1 valve

Something that’s been said every year for the past decade or so. Don't hold your breath for a gust of fresh air to provide real optimism for us fans. More likely a bag full of hot air and half baked ideas and SPIN aimed at sprinkling glitter on the t*^d which is the BSPA to make it sparkle although not desirable to pick up.

More likely a bit more shifting of the deckchairs on the SS UK Speedway Titanic & no more. Meanwhile congratulations to the Witches on their worthy Playoff success and to the Lions for their continued fight to the end.

New owners maybe. But rules say two years before they can directly promote. So the question is who would the promoters be.

The leading riders were on lap three when the race was stopped with a considerable gap between the two Leicester riders and the remaining Ipswich rider. In awarding the race the referee concluded that the third placed rider had little or no chance of catching & passing the either of the Lions riders ahead of him. In making such decisions the referee does not take consider hypothetical scenarios such as the remaining riders could fall or suffer engine failure. It was the correct decision and a shame the commentators fail to understand that it’s not when a rider falls but the position of the leading rider that determines the state of the race.

This is a good competitive line-up, most probably the strongest ever. Sure, Tai's inclusion is a surprise beyond surprise, but (if fit) he will be competitive and will most probably finish higher than 16th (current ranking) at the end of the campaign.

Being self employed doesn’t prevent riders being on or off a list of those who agree to a statutory & all inclusive “guest pay rate” - The challenge would be to get all promotions to abide by the associated rules & not to try work arounds. Which of course some will, especially those with little business acumen, and or their own vested interests over that of the sport.

If all of the promoters actually agreed to adopt the “suggestion” as an “agreement” it would end the riders demanding more who will continue to do so simply because in the meantime some promoters will continue to pay more than the “suggestion”. Of course even if the suggestion was adopted as a rule the challenge would be to prevent the same promoters working around the agreement/rule in search of glory and ignoring the basics of cost control for the betterment of the sport rather than their own interests.

Far from a “massive” assumption. It is worth considering that only one of the 23 riders listed likely to give the uk a miss should one league & reduction in fixed race nights materialise, only one, Dan Bewley is British whilst the majority of the remainder don’t actually reside in the UK.

I’m not trying to bombard you to change anything. Just trying to help you and others to appreciate the lack of riders available to enable one big league to have any kind of possibility of coming to fruition. To help further here below is a detailed explanation provided by RoundTheBoard earlier in this topic. “One big league, running on any racenight, would automatically rule out anyone who races in the Polish leagues. Gone would be: Max Fricke, Jack Holder, Brady Kurtz, Dan Bewley, Emil Sayfutdinov, Jaimon Lidsey, Josh Pickering, Ryan Douglas, Jason Doyle, Michael Jepsen-Jensen, Chris Holder, Tom Brennan, Luke Becker, Jan Kvech, Tobias Musielak, Nicolai Klindt, Matej Zagar, Keynan Rew, Ben Cook, Maciej Janowski, Rohan Tungate, Norick Blodorn, Francis Gusts. So that's 23 riders gone from Britain. So what will the Premiership bring to a new combined league? JUST ADAM ELLIS ! Every other rider who ride in the Premiership in 2025 (apart from Adam Ellis) doubled up into the Championship. We can't count them twice. So, the 5 teams joining the "One Big League" (Belle Vue, King's Lynn, Ipswich, Leicester, Sheffield) are bringing Adam Ellis to the party, but they need 5 x 7 = 35 riders. So these big 5 need to take 34 of the doubling up riders.... The remaining 9 championship clubs need 9 x 7 = 63 riders..... but 34 of them are not availsble because they can no longer double up. So suddenly we need a further 34 riders. Where are they coming from? We could look to the National League, but many of the NDL riders already double-up into the Championship, others are still only 15 years old, so even if we take every NDL rider right down to the lowest 3.00 newcomer, we still can't get close to filling 14 "One Big League" teams.” So whilst I understand that some may say my figure of 45 riders missing is too high as you can see (hopefully) see by adding those riders who double up and those riding on the continent who would need to give the UK a miss 45 is in truth slightly conservative. looking ahead - I would not be surprised if for 2026 we see a reduction of riders being allowed to double up via reduced team building averages in the championship. Eight teams in the top flight league and no NDL. Please note, that’s a prediction and not saying what I would do. That’s something entirely different.

Well as you say. Insufficient quality is the same as no quality & there’s absolutely no way a (at best) an NDL level of rider should be anywhere near a meeting with GP riders taking part. But you also seem to be failing to recognise two other issues with trying to create one league - even with dubious dumbing down included. One.meetings could only be run on Monday & Thursday unless dumbing down will include saying goodbye to best part of 45 existing riders who ride in Poland & Scandinavia. Two. Once some of the up and comers get to a desired standard, they too will depart UK shores You are right about one thing - sticking plasters are not the answer

Heat leaders & second strings make up Five riders per team and to put it simply there are not enough of those riders available in the uk to support that format across one league. The maximum teams that could support your suggestion would be eight (just) and there would be the need to adhere to fixed race nights of Monday & Thursday.

Slowly but surely folk on this forum are beginning to understand (although not necessarily accept) that there are insufficient riders available to make one big league and that the amount of current riders doubling up to enable teams to exist is actually bad for the credibility of the sport. Your post makes some good points and the suggestion to run less meetings could fit into a final solution. However, as I and others elsewhere have said, one barrier to progress is the promoters themselves, who first and foremost take the view of “how does this effect me” rather than “will this help the sport” Take Poole for example a very well run and profitable club why, because they choose to be the big fish in a small pond with less outgoings on riders. Unfortunately there is not the volume of riders with the same skill levels who make up the Poole team to replicate across the board especially considering the restrictions on race nights & doubling up etc. I guess we have no choice but to wait and see what exciting news & changes the close season & Speedway Ventures brings forth.

The first four are the last isn’t

There’s already 5 teams from this years prem for 2026 - The top four of 2025 plus Stars & Oxford although as the Cheetahs. But you may be correct that three other promotions may join the top flight to give an eight team Prem

14 teams without doubling up cannot operate in the uk unless you have two leagues. One league without doubling up cannot be more than 8 teams (max) and then if some additional foreign riders can be attracted to ride in the Uk - it’s not an opinion it’s just the sum of the math & available race nights.

What needs looking at? Modern bikes? Tyres? Surface prep? And if you looked at it, what would you see that’s worthwhile changing?

Also consider that there would need to be multiple race nights in addition to Mon & Thurs which would rule out riders who compete in Poland, Sweden & Denmark. In that scenario even 5 man teams would not be possible.

Your point is well made in terms of the uk could learn a thing or two from Poland in promoting speedway. However in terms of minority sports Poland also excel in Volleyball, weightlifting and Ski jumping. Poland also produces annually more Steele, coal, ships and food than the UK. Contrary to popular belief Speedway is not Polands favourite sport - football is and that is something the UK - particularly England have the upper hand .

You are correct. Instead of stating “nor the team who lost the least” I should have said “and the team who lost the least” to best describe why maybe Lions should have been regarded as the best team of the regular season and not Tigers. However all pretty academic really as rules are rules and so congratulations to Tigers for finishing top of the league - after all “the table never lies” - and here’s hoping the final is as close as the semi-final between Lions & Tigers.

Did any team loose less matches than Leicester? No and no team won more. So It’s difficult to agree with the claim that Sheffield, who the Lions beat on numerous occasions including the playoffs were the best team this year. But congratulations to Tigers for finishing top of the league (somehow)

The simple mathematical truth is that there are insufficient riders of competitive quality to make up the number of teams you suggest are being considered for “one league”.

Best team in the league over the season? How come given, Tigers were not the team who won most matches nor the team who lost the least. But were beaten quite a few times in the league & in the playoffs by the team that did. Better luck next year & yes I really do hope a new owner can be found to give it a chance to happen.

Even better, maybe the team that won most & lost least meetings should be league champions. In case you wondering, that would be Leicester

Would not work There’s simply not enough riders of suitable competitive quality to run a format where eventually teams from regions/divisions/whatever meet in the playoffs /final because such numbers of teams would need doubling up and what happens if/when two teams meet who share one or more riders?

That’s the point. They have cash but no idea on what to usefully do with it.