TigerIain

"Oxford Cheetahs team for 2026 is complete with the double signing of 𝗗𝗮𝗿𝗿𝘆𝗹 𝗥𝗶𝘁𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 and 𝗗𝗮𝘆𝗹𝗲 Wood" Think this team will be in contention for trophies, albeit a little bit weak at reserve, yet so were Glasgow last year and they finished top of the table. Both reserves have Championship experience from 2025, but it needs one of them at least to kick on and up their scoring.

No, but if Oxford haven't signed him, and we'll find out tomorrow who their reserve are, then it essentially confirms that he is riding for Poole before Poole announce it. I expect Rushen to be riding for Poole next year

@Paddy The Rebel You have Plymouth in as the Devils rather than the Gladiators. Either way, they've just announced Daniel Klima returning, presumably on 4.00 Poole have just announced Zach Cook on 7.34

Hard to be exact because of so many lower order Premiership team changes, but I recon that there are about 17 currently announced in the Championship next year that were not doubling up in the Premiership last year. No 2026 Premiership signings announced yet, but last year there were about 23 riders that rode Premiership without riding Championship.

Makes sense to announce Rushen tonight. Oxford announce their reserves tomorrow, and are realistically the only other team that might have signed Rushen. So if you announce Cook, leaving a 2 point hole and Oxford don't announce Rushen the it all but confirms your final rider. Cook still has that little bit of 'has he changed his mind about missing the Championship next year' mystery if they announce him last.

Realistically, nope. Major surprise if it wasn't them. But for the sake of debate...if it's not Cook, there are not many around on that average, meaning that Pirates either go a couple of points under the limit with Rushen or sign a 5ish pointer and a 4ish pointer instead. If they have Cook but not Rushen then maybe Daryl Ritchings gets another shot at 7? He did better than expected last year.

Possibly they don't pay more per point or per mile than other clubs. But have extras like free accommodation, free workshop use and help finding sponsorship. So the cash from the promotion is the same as others, as they claim, but the overall package they organise is better. They also don't hang about, I heard more than 6 months ago that Rushen had agreed to ride for Poole in 2026. I'm not sure how long Wessex Marine have sponsored Rushen but that is likely to play a part in where he ends up given that they also sponsor the Pirates.

Was that not the winter where KL promoter Buster Chapman was buying the Witches, and it was Buster not Chris Louis moving them to the Premiership (or whatever it was called that year)? The sale didn't happen and Louis remained promoter but did change leagues, purely because it was too late to pull out. Yes Chris Louis then put a lot of work in to stay in his local league. But without Buster Chapman forcing Ipswich to change leagues then it might never have happened, and almost certainly wouldn't have happened in the year that it did.

Anyone that knows the facts knows the Glasgow promotion are not lacking in ambition. They just aren't stupid enough to risk their business propping up a failing Premiership in 2026. They do have ambitious plans, and have made them public, to grow Glasgow speedway but at a steady and sustainable pace. The same way any sensible businessman builds their business.

It was that race. In the Monarchs match report they were whining about it like it cost them the match. Ignoring the fact that Thomsen still beat Bomber in the re run but it went from a pretty nailed on 3-3 to a 4-2 to the Monarchs as a far from fit Nagel lost out in the re run when he was comfortably in third when the red lights came on

He was also a lying druggie that ruined our 2024 season. And let his wife make a show of herself on Facebook giving it laldy that it was over the counter pain medication that caused it

He was classy and quick, but didn't seem to handle pressure very well. My memory is that he generally didn't do well in heat 15 and all his bad matches seemed to be against Edinburgh

Without the Spires draining all their finances I expect Oxford will be one of the wealthier tier 2 clubs Ritchings was decent for Poole last year. I think him and Jack Smith would make a really strong team (with Smith likely to start at reserve all year). I think Max Perry is more likely to sign for Berwick as he had some really good scores there last year

They are doing this as so people can buy them as Christmas presents. The announcement did state that the ticket is based on a 9 team Championship, which suggests (but does not confirm) they will change them if the structure changes. I do notice though that it covers 8 league, 2 BSN & 1 KO Cup match, so IF 3 teams joined the Championship you could make the ticket valid for 11 league matches, or for any 11 of the possibly 14 or 15 matches. They could also sell a top up to the season ticket to cover and extra 4 or so matches. Nothing about the situation is ideal, but I don't blame any promoter for trying to catch Christmas.

I think most people expected then to be back, gives them a strong looking top 5. So far it looks like a team that will be challenging for trophies

To find a riders average: If you go into the British Speedway website, click on the 3 lines at the top left to open the menu, click on Championship and then 2025 declarations, and then click on issue 27 amended at the bottom of that list. That gives you ask the rider averages (by team) using column A. Multiply any Brit by 97.5% to get their reduced average for team building

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Lawson's scoring dropped off after he missed the KO Cup semi at Glasgow when they were doing engine testing. I presume his back injury hindered him for the rest of the year

Works well at Glasgow. The kids race after heat 10/11 is hugely popular, and is now 2 different races. All the kids get a sweetie at the end. Most kids beat the mascot, and Ben Basso was a regular participant when he was a Tiger. The promotion have spent a lot of money doing up the stadium, and making an entertaining race track, and employing an entertaining team as well, but for the kids it seems that their races (under/over 10) are a big part of their night at the speedway as nearly all kids in the stadium take part in it (and most adults seem to be watching it)

I think that he is more likely to sign for the Courtney's other team after his scoring there last year. The pen in Rushen's photo keeps us all guessing but I heard 6+ months ago he had agreed to go to Poole (although so had Rowe!), but with a strong top 3, and likely top 5, then 2 reasonable reserves (such as Ritchings and Jack Smith) should make them strong contenders

Drip feeding works in place where each announcement gets a back page story in the local press. It doesn't work in cities where the news is dominated by football. Drip feeding announcements of reserves and second strings would get at most a single sentence in the news in Glasgow. Even Bomber would be no more than a paragraph. Different teams do it differently based on local knowledge on what works for them publicity wise

Very strong top 3. I would assume that Kileen and McDiarmid would be back as the second strings, leaving 5.08 (I think) for the 2 reserves. If Daryl Ritchings was signed (2.29) that would leave 2.79 meaning Jack Smith would fit...and would probably be at reserve all year

Don't think so. 8.20 with a 2.5% reduction is 7.995, which would normally round up to 8.00. It might depend though on if there is a more specific calculation. I'm also not sure if there is a specific rule on rounding. To be honest though, I'd be surprised if anyone actually asked the question. Top rider on his day but too many issues

The announcement on his own Facebook page indicates that he hasn't signed elsewhere: "At this stage I'm unsure what's next". Either the Comets didn't want him back or he didn't fit into their team building jigsaw

Dan Thompson had been beaten from the back by Lewis Kerr in Heat 12, and whilst he gated, he had looked slow. Could have went with Flint but he lost out to Cook in heat 14 and isn't the best gater. Howarth was slow in heat 13, but better earlier in the meeting. And had been a last heat decider hero all season. Had Howarth been able to force his easy under Cook in the first bends and Bomber followed him through then Cami would have been a genius for picking him