1 valve

Gone but not forgotten. Fortunately there is a new breed of promoter who recognises the opportunity and the “how” to stop and reverse the current death spiral the sport is in. As in business the solution resides in an approach based on running a profitable enterprise not an affordable hobby. Big changes required, quite a few feathers to be ruffled and quite a few home truths to be learned. I hope it happens.

Back in the 70’s, a time in history when football hooliganism at matches was rife and speedway was the “family sport” (a phrase coined because of the nature of the fans behaviour which meant folk could attend meetings without fear) on track rivalry was fierce and indeed fans were tribal. Lots of chanting, massive amounts of loud cheering for both individual riders and respective teams. Rivalry was fierce and the anticipation of respective number ones going against each other raised both the tension and the noise in the stadium. And yes the racing was every bit a good as today. Coleman is absolutely right, rivalry & tribalism should absolutely be part of the experience, something that will add to the means of attracting returning or new supporters. Something the current sterile situation evidentially fails to do.

If Leicester had Kept Fricke, and was their choice not to, then make up of the main body of the team would not have been the same as what it is now. It would have had to be a lot weaker…..want to know how weak, look no further than Kings Lynn.

At least The FA own Wembley. So yes it is the home of football in England. Maybe the BSPL could buy Coventry in due course?

Maybe the engine, but not the whole bike as they are already in Poland

Lions have been very poor away from home recently and it’s difficult to see things being any different this time around.

The Ipswich promoter and rights holder for the GP’s has recently said the track must be greatly improved (altered?) to hold a GP. Maybe he is talking to the owners to see if that is possible?

He’s still number one for Lynne in terms of average . Yes, he’s down on his 2025 Leicester average but nobody is near to that number in 2026. The problem for the Stars this season hasn’t been Max.

Many think that. No doubt. There’s also a few who see UK speedway as an opportunity to grow something from the current mess it’s in into something, bigger and better. Lots of hurdles to clear along the way and the principal of “less is more” will need to be understood as a first step.

There’s plenty of Uk based riders who aspire to achieve the highest levels possible. Just that to do so they need to ride in Poland. It’s more the promoters who over the past decades have failed to aspire to “be the best” which is dragging the sport down.

What a lovely coincidence that the article is written by Phil Lanning, the son of Dave who for many was the voice of speedway on TV and who introduced darts to the TV world and now is son, is the Suns dart correspondent the very same newspaper for whom his dad was the speedway correspondent. Great to see speedway back on terrestrial TV.

Sadly, Matchroom Sport have previously looked at and are not interested in UK speedway. First and foremost because of the outdated and self serving corporate governance in situ.

A highlights show, broadcast at a reasonable time and not when everybody has gone to bed would be a good idea. However, the question I have is where would the consistent quality footage come from? All other sporting highlight shows are made up of recent events that have been shown live, or purposely recoded for the show. so unless BSN can be persuaded to license their footage it is difficult to see where its going to come from, nevermind whos actually going to edit and present the show. But as I said, good idea and I hope it can be made to work.

Only if they are in business. 🤞

The Polish clubs get significant support from their local authorities some of whom actually own the stadium. TV income works hand in hand with major advertisers and the clubs sponsors which enables the teams to fund the promotion at a profit (but sometimes not all of the time) the big factor re income and success is gate receipts. If teams do well and or the table toppers are in town then gates remain good. Not so if the club is having a poor season v another struggling team.

Regarding stock cars. Back in the day when Brandon was alive & kicking they held F1 stock car meetings once per month. As did (and still do) Brafield. Should Brandon have new life breathed into it, you can be sure that the F1 promoters will bring Stoxs back to Brandon with no ill effects to attendance given the way they spread meetings over the month using both Saturday & Sundays. As for speedway, if promoted well, rather than suffer due to the existence of Northampton, the close proximity will be good for both clubs (and Leicester) due to local Derbies/rivalry.

Sheffield more than likely will not be a Premiership club in 2027

Depending on exchange rates at the time. Winning the Extraliga earns the winning team circa £100k prize. The winner of a GP gets £10k with a sliding scale down to £4k for last place. No money paid for heats.

Spot on. So long as UK keep to Monday & Thursday otherwise almost all of those in your list will leave UK.

Howarth said he was fed up racing the same four tracks. That statement is irrelevant because he would ride 16 tracks

Howarth said he was fed up racing the same four tracks. That statement is irrelevant because he would ride 16 tracks

Yes. Have a league that runs on Friday & say good bye to all those Australians & Poles who ride in Poland, Danes, Swedes , Czech etc leaving enough riders for nine teams made up of current lower scoring Championship and NDL riders. Not a healthy recipe to ensure the continuation of speedway in Uk

Can’t see that being a relevant point for Howarth. As a rider who doubles up, he would ride at fifteen different tracks during the season including the two “home clubs” he’s left. There’s more behind his reason for quitting than taking a break - there’s sufficient time between October and March next year to rest up.

As has often been stated, “One big league” in the UK would actually mean a maximum of eight teams featuring the best available riders (full time professionals) coincidentally the same number as Polands top flight leaving all other promotions to operate on a semi-pro basis providing rider development opportunities. No other formula is reasonably possible given the quality of rider availability and cost. Top league of eight - Belle Vue. Kings Lynn, Leicester, Northampton, Ipswich, from current Premier league plus three from Scunthorpe, Oxford, Poole & Glasgow. All of the above have sufficient availability of stadium to run on Monday or Thursday with sufficient capacity of at least 2.5k which are two of the necessary fundamentals as a means to attract a significant TV deal, halt the decline & provide a basis for growth.

As has often been stated, “One big league” in the UK would actually mean a maximum of eight teams featuring the best available riders (full time professionals) coincidentally the same number as Polands top flight leaving all other promotions to operate on a semi-pro basis providing rider development opportunities. No other formula is reasonably possible given the quality of rider availability and cost. Top league of eight - Belle Vue. Kings Lynn, Leicester, Northampton, Ipswich, from current Premier league plus three from Scunthorpe, Oxford, Poole & Glasgow. All of the above have sufficient availability of stadium to run on Monday or Thursday with sufficient capacity of at least 2.5k which are two of the necessary fundamentals as a means to attract a significant TV deal, halt the decline & provide a basis for growth.