL won't countenance, 1 big league, NONE of the CL Clubs are not interested in moving "up". Birmingham are closed, Sheffield remains unsold, Oxford will not run 3 Leagues and won't run PL. No returning or new Club is viable in the timeframe. The only viable 5th club therefore is Sheffield. My understanding is-: AT LEAST Two of the PL Clubs are now considering not racing in 2026 rather that diminish their current SGP staffed roster and are increasingly intransigent. Where that might leave the other 2 (or 3 if Sheffield is sold) no one yet knows. Hopefully Sheffield in sold PDQ! Before AGM! / CL will accept a couple of ex PL Clubs who wish to race under current CL limit? Also possible that if the boycott happens potentially none of the current Management Committee may remain in place!

Personally I think Poole would be crazy to let Lewis Kerr go , especially if Zach Cook does not ride Championship. Lewis can be high maintenance and his confidence levels can drop, especially when he keeps getting messed about by PL Clubs chopping and changing. He would be ideal though with Lawson and Rowe as a spearhead and there would be none better.

that would be a very strong team. I was told by someone close to the family that Ryan Ingram was lined up for the 2 point rider for 2026 very early in 2025 as part of the deal to sign for NDL Plymouth team. Everything he has done this season only enhances that prospect in my opinion.

Most important hope everyone is OK I think Glasgow will have to go through. Purely LOGISTICAL I am sure there will have to be a Full SCB / Local Authority Health and Safety review and Track Inspection after an incident of this nature. These sort of things can take weeks. Remedial safety measure may be ordered. I suspect therefore that whether by default or not, the pragmatic resolution will be GLASGOW This implies no blame on anyone but ALL Motorsports are potentially dangerous to competitors and spectators and due process will have to follow

Chris Louis and Mark Lemon will prepare to die fighting to keep a PL and the majority of the TV money That will ensure Ipswich, Belle Vue , Kings Lynn form the core of the reduced PL, they will ensure enough funding to ensure Leicester can remain in and ensure that someone with deep pockets goes in to Sheffield....They will go with 5 IF they have to, if not they will offer to throw a small fortune at a track to make up the 6th place - Louis has already touted Northampton and has close links with Deane Woods who owns both Ipswich and Northampton. The CL will remain as it is. NDL may add Mildenhall if ACU will sigh off the track, if not Mildenhall will ride a NORA programme. The NDL level hasn't enough riders to support a league to fit the 10 or 11 who are currently members, a few might drop out, they will want to support Kent who will be the only standalone. So NDL may well be regionalised again.

Vicky Blackwell is the personal and business partner of Rob Painter who seems to be a Director of Speedway Futures ltd. Both have done outstanding work as creators of Team GB Speedway since taking it over.