International Test Matches

[Bavarian]

The USA took on a World team in an unofficial international challenge match at Auburn's Fast Fridays Speedway last night.

Does anybody have the results ?

[Lefty]

USA 77 - 57 World 

From Speedway Nor Cal

[Bavarian]

43 minutes ago, Lefty said:

USA 77 - 57 World 

From Speedway Nor Cal

That was to be expected.

To be fair, the World Team looked pretty weak this year with four Polish juniors, Fraser Bowes and Hancock junior.

[Bavarian]

With the Premiership down to just five teams, wouldn't the 2026 season be perfect for Speedway GB to at last bring back a proper 5 Test "Speedway Ashes" Series against the Aussis? 

[RS50]

2 hours ago, Bavarian said:

With the Premiership down to just five teams, wouldn't the 2026 season be perfect for Speedway GB to at last bring back a proper 5 Test "Speedway Ashes" Series against the Aussis? 

Would love it, but would Team GB be overmatched?

Aussies, get to pick from, Kurtz, Fricke, Doyle, J/C Holder, Douglas, Masters, Pickering, B/Z Cook, Tungate, and others.

Team GB, would do well to match them, even with non GB league riders Lambert and Woffy, could be embarrassing without them.

[old bob at herne bay]

RS50 .... Team GB would indeed be  a pool of mediocrity.   

Lambo  and Bewdley the only 2 "top " grade UK riders . the rest Wooffy (if fit)  Dick Lawson , Christopher Harris, Thomas Brennan, Addy Ellis, Charlie Wright, Louis Kerr ? 

Nearly as good as the Cricket Ashes mismatch

[Bavarian]

On 12/31/2025 at 1:07 PM, old bob at herne bay said:

RS50 .... Team GB would indeed be  a pool of mediocrity.   

Lambo  and Bewdley the only 2 "top " grade UK riders . the rest Wooffy (if fit)  Dick Lawson , Christopher Harris, Thomas Brennan, Addy Ellis, Charlie Wright, Louis Kerr ? 

Nearly as good as the Cricket Ashes mismatch

Come on, man, your Team GB riders aren't that bad.

If all of the top British riders (Lambert, Bewley, Woffy) come to ride in the Test Series against the Aussies, this would be a heck of an event. Perhaps even of interest to a tv station to cover this test series instead of the league. Who knows?

Five proper speedway tests over 18 heats with 6-rider teams plus reserves, no gimmicks, that's all it needs. 

Make Speedway Great Again !  

[topsoil]

22 hours ago, Bavarian said:

Come on, man, your Team GB riders aren't that bad.

If all of the top British riders (Lambert, Bewley, Woffy) come to ride in the Test Series against the Aussies, this would be a heck of an event. Perhaps even of interest to a tv station to cover this test series instead of the league. Who knows?

Five proper speedway tests over 18 heats with 6-rider teams plus reserves, no gimmicks, that's all it needs. 

Make Speedway Great Again !  

It would be great to see and I would like to see it, but it's all pie in the sky, until Poland can be persuaded to release riders. And there would be hell on, if one of "their riders" got injured on international duty.

[mikebv]

Maybe Northampton could launch with a GB v Aus Test Match?

[IainB]

There's a couple of international matches planned for Mildenhall this season I believe... looking forward to seeing Bewley, Lambert, DJ Woffy et al in action 🤔😉

[enotian]

On 1/3/2026 at 11:36 AM, topsoil said:

It would be great to see and I would like to see it, but it's all pie in the sky, until Poland can be persuaded to release riders. And there would be hell on, if one of "their riders" got injured on international duty.

Presumably the idea would be to run the series on Monday or Thursday nights so all the riders would be available.

I could see TV being interested more than they are in league racing. Draw decent crowds and it'll look much better on TV.

There is an imbalance in the teams so maybe employ a grading system? GP riders 4 grade points, PL heat Leaders grade 3, Under 25's grade 1, Under 21's grade zero and anyone else grade 2. Build a team of 8 to 16 grade points.

4's Kurtz, J Holder, Bewley, Lambert, Doyle, Fricke, Woffinden 

3's Lidsey, Brennan, Douglas, Masters, Pickering

2's Z Cook, King, Ellis, Lawson, Harris, B Cook, Howarth, Wright, Tungate, C Cook, C Holder, Morris, Nicholls, Allen

1's Rew, D Thompson, Edwards, Kemp, Rowe, Flint, McDiarmid, Bowes

0's Zischke, Harrison, Loftus, Cairns, Rushen, Scott, Bailey

Not an exhaustive list and I might have gotten some ages wrong but you get the idea.

GB: Bewley, Lambert, Woffinden, Harris, Thompson, Rowe, Cairns, Rushen

vs

AUS Kurtz, J Holder, Lidsey, Cook, Rew, McDiarmid, Bowes, Zischke

Might be a fair contest and better product. Better chance of covering for injuries as well and less expensive for the promoters but you're still delivering a bona fide international test match.

Appreciate Internationals should be unlimited but these days you have to think about the product and nobody is going to want to see another Aussie free for all.