BackInTheDHSS

But would that not mean the 50 riders of lower quality were more likely to be competitive? Lose the top 50 and gain the bottom 50, or vice versa. Either way, there’s a pool of 100 riders to choose from? Regardless of the standard of racing, there are enough riders riding in the second and third tiers to fill one big league.

Fair point. Over 100 of those listed regularly raced in the top two leagues, though, with people expected to pay £20+ already. Although that could also explain the current attendance issues! 😃

I'm not sure the rider shortage is as bad as everybody makes out. Yes it's not 200+, but I still make it 150 riders who competed (or were declared in a line-up at the start of the year) in 2025. Yes, some are very junior/inexperienced, but everybody has to start somewhere, and there were definite mismatches in the 1970s. 1. Nathan Ablitt 2. Jake Allen 3. Ben Barker 4. Troy Batchelor 5. Luke Becker 6. Dan Bewley 7. Ollie Binns 8. Norick Blodorn 9. Owen Booth 10. Bastian Borke 11. Ashton Boughen 12. Fraser Bowes 13. Alfie Bowtell 14. Tom Brennan 15. Max Broadhurst 16. Billy Budd 17. Arran Butcher 18. William Cairns 19. Paco Castagna 20. Jacob Clouting 21. Connor Coles 22. Ben Cook 23. Craig Cook 24. Zach Cook 25. Kenzie Cossey 26. Mitchell Cluff 27. Luke Craig 28. Jack Crewe 29. Joe Crewe 30. Harley Driscoll-Freeman 31. Kieran Douglas 32. Ryan Douglas 33. Jason Doyle 34. Jason Edwards 35. Adam Ellis 36. Joe Etheridge 37. Jamie Etherington 38. Harry Fletcher 39. Leon Flint 40. Vinnie Foord 41. Jack Franklin 42. Lasse Fredriksen 43. Max Fricke 44. Dan Gilkes 45. Jonatan Grahn 46. Liam Greens 47. Francis Gusts 48. Sam Hagon 49. Jamie Halder 50. Nathan Hargrave 51. Chris Harris 52. Luke Harris 53. Luke Harrison 54. Cameron Heeps 55. Freddy Hodder 56. Chris Holder 57. Jack Holder 58. Jacob Hook 59. Kyle Howarth 60. Danyon Hume 61. Ryan Ingram 62. Niels-Kristian Iversen 63. Max James 64. Maciej Janowski 65. Jordan Jenkins 66. Jonas Jeppesen 67. Michael Jepsen Jensen 68. Elliot Kelly 69. Drew Kemp 70. Declan Kennedy 71. Zaine Kennedy 72. Lewis Kerr 73. Peter Kildemand 74. Luke Killeen 75. Danny King 76. Jack Kingston 77. Daniel Klima 78. Nicoli Klindt 79. Jonas Knudsen 80. Brady Kurtz 81. Jan Kvetch 82. Simon Lambert 83. Richard Lawson 84. Jaimon Linsey 85. Jordy Loftus 86. Kryan Lyden 87. Matt Marson 88. Caydin Martin 89. Sam Masters 90. Mitch McDiarmid 91. Harry McGurk 92. Sam McGurk 93. Eli Meadows 94. Calum Mitchell 95. Nick Morris 96. Ben Morley 97. Connor Mountain 98. Luke Muff 99. Jake Mulford 100. Tobiasz Musielak 101. Villads Nagel 102. Scott Nicholls 103. Michael Palm Toft 104. Victor Palovaara 105. Mark Parker 106. Max Perry 107. Danny Phillips 108. Josh Pickering 109. Ace Pijper 110. Stene Pijper 111. Oskar Polis 112. Ben Rathbone 113. Keynan Rew 114. Laylen Richardson 115. Darryl Ritchings 116. Harrison Rogers 117. Anders Rowe 118. Adam Roynon 119. Erik Riss 120. Cooper Rushen 121. Emil Sayfutdinov 122. Jody Scott 123. Justin Sedgmen 124. Jack Shimelt 125. Mickie Simpson 126. Charlie Southwick 127. Tom Spencer 128. Sonny Springer 129. Jack Smith 130. Paul Starke 131. Senna Summers 132. Dan Thompson 133. Joe Thompson 134. Tobias Thomsen 135. Kye Thomson 136. Ben Trigger 137. Rohan Tungate 138. Ashton Vale 139. Antti Vuolas 140. Kai Ward 141. Mason Watson 142. Morgan Williams 143. Chad Wirtzfeld 144. Charlie Wood 145. Dayle Wood 146. Sam Woods 147. Steve Worrall 148. Charles Wright 149. Matej Zagar 150. Tate Zischke

Are you sure Oxford aren't running in the top league in 2026? Spires, no... but Cheetahs?

Oh Emil Sayfutdinov. If it is to be one league next year and you're not riding, I shall be very, very sad.

You realise you watch racing at Poole every week? Pots and kettles Shovvy.

You're going to Leicester on Thursday? Good news for those going to Ipswich.

Well, that's that done. Congratulations Poland.

All this waiting, and the ‘dodgy’ track just produced one of the best first laps of a race I’ve seen in a long time.

75mins after the start time, Edwards and McDairmid went around without any drama. It finally got announced that the meeting will go ahead. All expecting it to start ASAP, and just been told there is another 30-minute delay. It’s a comedy show.

A further 20-minute delay.

Track preparation. Currently watching the tractor going around, and around, and around, and around, and around…

Got the stadium for the Redcar match only to find out it’s been delayed by nearly an hour. Absolutely no information on any socials, the WhatsApp group or website saying there’s a delay. Everybody grumbling inside the stadium. What a PR shambles. You’d think Oxford would want to look after their loyal supporters after the year they’ve had. Maybe Peter Schroeck runs the socials at Oxford as well.

Congratulations Oxford Chargers!

Agreed. Unless they only want one Aussie, but hopefully common sense prevails.

There are only three wildcard picks, so you’ve got to lose one of them.

Cameron Heeps must have retired half way through the season and not told anybody about it.

Fricke, Laguta, Sayfutdinov... boom, what a line-up that would be.

Looks like it, if Wikipedia can be believed...

Mikkel Anderson got third overall I presume?

That's what I meant. She went up to him and said he was world champion didn't she? And then backtracked....

A masterclass in ruining the moment for Parnitskyi.

And Poole has staged 14 (I think) fixtures so far. Less than half, but it's the only club trying to get all their fixtures done? Bravo Poole!

Depends if Shovvy gets stuck at an auction again. Hope he tells us more about it if he does this time. Really interesting stuff.

Would be a bloody shame to lose it. It’s an absolutely fantastic service. I honestly had no idea it was struggling for volunteers, I certainly wouldn’t mind helping out on occasion. Is it worth putting a post up on here to ask if anybody else is keen?