6 Man Teams in 2026 ?

[mikebv]

It's all ok...

There will be a covenant stating sports must be held there...

(And we all know how well that goes!!)....

[RS50]

51 minutes ago, AceBelle said:

New stadium owners already kicked out stock cars only speedway running there be lucky to survive only sport being run there 🤔

Thought greyhound racing still there.

[AceBelle]

18 minutes ago, RS50 said:

Thought greyhound racing still there.

Read also that's going in the racing post ? whether that's  true who knows?

[Cross Roads]

17 hours ago, Steve Irving said:

It’s always been the case. Never been a fan of bowing to the lowest common denominator and dumbing down the product just so there won’t be strugglers at the bottom. Poole always dominated in the top league and always had the best riders for years. We had the Kings Lynn fan the other day saying they battered everyone in the second tier every single week so it happens in a lower quality league as well. Some would rather drive out the likes of Sayfutdinov and Kurtz so the teams are more equal but that is bonkers. Imagine Poland saying the top boys aren’t riding there anymore because there’s a few struggling teams at the bottom.

No he isn’t completely right. The teams at the top will still hammer those near the bottom because if it’s six man teams, they’ll still have the best six riders! If it’s 5 man teams, they’ll have the best 5 riders. It won’t make a jot of difference. You’re always going to have successful teams, and non successful teams. Unlike other sports we do have a points limit in place to try and keep things as even as possible, is there anything remotely similar in other sports that want to be taken seriously? We do have an issue with the top league at present and there seem to be reasons for that. Birmingham weren’t even sure to be running this year because of financial issues, so they’re obviously not at all equipped to be in the top tier. The race night issue was clearly a problem for them as well so that was a factor. Oxford might be struggling because they’ve spread themselves a bit thin running in three leagues. That’s their prerogative of course and they chose to do that. The other 5 teams are all competitive.

Agree to disagree on this. I'm saying we may have to grade riders to ensure an even spread of talent with clubs. Yes of course we want to best talent for us to be entertained but the imbalance at present is no way good for the sport today or moving forward. Yes historically there has always been weak teams but exposed even more now with the limited number of teams in the top flight. Great to be hammering an opponent each week until no opponent to hammer..lol

[TTT]

We may lose Birmingham and Sheffield after this year so it's probably going to be 7 Man Teams again with Rob Godfrey's Scunthorpe moving up to save the Premiership.

That strikes me as the plan they'd come up with instead of going with 5/6 Man Teams.

[Haza]

The ship really is sinking - after all these years nothing has been learned watering down doesn’t work 

[StarBoy]

There’s no guarantees that King’s Lynn will run again in ‘26. Always question marks come September/October time whether Buster will continue…

[therefused]

51 minutes ago, Haza said:

The ship really is sinking - after all these years nothing has been learned watering down doesn’t work 

i dont think its watering down, its making sure the riders are spready out across the clubs, thats how it should work in theory. 

[dontforgetthefueltapsbruv]

6 hours ago, Cross Roads said:

Agree to disagree on this. I'm saying we may have to grade riders to ensure an even spread of talent with clubs. Yes of course we want to best talent for us to be entertained but the imbalance at present is no way good for the sport today or moving forward. Yes historically there has always been weak teams but exposed even more now with the limited number of teams in the top flight. Great to be hammering an opponent each week until no opponent to hammer..lol

Grading would be not different to using a team building average 

In fact it could make it worse

At least with an average if you have a rider on 6.5 and one on 6 you use an extra half a point to pick the higher one

If they are both grade B that differential goes....

[szkocjasid]

1 hour ago, dontforgetthefueltapsbruv said:

Grading would be not different to using a team building average 

In fact it could make it worse

At least with an average if you have a rider on 6.5 and one on 6 you use an extra half a point to pick the higher one

If they are both grade B that differential goes....

If grade A is 8.00+ then grade B is 6.00-7.99, means a big difference in team strengths.

I'd suggest saying clubs are only allowed 1 x 9+ rider or 2 x 8+ riders, sharing the top riders around.

[dontforgetthefueltapsbruv]

12 minutes ago, szkocjasid said:

If grade A is 8.00+ then grade B is 6.00-7.99, means a big difference in team strengths.

I'd suggest saying clubs are only allowed 1 x 9+ rider or 2 x 8+ riders, sharing the top riders around.

So Doyle rides for Ippo and Emil says goodbye to British Speedway

That worked out well for the sport.....

[Daniel Smith]

Gradings don't & never will work.

Teams with the most money will still hire the highest average rider's. 

The gap from top to bottom would be even bigger.

If a rule is introduced with 1, 9+ rider etc the star riders will leave as Ipswich & Sheffield are the only ones that can afford the demands. Thus, yet again, a rider shortage. 

If anything, British Speedway next season should go more extreme imo;

5 man teams, 1 big league & remove team building averages.

If Ipswich went;

1. Doyle

2. Zmarzlik 

3. Sayfutdinov 

4. Jespen-Jensen

5. Laguta

It'll be "well done them." 👏🏻👏🏻

British Speedway needs to stop pandering to the 'have nots' & try something 'very different'.

[Falcon1983]

Ipswich or Belle Vue or both should apply to join the polish league if Sheffield and Brum go, can't see anyone moving up

 

[szkocjasid]

3 hours ago, dontforgetthefueltapsbruv said:

So Doyle rides for Ippo and Emil says goodbye to British Speedway

That worked out well for the sport.....

The idea is one of them joins another club. Won't be the first time a top rider has had to change teams due to the points limit, Rickardsson left Ipswich after the 98 treble, Hancock & Hamill split up after racing together at Cradley & Coventry, Poole chose Pedersen over Crump (can't remember if that was due to points limit or GP rider limit).

I'm not saying it's ideal, but if the alternative is clubs closing down due to losing money let alone the clubs that may lose their stadium, won't do much good having a superstar team with only 2 or 3 teams to race against.

[stevebrum]

On 4/30/2025 at 2:05 AM, Manifesto said:

Who we losing? 

I believe it’s Birminghams last year at Perry Barr as it stands. 

[Daniel Smith]

8 hours ago, szkocjasid said:

The idea is one of them joins another club. Won't be the first time a top rider has had to change teams due to the points limit, Rickardsson left Ipswich after the 98 treble, Hancock & Hamill split up after racing together at Cradley & Coventry, Poole chose Pedersen over Crump (can't remember if that was due to points limit or GP rider limit).

I'm not saying it's ideal, but if the alternative is clubs closing down due to losing money let alone the clubs that may lose their stadium, won't do much good having a superstar team with only 2 or 3 teams to race against.

Kind of missing the point though.

Apart from Ipswich, Sheffield & Belle Vue (all have 2 very good heatleaders) most other clubs can't afford these "Star" riders in the first place.

These riders just walk away if clubs can't manage their pay grade, then all we'll be doing again is diluting the product.

British Speedway needs to stop pandering to the weak, allow team to sign who they want.