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Have the bspl become so desperate and tunnel visioned in their quest to get Northampton running they have forgot what their actual job is ? They have practically isolated and ignored the fans and even the other 4 teams to a degree since November to the point now where even the most loyal fans are getting fed up and if like me thinking is it worth it anymore, this winter has been one of the most damaging to its credibility winters the sport has ever had

I suppose I could of asked for more money but I didn’t really care, I just wanted to race speedway, the privilege of being part of a team was for me what speedway was all about, it always made me more determined to beat whoever it was if I knew they were on a good screw from their team, I think I was one of the lowest paid riders ever to race for 21 years but not only did I achieve my lifetime ambition I also did alright for myself so looking back what else could I ask for in life

The sport is more of a hobby for too many to ever be taken seriously.... Winning at home (by a narrow margin) and getting hammered away is almost utopia for some... These promoters don't have any burning ambitions to win things or, if also in the second tier, move into the top league, and are quite content on funding their hobby through affordable losses, or other businesses contributions.. They run their team pretty much for themselves and the riders, who often need two jobs in the UK to justify their outlay on machinery... With the two jobs meaning two teams share the costs which then makes it cost effective for both clubs.. The clamour for "Team Six" isn't to make the top league look "relevant", (even 20 teams couldn't do that the way the sport is ran), it is simply to ensure another seven slots are available for riders, with four or five of those slots being so riders can double up.. Neither league has authenticity given the operating model (196 guests last season), therefore "Team Six" won't make a jot of difference to the way the sport is viewed by so many fans, and, (more importantly), literally thousands of "ex fans"... In short. Nothing changes because the majority of those running it have a lot of their boxes ticked due to the way they do run it, hence they are content with things... And as long as fans only slowly dwindle away, the losses won't become too big, too quickly, so the whole nonsense can continue on.... Until, of course, inevitably one day given its inexorable decline, it doesn't..

And all so riders can double up.... A complete blight on the sport in the first place... And the reason some clubs cannot race at weekends even if they wanted to... An incredible situation to allow to have happened, especially given thousands of fans could see the issues years ago and openly said so, and often!!! Imagine running your whole operation around doubling up? Barmy. And it delivered exactly what it has ...

Just saw this in Northampton town centre...

Ipswich were more than happy to take Tom off Birmingham and see them “make up the numbers”. Tom had ridden part of their season at number 1 after we released him. When you consider the top two the witches had in place, tapping up Tom seemed unnecessary if looking at the bigger picture. It did however achieve what Louis wanted with his league win, and that’s all that mattered to him.

Now posting as tapewrecker

Not at Dan's level yet!!! Is what you mean... Who knows though.... Keep practicing and you never know.... Edit. I've just told my mate that Ouch was taking up Speedway and that he doesn't think he will be as good as Dan.. He said "Who the eff are Ouch and Dan, and what the eff is Speedway?".. See. Already you are at Dan's level...

In 2003 I did nearly 80 meetings with an average round trip of 400 miles per meeting, my van which I paid for was doing around 60-80k miles a year riding sometimes 4 times per week and washed and prepped my own bikes,,worked part time mechanic for Adam skornicki and sometimes washed Joe screens bikes and worked as a full time courier often delivering on way to meetings and sometimes after meetings and I did it for peanuts so forgive me if I have little sympathy for the likes of Jason Edward’s ,they don’t know they are born

I don’t buy that. The vast majority of fans switch off at the end of the season & come back at the start of the new one. It’s only us on here that get our knickers in a twist, a small percentage of those who actually attend. If the side ends up getting beaten week in week out then yes the attendance will drop, but the goings on this winter won’t make much difference to the attendance at the start of the season

Getting very fed up with this cloak and dagger situation with Northampton. I actually don’t care now if they are they running or not. Five or six teams in the league, still crap. Regardless of where they are in preparation, at least make some sort of announcement to generate a degree of interest. I set up as a consultant a few years ago and never thought to keep it a secret and not tell anyone. Would love to hear the business strategy (if they have one?) of those in charge.

I think the day we take any notice of what a Holder has to say is probably the day to pack it all in.

Doubling Up is cost effective for both leagues as they both can share the wages of the rider.. The top league certainly couldn't afford to pay third HL's and Second Strings what they earn collectively from their two jobs, given the GP riders will be high earners... And, if no doubling up, the second tier could only maybe afford one of these riders each in their teams, (rather than 3 which some have), resulting in them having to fill the bottom end of their teams with several NDL level riders... What started out as a laudable development tool has been allowed to become a farce.... Driven by the usual lack of any mid or long term plan to develop enough riders to compete (especially), in the 2nd tier...

Out of curiosity, I’ve checked to see if there is a Curling Forum…….and there is! Everyone seems to be very polite with nobody moaning about things like surfaces being too slick etc……Just one confused poster complaining that none of the posts have anything to do with hairdressing!

John Louis once told me that he gave up putting on second half "junior" races, because he was fed up with making phone calls, and the first questions was: "How much do you pay?" ... JL was 28 when he started riding speedway, and spent his first efforts just turning up and asking if he could get a ride, and still riding for nothing when he was asked back.

Half the problem is riders trying to make a full time living out of the sport instead realising it's a paying hobby for the vast majority of them .

To be honest I’m not really bothered, I went to the IOW twice last year and will be going twice again this year, I raced for them for 2 years and was one of my favourite tracks to get too, I thought the ferry crossing was part of the fun

And we are running a fantastic opening night competition.... So to win it. Just answer this simple question... Does anyone know when it is??!!!!!

They can't be peed off as all 4 other businesses are in the mess with them. They have all been contributors to where the sport finds itself now, at various stages by either voting things down as individuals or a collective, refusing to implement change or provision for any future planning as they all know best.

I don’t really understand people using the fact Mayfield have made cuts at GP level as a stick to beat them with. The product was haemorrhaging money left right and centre. There was hardly a queue of people lining up to take over Warner/Discovery who wanted nothing more to do with it all. Any businessman worth his salt would be making monetary cuts to stem the flow of losses. That’s just common sense isn’t it? Really don’t understand the criticism there at all.

He was fantastic wasn’t he? Had an aura, the X factor. His form dipped in his final year here by his high standards but it wasn’t through lack of effort or commitment. I’m sure I wasn’t alone when he first signed wondering how many meetings he’d miss and how much effort would he put in, but I needn’t have been concerned! Class act.

Santa Claus you c#nt , wheres my f@cking team Kevin Bloody Wilson

Which shows how quickly any agreement can change/disappear Until the announcement nothing is guaranteed Whilst I expect it to happen I'm almost of a mind that it may be best that it doesn't so that the whole house of cards collapses and forces a real reset

It's not his team to announce though is it! If you were negotiating a sale worth tens of thousands of pounds to you would you be disclosing the planned new owners team against their wishes? That doesn't seem the best way to conduct the process to me....

Whoever wins the "league" there is no kudos to it is there? I think attendences are going to be woeful after this close season, its difficult to see how the sport recovers from this now.

Seems to me that Plymouth have gone back to "grass roots" Speedway, the type a lot of us were brought up on before the Sport decided to take itself far too seriously and tried to be something it's not and probably never will be... a Professional sport. They're probably only a 2nd half away from getting back to the night out that most of us yearn for. Keep your flashy TV contracts etc. That's been and gone and we blew it.

I sort of understand riders wanting bigger and bigger deals because unfortunately most come into the sport with the mentality of it’s my living and I don’t blame them for that, if anyone is at fault it’s the sport feeding that illusion to them but for me it wasn’t my living it was my dream and I lived it

A baffling comment that Matt Ford made in his SS interview was that Poland could pay riders half of what they do and the riders would still be very well paid.... Thus, by paying riders less it would reduce the gap between the UK salary and Poland's... Therefore, making the UK salary more attractive to some riders... Maybe just paying riders what you can afford to pay them, is the more simpler idea? And, if they don't want to ride for that money, ask someone else who will....

And the majority of the riders rocked up in the pits with 1 bike or 2 if they were lucky strapped to the back of a car, and if they had bike problems they'd fall back on the track spare to use, not like now where they all expect sponsored sign written vans with 3 or 4 bikes in the back.

I predict the draw for the PL Cup will be made...

Great piece from Tony McDonald this week in response to Matt Ford's comments the week before... Tony's views would be shared by the majority in here I would think... Also, Ben Findon mentions the timing of the fixture list and how it missed the Speedway Star deadline to be published last week.. He goes on to say how much the Speedway Star and Tracks need each other... The sport in the UK certainly does benefit from having such a professionally presented production covering it...

Chris still retains his love for the sport and is still hurt by entain but he isn’t out there doing the ground work to get wolves back either at monmore or elsewhere, I spoke with him in November about J11 on the M6 but that could be 10 years away, we contacted entain ourselves just before Xmas and also spoke with the manager at monmore and that is literally all that has happened in the last 6 months, I’m sure Chris would help any person/team that tried to get wolves back but doing it himself No, I’ve been helping heathens next generation for the past few months and they are relentless for some land and we have been to look at 4 pieces of land in the last 3 weeks alone and are still trying for the rocky lane site, I just wish someone was doing the same for wolves

1st visit to Plymouth will be this season, dont think the club gets enough credit for work and effort in changes and upgrades to their track to improve the racing ,safety and over all entertainment. Fair play Plymouth ,best of luck for 2026.

Problem is, and it's a big problem for not only Ipswich and / or Northampton, but British Speedway as a whole, especially at this extremely late stage, is that Richard Coleman does not have money at his disposal, he always uses other people's money. The guy wants to be Christian Horner, but is very much a "pound shop" version, playing with other's money. A google search regarding the new owners / investors of the "Tech3" MotoGP team reveals the following: Tech3 MotoGP Investors Pierre Gasly and David Blitzer are part of a broader investor group acquiring Tech3 MotoGP, led by Günther Steiner and IKON Capital. Additional investors include Main Street Advisors (led by Paul Wachter), Bolt Ventures (David Blitzer's firm), SLAM/TRAIL (Gasly's group), and others such as ALK Capital, Penman Holdings’ Barry English, Tom Stafford, Charles de Carvalho, and Dolphin Capital’s Richard Cook. Notice the absence of Richard Coleman as an investor? He may be the team principal, but he is basically "just" an employee as things stand. David Blitzer holds stakes across major leagues as co-managing partner of Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment (HBSE), owning the Philadelphia 76ers (NBA) and New Jersey Devils (NHL). He has minority ownership in the Cleveland Guardians (MLB, 25% with option for control), Washington Commanders (NFL), and previously Real Salt Lake/Utah Royals (MLS, sold majority in 2025 but retains stake). Blitzer also owns stakes in international soccer clubs via Global Football Holdings, including Crystal Palace (Premier League), FC Augsburg (Bundesliga), Brøndby IF (Denmark), and others like Estoril Praia (Portugal) and ADO Den Haag (Netherlands); additional investments cover Joe Gibbs Racing (NASCAR) and more. Tech3 MotoGP is based in Bormes-les-Mimosas, 65 miles from Marseille, in Provence in the south of France. Also, In the Speedway Star magazine interview dated September 27, 2025, Coleman discussed his new role as FIM Speedway Grand Prix (SGP) promoter from 2026, stating that the budget for the series would be cut compared to previous years, which we now know has cut prize money by around 25% - 30%, with racesuits also falling by the wayside in favour of a return to old style race jackets.. In the article, Coleman highlighted his involvement with the South of France-based Tech3 MotoGP team as Team Principal, noting he would attend some SGP events but not committing to all, amid Mayfield's growing Formula 1 engagements in addition to MotoGP with "Tech3"... While Mayfield Sports Events are viewed by some as saviors for Ipswich Speedway, given the extensive commitments outlined above, how will Coleman manage to fit everything in? He wont - Coleman will rely on SGP hosting tracks and loyal Ipswich staff to operate SGP events and league racing, while prioritising MotoGP. For example, the day after the two SGP events at Belle Vue, there is a round of MotoGP in Hungary, with MotoGP practice happening whilst the SGP is in full flow in Manchester. Wonder where Coleman will be that weekend, and other such clashing weekends? The probable hold up to Mayfield's heavily rumoured takeover at Ipswich? A lack of investment, other's investment funds, as Coleman himself hasnt got the money. The sport will find out he is a Walter Mitty character, who spins a good yarn, but who has as much financial substance as Arthur Daley & Del Boy Trotter !

The fact someone is signing Scott Nicholls in 2026 in a “Premiership” team says everything really. That’s no slight on him either. He’s been a fine rider for many years but come on now the bloke is on the slippery slope to 50 and just spent nearly a year out injured. It’s all a bit desperate.

Speaking as a speedway fan and not the parent of a rider. I would not be attending a meeting this year. To be left in the dark to this extent yet expected to pay my hard earned and turn up to watch god knows who on a random date yet to be determined…. I’d have found another sport to follow weeks ago.

been away for a few weeks .... any nes on Ipswich new owners ??? Any team news ??

Still fully committed every time he goes to the tapes ,we should make the most of him hope he has safe and successful season .

Just imagining Drew Kemp competing and pulling up when behind pointing to a mechanical failure on his snowboard!

Speed skating is everything Speedway should be. I ❤️ it, just watched a great final.

You certainly gave 100% for Berwick,that’s all most fans wanted in them days.Nowadays 1 bad meeting and they want changes.

Who are you replying to? You need to click on Quote on the message you're replying to, which makes it much clearer for everyone ...

Mayfield didn't ruin the GP's. FIM Leftists did by diluting the product when exluding Russian's and then replacing them with bang average out of depth riders in a box ticking exercise.

Don't think it's a HIgh Street Bank. He seems like more of a Merchant Banker.

I care for the wellbeing of the sport and that’s all,as of this moment mayfield have been anything but credible about their speedway venture, they haven’t even said they are the company doing it. So forgive me if I don’t share your enthusiasm for another possible speedway disaster, I’ll be happy to be proved wrong

I am sure the UK Speedway Marketing Director, and the young team of innovators and influencers who work for him/her, are working on the launch even whilst we discuss it...

I dunno actually. We think along those lines because we’re part of a very very small pool of supporters that regularly frequent this forum. The vast majority of supporters that turn up at their tracks will have gotten on with their lives over the winter and been oblivious to the finer details of club sales and a new track. I’d bet there actually isn’t that many who are like kids at Christmas and want to know what they’re getting yesterday. A bigger number will be confused at there being no fixtures or season tickets on sale sure, but I’m not convinced it’ll be a dealbreaker! From a personal point of view, after a long winter I’m at the point now where I’ve missed the racing and I’m looking forward to getting up to Lynn in a few weeks to watch some Speedway.

Running on a Saturday and not a Tuesday is a major improvement..... Plenty of young kids (and obviously those who pay for them), now in attendance that wouldn't be there on a Tuesday... When they are there you can engage them so they pester their parents and guardians to return... Difficult to do that when they are at home getting ready for school/nursery on Wednesday morning... I presume Stox don't run on normal Mondays and Thursdays for a reason...? Around a quarter of a million people live in and around Northampton so a pretty big target market for a completely new venture to try and attract... Getting around "1 in 200" (0.5%), or so, to attend regularly will be the aim I would imagine, with visitors from surrounding tracks, and ex tracks, an hour or so away being some added extra income to chase.... Surprised tbough at the secrecy to be honest given, ordinarily in business, you would want "the world to know" who you are, what you are doing, and when you will be open.. Difficult to build hype when no one knows about you... (Just like can be said for the sport in general isn't it?)... Best of Luck to All involved..

What is the deadline for Northampton (if it is actually Northampton) to declare ya or nay? we are 11 days away from march, 27 days away from first meeting, the secrecy is beyond a joke, no premier fixture list, no statements to the paying public, speedway has committed some real shoot itself in the foot moments over the years but this is just another level