What will 2026 UK speedway bring?

[truthsayer]

11 hours ago, Spiderman1 said:

Any country has tall and small people, just would make it more compeditive if there was weight limits through speedway,much like road racing moto 3 for one example, more people would take up speedway weight is hp ,only have to look a the current gp guys

That's not giving an example, that's just giving an opinion.

I was more looking for you to say 'Rider X was a promising youngster but he ended up quitting because he got too big and wasn't competitive'

I'm genuinely not convinced that introducing a combined weight limit would bring more riders in. I'm open to you convincing me otherwise, but this sport has a lot of problems and this (if it even is one) belongs far down the list of problems.

More venues, lower costs, greater awareness... these are all things to be tackled before bringing weight limits in.

[Spiderman1]

39 minutes ago, truthsayer said:

That's not giving an example, that's just giving an opinion.

I was more looking for you to say 'Rider X was a promising youngster but he ended up quitting because he got too big and wasn't competitive'

I'm genuinely not convinced that introducing a combined weight limit would bring more riders in. I'm open to you convincing me otherwise, but this sport has a lot of problems and this (if it even is one) belongs far down the list of problems.

More venues, lower costs, greater awareness... these are all things to be tackled before bringing weight limits 

[Spiderman1]

3 minutes ago, Spiderman1 said:

52 minutes ago, truthsayer said:

That's not giving an example, that's just giving an opinion.

I was more looking for you to say 'Rider X was a promising youngster but he ended up quitting because he got too big and wasn't competitive'

I'm genuinely not convinced that introducing a combined weight limit would bring more riders in. I'm open to you convincing me otherwise, but this sport has a lot of problems and this (if it even is one) belongs far down the list of problems.

More venues, lower costs, greater awareness... these are all things to be tackled before bringing weight limits 

Expand  

Say no more,simplicity 

[THE DEAN MACHINE]

3 hours ago, Fortythirtyeight said:

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.

Well Birmingham didnt get crowds of 700 except for couple of occasions, Buxton would have derby matches against Sheffield and belle vue and Buxton’s rent is a 10th of Birmingham and also has the catering money which Birmingham didnt, so factor all that in and if they can get the same tv deal that was available this year it may just be a deal breaker 

[PhilTheAce]

On 11/1/2025 at 9:08 AM, Spiderman1 said:

The same place you come from

I’m 18 stone. I’d give speedway a go if weight limits were brought back. 
 

BZ would be in trouble 

[IainB]

1 hour ago, PhilTheAce said:

I’m 18 stone. I’d give speedway a go if weight limits were brought back. 
 

BZ would be in trouble 

If you fell on him 😉😂

[PhilTheAce]

4 hours ago, IainB said:

If you fell on him 😉😂

Rude 

[Fortythirtyeight]

19 hours ago, THE DEAN MACHINE said:

Well Birmingham didnt get crowds of 700 except for couple of occasions, Buxton would have derby matches against Sheffield and belle vue and Buxton’s rent is a 10th of Birmingham and also has the catering money which Birmingham didnt, so factor all that in and if they can get the same tv deal that was available this year it may just be a deal breaker 

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.

Edited yesterday at 05:29 PM by Fortythirtyeight

[THE DEAN MACHINE]

2 hours ago, Fortythirtyeight said:

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.

And that’s where the sport will be changing,the money for riders will be less, do  Oxford get catering and bar profits ? Which as any entertainment business will tell you is where you can make serious money, Len silver used to let fans in for free at rye house when they were against lesser attractive teams so he could make more money on his fish and chips and beer and that was a fact, I know I was there on a few of those occasions, the tv money was not really a pittance, in the grand scheme of things it was a welcome few quid for promotions and will be a big loss, on average rent for a track is around £50,000 a year, some more some less, so if you pay nothing that’s £50,000 saved before you have even started,I haven’t anywhere said this is a perfect solution but it should be considered because the alternatives are far worse and far more costly 

Edited 23 hours ago by THE DEAN MACHINE

[YeOldPitGate]

On 11/1/2025 at 6:24 PM, Fortythirtyeight said:

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 ?

Who's the builder who cleaned up ?

[IainB]

7 minutes ago, YeOldPitGate said:

Who's the builder who cleaned up ?

Wasn't it Marcel Gehard, former long tracker, his daughter was also involved in some capacity I think when it all went ** up. 

Not sure why they never took off, many riders tried them and didn't Freddie even win a GP on one?

[Fortythirtyeight]

10 minutes ago, IainB said:

Wasn't it Marcel Gehard, former long tracker, his daughter was also involved in some capacity I think when it all went ** up. 

Not sure why they never took off, many riders tried them and didn't Freddie even win a GP on one?

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 .

[Ben91]

49 minutes ago, THE DEAN MACHINE said:

Len silver used to let fans in for free at rye house when they were against lesser attractive teams so he could make more money on his fish and chips and beer and that was a fact

Those free Conference League meetings tended to coincide with the Premier League team racing away somewhere on the same evening… 

[Sir Sidney]

2 hours ago, THE DEAN MACHINE said:

 on average rent for a track is around £50,000 a year, some more some less, so if you pay nothing that’s £50,000 saved before you have even started,I haven’t anywhere said this is a perfect solution but it should be considered because the alternatives are far worse and far more costly 

Although, if you don't pay rent because you own the stadium you havd got costs such as business rates and stadium upkeep to pay,amongst many others, so that would put a significant dent in that £50k

[THE DEAN MACHINE]

43 minutes ago, Sir Sidney said:

Although, if you don't pay rent because you own the stadium you havd got costs such as business rates and stadium upkeep to pay,amongst many others, so that would put a significant dent in that £50k

Your missing the point I’m making, it’s Buxton I’m talking about, where you wouldn’t own the track but the rent is tiny compared to other tracks and that is for practically unlimited use and you get the money from absolutely everything from catering to practice days, as I said it’s not the ideal solution but it is by far the best most cost effective solution to the crap that British speedway finds itself in, honestly making a point to you lot is like talking to the bspl 😂

[Sir Sidney]

28 minutes ago, THE DEAN MACHINE said:

Your missing the point I’m making, it’s Buxton I’m talking about, where you wouldn’t own the track but the rent is tiny compared to other tracks and that is for practically unlimited use and you get the money from absolutely everything from catering to practice days, as I said it’s not the ideal solution but it is by far the best most cost effective solution to the crap that British speedway finds itself in, honestly making a point to you lot is like talking to the bspl 😂

Yes, point taken re Buxton

[SJA]

On 10/30/2025 at 9:33 AM, TTT said:

Polish rule in 2027 doesn't bother us, King's Lynn will lose a couple of Dane's and that's it.

If Aussie's want to live over here then they have to take part in our Speedway League so that makes the decision for them.

The problem British Speedway is facing is from within, Not from Poland.

From what I have been told a number are looking at the possibility of relocating, with Bydgoszcz suggested as a likely base for the Aussie riders. That way they can have a local support network of fellow riders families. 

[YeOldPitGate]

20 hours ago, Fortythirtyeight said:

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.

My god no wonder nobody makes any money running the sport if you have 5-6 point riders on 3k per match, it did seem at times that the Oxford team were going through the motions with 3k guarantees for mid ability riders its not surprising. 

[Fortythirtyeight]

2 hours ago, YeOldPitGate said:

My god no wonder nobody makes any money running the sport if you have 5-6 point riders on 3k per match, it did seem at times that the Oxford team were going through the motions with 3k guarantees for mid ability riders its not surprising. 

and the heat leaders were even worse.

[davie10]

So where are the figures coming from? £ 3k for a six-point rider seems hard to believe.