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No, far from it. But he is the only rider, as far as I know, that has robbed an elderly woman armed with knives whilst out of his head on crack cocaine. There have been many instances where a rider can come back from a drugs ban. Smarty came back from missing a season and a half and was better than ever after it. Roger Lobb made a successful comeback and Nick Morris seems to of done okay. I do think the ban should be longer for being caught under the influence and they should be tested every meeting for the rest of their career. People say its expensive but it really isn't, I was working in the mines in Australia a few years back and drug tests cost them next to nothing. It is mad how it gets out that drug testers are in attendance at tracks which causes riders to suddenly have a van break down on them. Its criminal how a plank like Garrity can do what he has and now seemingly has Havelock and Wilson backing him on his comeback whereas genuine decent lads with equal ability get next to nothing to help them.

Let’s be honest, ‘Speedway Star’ is probably the most credible thing associated with the sport in the UK. A superb publication doing its best to make the sport appear to be more professional than it actually is!

Prison is there to punish and rehabilitate. He's done his time, now we've got to hope the rehabilitation works. He has experience in two things - Speedway and crime. If we don't want him to return to crime, we need to push him down the path of an honest future. Sadly it seems the "Holier Than Thou" brigade want to push him down a path of crime, so they can say "I was right".

End of year update

Baffles me that everywhere seems to want something the size of BV when Somerset, Redcar and Scunthorpe sizes produce good racing and would be far easier to squeeze in somewhere.

I find it absolutely astonishing that people think this piece of dirt should be allowed back into speedway. There are lines between crimes and getting pissed and jumping on a bike, whilst completely irresponsible, is not in the same league as smoking crack and holding up an old woman at gunpoint. He is the lowest of the low. People need to hang their heads in shame comparing him to a rider who has failed a booze or drug test. It is crazy how he didn't get banned before he completely and utterly ballsed his life up. Have heard many stories about his behavior and drugs etc from well before he got banged up.

Luckily we dont care what opposing fans think. Brady will be here and 100% of aces fans will be very happy in deed. Happy new year

Although, Garrity also spent more time in prison than Hitler, which makes you wonder…. Maybe he’s literally Hitler. Page 6. I thank you.

While fans crow about woffinden dudek laguta, madsen and riders like that not riding in England, we should really be looking at riders like woryna, drabik, buckowski and locatiev, these type of riders while not exactly are at the top are all action out and out racers who don’t give an inch, I love watching these riders in the polish leagues and would love to see them over here where I believe fans would love their no nonsense racing

Who cares

I think just regular drug tests would see a few riders retiring quite quickly. Speedway is incredibly backwards in more ways than one.

So it was you that started the downfall of British Speedway! Send him down👨‍⚖️👎🏻 😂

The original intention was just for British youngsters to gain top flight experience but self interest ruled and it became a free for all

So pleased you cleared that up. I was beginning to wonder what average we was going to get rolf on. 😁

Should be no facility in those circumstances

Ffs this is getting like The Prisoner. Who is Number 5? Who is Number 6? Ipswich is Number 5! No! Ipswich is Number 6! Who is Patrick McGoohan? Who is the all-seeing Controller? Round the Boards? The Top Drawer? (or they actually the same person)? And what is the giant white bubble that comes out of the sea? Why - of course - it's Northampton, complete with Brady Kurtz at Number 1!!

I’m neither for or against Louis but such criticism is unfounded when you do not know the figures involved with the financial operation of the club. Take speedway out of the equation and ask yourself whether you would like people telling you what to do with your money and be criticised for not being prepared to risk making a loss just to make other people happy?

Dan Bewley signing no1 Welcome back dan. Great news

Matt is moving back to UK (for babysitting duties??)🤩😇 Well you have signed Bowes 🙃

What a sorry state as we are about to turn the page into 2026 and still no idea how many teams will be in the league with 11 weeks roughly to the start of the season - how can anyone plan riders or sponsors and to a lesser degree fans . And how can this league be taken as a serious professional league ?

I don't say that... I say that there's plenty of riders already available in the UK that just aren't given a chance in favour of a ready made foreigner

We don’t know that’s the case. People on here claim to know all sorts when the reality is they don’t know their @rse from their elbow.

Let's hope he gets the chance to race somewhere & earn a living. Hopefully he can turn his life around & make a contribution to society as opposed to falling back into crime & drug abuse & continuing to be a burden on the tax payer.

Well, that was a quick change of opinion

At this rate it could be the fantastic four!

Soulless then 😜

Genuine question, would it be viable to build a permanent stand around the 3rd / 4th bend so that they don’t have to spend tens of thousands for the temp stand, thus improving facilities and the look of the stadium. I know lots of people (including me) have light banter across the teams we support but if it is the home of British speedway it’s in the best interest for Britain to have an even better stadium, it would complete the look too IMO, just continue the stadium around the bend to connect the two stands, or is there reason they can’t?

Many congratulations to Poole Promoter Danny Ford and wife Daniella on the birth of their son Brody. Also great to hear Grandad Matt is moving back to UK (for babysitting duties??)🤩😇

It's Norfolk - no other explanation required

I doubt the sanity of any such venture. Why would the Oxford Cheetahs promoters risk diluting the interest in and attendances for Cheetahs matches, soon after ending a failed experiment. Unless they don't have any influence over it, which would still make it utter madness to attempt

Yeah I've got it - too many involved lack the ambition, ability and skills to promote and progress the sport

As was always going to be the ultimate outcome from around two decades ago... Short term decision making , after short term decision making, after short term decision making... Years of.... No Leadership, No Strategy, No Vision, and No Growth Plan.... A perfect scenario to deliver precisely what we have today... No surprises though, as what we have today has been called out as the only outcome possible, on here, for years.... You can only presume therefore, that the Promoters didn't see the obvious only outcome of their year on year actions..? Which, given they are the ones trying to sort out the current self inflicted situation, doesn't exactly fill you with confidence does it?

In summary seems Minimum of £100k needs to be chucked at any potential venue whether or not its a former speedway venue to satisfy the BSPL. Our AGM is on the 6th January, so get your skates on please. No late payments of membership fees will be accepted. On the granting of our licence , then you are guaranteeed a season of 8 maybe 10, or 12 maybe 15 home meetings in a league for 5 or 6 teams. We havent yet decided the number of teams allowed in our league , nor the exact fixture format. Fixures may be erratic and not run in some months at all , please bear that in mind when negotiating rental deals with your track owners. Please bear with us. Please don't try and run any other speedway meetings on your track without our permission or you will be expelled. We usually run meetings on Mondays or Thursdays, but as you are the last track to join the league you will have to fit in around either day to suit the existing tracks. Previous seasons have shown no clubs have turned a profit in this league, even with generous TV sponsorship which is not forthcoming this season. There are still some riders available to hire that have not been employed by the other clubs in the league. You will ahve to haggle with them to agree terms and as you are the last team to join the league you wll have to take what's available.

You do have to seriously question the sanity of anyone who tries to open up a Speedway team at Northampton, don't you? Established, historical, top league tracks often dont even get just 1500 a week, so what type of crowd number would a new venture get? Especially one, "outside of town"..... It cannot be a realistic option surely to open a new track, and go straight into the top league with all the costs involved of trying to be competitive at that level?

It isn’t unfounded though is it? He’s threatening to close a viable Speedway club because he’s gotten the hump over something he “can’t talk about”! Of course none of us know the figures involved, but if Ipswich are losing money then so is every single club up and down the Country! And if that’s the case, close it all down now. Somehow, I don’t think that’s the case. The fact is, clubs in the top flight who are not as well backed both via sponsorship or via gate receipts, are all coming to tapes in March. The man who is lucky enough to be backed by Thousands of loyal supporters, more than any other club in the top flight, is threatening to end Speedway for those very supporters. Nobody is suggesting he stays where he is forever, but if he can’t find a buyer before January the 6th, why can’t he do just one more year to keep Speedway going in Ipswich that has been running since the 50’s? That will give him plenty of time to find someone to take over for 2027 (if there is one). Just shutting up shop and closing Ipswich Speedway, should NOT under any circumstances be defended or accepted.

That makes sense at face value but with a little unpacking Louis motives become a little clearer. At the end of October he knew the tv deal was over and that his team would be weakened by the departure of Emil. So that’s the tv deal and weaker product covered. The air fence is another known item Louis still had to contend with whilst openly planning for 2026. Now we come to the fixture issue. If it’s five teams you’re basically dropping a Birmingham type team for extra visits from Belle Vue & Sheffield. Only Louis can say which is best financially, through we probably all have our own thoughts. BTW, it’s less fixtures with the same repetition or the more repetition with the same fixtures. The house seemed at equal risk in October as it did 2/3 weeks later but imo that’s not the issue, it’s purely down to not getting his own way. I kind of don’t blame him as the trait of almost all speedway promoters is one of “I’m alright Jack, screw you.” Owning that mindset is another thing and we continually get this smoke screen from clubs PR and social media trolls that everything they do is for the good of the sport. Hopefully he doesn’t kill off the club as they have been a welcome addition to the top league recently and their true fans don’t deserve to have the rug pulled after their cup win only a few weeks ago.

Those should be the ONLY two options, sell it or run it. I can’t believe the bloke has the brass neck to come out and say “I can’t say for definite that there will be a team for next year yet” Why can’t he? Because things simply “don’t align” for him anymore? Well they still align for thousands of Ipswich supporters who want to continue watching their beloved team next year you selfish t0sser!!!!!!!! And the fact there’s STILL people on here backing him and defending him I find absolutely staggering. You simply can’t be allowed to fold one of the very few profit making clubs in the entire country, one of if not THE best supported, and well backed clubs in the country, and a club with an available track and venue to continue racing at.

The alternative in not allowing him to do what he plainly has a skill for is to assign him to the scrapheap, which only increases the chances he'll relapse & end up back on drugs & no doubt crime to support that habit. Better to give him the opportunity to redeem himself, become a useful & contributing member of society & if that means he gets the opportunity to race speedway again, that is the right thing to do, IMHO.

This post from you flagrag is looking stranger by the day. How on earth could you claim to know the Ipswich team in early December when there clearly wasn’t a sale imminent, and Louis was off? Who had put this “team” together?? You’ve even gone as far as saying there is a great new GP rider at number 1! Who was/is it??

Would having 6 teams, with no lame ducks involved, bring back the possibility of salvaging a tv deal for 2026? The recent 7 team league, aided by the points limit, seemed to create a situation where two teams were basket cases almost from the start. 6 teams with the 37 point limit will hopefully produce better equilibrium. Last season it seemed like Louis and others strong-armed their needs through at the expense of creating two lame ducks, bully for them but it created a league that was a foregone conclusion soon after it began

You miss the point. We'd all love to earn money doing what we enjoy or are best qualified to do. Given the opportunity anyone would. The point is that doing what he enjoys or is most qualified to do is not his only option to make a useful contribution to society as is being presented by some on here. "If you don't let him ride he'll resort to drug abuse and crime". Utter nonsense. He very well might but that would be on him and not those who decided it wasn't appropriate to employ him. Imagine if we all resorted to drugs and crime if we didn't get what we wanted to do? The vast majority of us just get on with it. Nobody owes this lad a living because he's was a half decent speedway rider, If any promoter is happy enough to accept the negative publicity and risk associated with the lad then that's entirely up to them. If none are willing to do so then he should accept that as a consequence of his own misdemeanours and move on and find another way of being a useful member of society. Perhaps the best comparison is ex footballer Adam Johnson. He made a despicable mistake served his time and has moved on knowing that he'd never be able to do what he was best qualified to do such was the nature of his crime. To say Garrity should be given an opportunity despite the nature of his crime because it's what he does best shows a complete lack of empathy for the victims of his crime and indeed the general public. Who naturally don't like to see people who have behaved despicably being rewarded. I say fair play to any promoter willing to give him a chance. Hopefully he takes it and lives a successful life from this point forward. But let's be clear, any promoter who does so is taking a risk and Garrity should consider himself extremely fortunate to be given an opportunity he is most certainly not entitled to just because he happens to be good at it.

Retired to build a business empire rivalling ab cruisers , good luck to steve for the future.

WOW!!! I had to check Mike - I thought it was Sir Keir Starmer posting. 😉

By jove... I think he's got it 😂

And the most worrying bit about the whole sorry affair is the BSPL don’t seem to see it

I'm not really fussed to be honest but this rhetoric about it being a choice between speedway or crime is just complete rubbish. This chap will be extremely fortunate to be given another opportunity to earn a living doing something which he presumably he loved, just not as much as his other apparent addiction. But to say this is his only chance to stay 'clean' is tantamount to holding a gun to the collective speedway communities head. a. there are plenty of other occupations this chap could pursue. sure those will be limited by his qualifications and his criminal record by there are plenty of ex-convicts who obtain gainful employment. it might not be preferential but the vast majority of us, criminal or not, don't get the opportunity to do our dream job. b. what happens when he is no longer physically able to be a speedway rider? straight back to a life of crime? Like I say I have no opinion on whether or not this chap should be given an opportunity but lets not attempt to justify this as being anything other than extremely fortunate if the opportunity does arise.

It makes sense to me, assuming the idea is to stop 2.00 juniors being used, to strengthen up the top 5, when they could be wildly out of their depth (not saying Rushen will be). You could make an argument that the minimum should be 4.00!

I hope fans take this the right way & understand what I'm saying, but, I'M REALLY REALLY FECKED OFF by this team. In any season this could have been a successful, title challenging side. It's possibly title favourites for this season. Why now?? The league only has 4 teams in it, almost every British Speedway fan up and down the country is embarrassed by the state of the Premiership. I'm so so desperate for King's Lynn to win the "Top Flight" title but is this the season to be remembered for, for winning our first ever??? Please BSPL, find a way to make 2026 worth while & meaningful for everyone associated with King's Lynn's Stars 🙏🏻🙏🏻

If Ipswich isn't sold Louis should run it, if not he's simply the guy who shut Ipswich Speedway.