Fortythirtyeight

Not necessarily so. You can get a cheap flight for under £50 but if you have a UK based rider in the north having to travel to Plymouth then you might end up paying him more.

Agreed, only 4 clubs that I know of can cover the wage bill from income through the turnstiles to include bar & Food takings, and one of them admits it’s been a struggle at times to do that in 2025 because they were successful and therefore had a bigger wage bill than previous years.

and your ‘costs’ are……?

Whilst I have insider knowledge , due to being a sponsor ,no one could tell you accurately EVER rider deal as it’s different for each rider at each club, from £10 a point and 20p a mile in the NDL to Premiership thousands pounds guarantees and flights. Then add in sponsorship deals, bonuses, signing on fees , mechanics, accommodation which some clubs , the ‘top’ teams, can add into a deal. A rider I sponsor who doubles up in the top two leagues is on a guarantee in the Premiership, a partial guarantee in the championship with points money to top that up so…. Now stand back and wait for others ‘ GUESTIMATES’….

But made a nice packet in signing on fees and over the top guarantees.

You must be a politician

Insanity has got the sport in the trouble it is in.

Can’t believe anybody is seriously proposing a ‘ NOMAD ‘ team comprised of riders from other clubs and sponsored by those other clubs. In the words of McEnroe……” you cannot be serious !”

King was a very good team man, excellent with the youngsters , still capable of big scores and a thoroughly nice guy . Sad that he seems to be forced out by a rule that doesn’t appear to have been thought out very well . Hope he gets fixed up quickly, if he hasn’t already been. Whilst Redcar have always shown loyalty to riders… Will the Bears take another gamble on Riss ? Jenkins to come back ? Allen pencilled in ? Might need to find a couple of 2/3 pointers with potential and that won’t be easy.

They are coming from riders themselves . Riders talk, especially when they haven’t been paid, mechanics talk even more, more so when they are owed money . There are very few secrets in the pits. You should hear the figures from Poland !

and the heat leaders were even worse.

His daughter acted as his ‘manager & translater ’. What was promised never materialised and what Freddie used was suspected to be a ‘one off’. The few that made it to the UK were deemed decent enough but no professional rider used them after trying them so most were given-bought by NDL standard riders .

King achieved an average two points higher than Batchelor who was your no.1 and it will be a weaker league in 2026 by the looks of it.

Didn’t they state that the 40 point team limit was in for three years ? Yet they now look like introducing a rule , the only one over the eight , that completely changes how you can build a team and if Berwicks latest post is to believed, six rider teams ! …I find that ridiculous . If ever a rider was brave enough to take the sport to court for ‘restriction of trade’ or the like then try and explain the rules to non speedway people and add in “ oh, by the way, we penalise non uk riders by giving the Brits a percentage reduction “ it would just show the sports authorities to be the clowns that they are .

Sorry but can’t agree. If an Oxford premiership second string was on a guarantee of three grand a meeting , what were the ‘stars’ on ? So their wage bill was based on way more than a possible 700 paying customers so even if your rent is zero and you have 700 gready pigs attending your going to need some very generous sponsors to make up the deficit. The TV money is now a pittance plus Sheffield doesn’t have an owner at present and there isn’t enough teams to make up a premiership as it stands.

Yep, laughed all the way to the bank and made the ‘ Top Table ‘ of the BSPL look like the idiots they were / are.

There never was ‘ bikes ‘ , just engines, and only 13 were delivered to the UK. You need to keep up, the MX ‘appeal ‘ only got three definite bookings and was abandoned .

Simple answer….MONEY ! 700 crowd for Premiership riders wage bill ? That sort of crowd probably only justifies a Championship level team , unless your going to follow a Birmingham scenario and be willing to lose buckets and buckets of cash.

get with the times, GTR project died years ago when the BSPL, as was, were taken the the cleaners by the builder and the BSPL lost over three hundred grand on the project. and just how many MX riders have taken up speedway in the last 5 years ?

Not like Rob Godfrey did this every week from the centre green before the races had even finished.

Allen has already been ‘released’ .

If it is, then this is the bloke who runs the sport in this country saying it is !

If all of those currently competing on 250’s & 500’s continue I’d call that less than 10 and that’s based on the current numbers still riding in the next few years which is doubtful based on current losses to the sport. As for the backing, I agree , what backing ? Vatcher giving them half a dozen rounds to race at ( and pay for ) with the odd coached session midweek for those that can make it, is not great backing. What happened to all those tracks providing juniors with race meetings ? The premiership junior league? etc etc.

Just look at the British Youth competitors, there’s very little coming through , maybe half a dozen as the drop out rate when they lose interest , or money , is very high .

Riders have ALWAYS been self-employed.