Ben91

The big stars can bring crowds in, but I’d suggest the repetition somewhat knocks that on the head. If Emil Sayfutdinov (for example) was coming to my track once a season and I absolutely had to be there on that night to see him I’d get it. But last season he went to some away tracks three, maybe four times. It’s not so much of a novelty when the big name is back in town again in a few weeks. This is one of the benefits of a larger league, you don’t race the same teams two to three times at home a season. The damage is done and probably too hard to rectify in the short term but seeing the same old faces week in, week out in both divisions is a contributing (one of many) factor to the decline of the sport on the whole.

A sensible development if so. Hopefully the average conversion rate between the top two divisions will be less lenient too. How would it help? As I understand it the fixed race night is so that riders can ride in multiple leagues internationally. Denmark would still have priority on a Wednesday so any riders who have a team spot there wouldn't be able to race for their British clubs on a Wednesday regardless of the division.

Because that’s the system they voluntarily agree to enter into. They aren’t going in blind. There’s too much rider power now. Before long everyone will ride for Belle Vue because nobody wants to ride for the other clubs.

Does the lack of clarity about what British Speedway will actually look like contribute to the reluctance of Sky (or any other broadcaster) to cover the sport? Seems to me that plans for the league structure are waiting on a potential TV deal yet a broadcaster will surely want to know what it is they’re signing up to show on their channels.

It isn’t harsh. Professional sports enforce their rules regardless of whether someone is inconvenienced or not.

They’re not owed a ride. It’s an opportunity they sign up for to have a team spot. That can be at any of the clubs in the top league and it’s known in advance. Don’t like it, don’t sign up. That’s not unfair in the slightest.

Disagree. The riders know what they’re signing up for. If you want a chance to ride in the top league then you enter the draft. If you’re drafted somewhere then you ride for the team who pick you. If you don’t like it, don’t enter the draft.

The trouble we have now is the result of the relaxing of the average conversion rate between the two leagues and doubling up becoming a free for all about 15 years ago. Before then there was a noticeable difference in standard between the leagues (all three leagues that is). Sounds like that one was driven by rider power, but the promoters also allowed it to happen. There’s now not enough riders of the standard of team spots available. I think this is half the problem, nobody wants the sport to be watered down. It feels like a necessary evil though, because those “good enough” riders just don’t exist in large enough quantities so we’re lumbered with the current incredibly flawed system.

A speedway race is the ideal sport for this short attention span, TikTok generation. The racing itself has always been the attraction, the convoluted rules that go with it are a massive turn off. The sport needs TV coverage. TV doesn’t need speedway. It’s on the people running the sport to make it a product a television company (ideally multiple) desires and wants to throw money at. Television puts out things people want to watch, it isn’t there to promote or sustain the sport. That’s the job of the promoters. TNT don’t want speedway. They had it, let it go and inherited it again as part of the Eurosport/Discovery deal. Meetings take too long to run. That’s a sport wide problem. Some of it is necessity, some could be improved upon. For the sake of the fan in the stadium and to make the sport more palatable for the TV. A highlights show could be very interesting, showcasing the best of the weeks racing. The hurdle there would be gaining permission of whoever has the right to film/broadcast meetings. Presumably BSN. They’d need to be paid well for it, because they’d basically be giving the best of their product away for free each week otherwise.

Bridger averaged over four in his first top flight season. Hardly struggled. There were good riders in the Elite League in those days too.

Riders moaning about the track, regardless of whether it is bad or not, comes across as sour grapes. Especially if it’s one of the most experienced riders out there and in a meeting of this magnitude too. Smacks of excuses. Doesn’t sound like there was much racing to speak of but it’s Poole’s prerogative how they set their track up. Remember the objective of sport is to win, entertainment is a by product. Frustrating for fans if there is no entertainment and bad for the sport overall, these crunch meetings are the ones you’d expect this to happen in though when there is the big prize on the line. Win at all costs. Perhaps in future finals are raced at neutral venues over 15 heats. The sport probably isn’t popular enough to justify that now though sadly.

Not for me. While the tactical side of things is interesting to an extent I want to see as few delays as possible between heats. Chopping and changing riders promotes multiple heats in a row for individual riders and prolonged intervals between those heats.

I don’t think they would need that. If there was a household name from the sport it would help, but there isn’t. The celebrity brings in casual/their own fans, fans of the sport watch for the sport and to see how the celebrity copes in that world.

There are a lot of stupid, complicated rules in Speedway. This way of deciding a tie and the countback system used in most individual meetings are not in that bracket. They promote racing to win. If everyone races to win then the racing should be more entertaining and the overall winners are the paying public.

Exactly why it’s important these young riders have someone to help them build the right mindset rather than break their existing one down. I’d argue mindset mentorship as opposed to skillset mentorship would be more beneficial to those naturally talented youngsters. The current Rushen or Cairns debate is interesting. Of course it’s natural to discuss who is better, who will be better etc. on the forum and social media, wouldn’t it be great to see both make the absolute most of their potential though. They can learn from each other now and push each other through their careers if they have the right mentorship. We’ve all been kids of that age, there can be a certain end of the world feeling to even the most minor of setbacks. That’s where they need an arm around the shoulder to tell them it’s all about the experience and to keep their feet planted and chins up. That goes for all young riders.

Apologies if I’ve missed it elsewhere but is Boughen lost to the sport now? Seems like there’s definitely something that could/should be done to help keep young riders heads straight. Anyone with above average potential seems to be treated as a commodity before a person, in their teenage years that’s always going to either inflate the ego or crush it, sometimes both. A lot of young careers have probably suffered for it. Something needs to be done to help the British youngsters stay on track, literally and metaphorically.

The two 4-2s are both heat advantages. A 5-1 and a 3-3 is a heat advantage and a drawn heat. The rule is most heat advantages. Not difficult to comprehend really.

Arguably you only deserve it if you achieve it. His performance this season is probably the best GP campaign without winning the title to date though. Kurtz’s 2025 is the best debut GP season anyone has ever had so far too. Hopefully he can maintain these levels and we get a competitive title race in 2026.

Mostly voting with their feet. The tangible change the average fan can make is turning up weekly and putting their money in the till. By not doing so they’re showing they aren’t happy with the product. That’s when the supplier needs to step up and win them back. The sport isn’t doing that these days for the most part. There’s absolutely a negativity bias in the world but forums and social media can be the only place for fans to vent their frustrations.

Great news. Hope it’s a roaring success.

Not failing to recognise, I appreciate but don’t completely agree with your opinion and won’t be bombarded into changing my own to suit. We would lose riders, but 45 is extreme. Some would stay. The one league would of course only work with multiple race nights. That’s where there would need to be a work around, it absolutely means a lower standard sadly. The up and comers may decide to go elsewhere when they reach a good standard. Or the promoters could do their job and in that time make Britain a more than viable option for them to stay and even for other riders to come race here. Nobody truly wants the standard to drop, doing so for the long term future of having a sport to watch is the only reason I’d accept as a fan if communicated clearly. We’ve reached the point it has to happen. Clubs are falling like dominoes. Two leagues with no doubling up calls for one or two existing Championship teams to step up and move to a race night they don’t want, rocking their boats massively and unnecessarily for the benefit of others. It also then makes the second tier incredibly weak with the left over riders. That’s bad for those businesses. How is that fair when the second tier isn’t the one killing clubs hand over fist. Cut your cloth accordingly and be punished with promotion. To continue with doubling up (beyond between the “professional” and “development” leagues) just shows massive contempt for fans. It would be the ultimate middle finger, the band playing along happily as the Titanic sinks. The sport is (or at least should be) a whole, the whole sport needs to share the burden of the mess it’s got itself into, not give an apathetic “what can we do there’s not enough riders?”

There aren’t insufficient riders. There are insufficient riders of sufficient quality. Granted it all amounts to the same thing, bad news for British Speedway and its fans. That lack of “good enough” riders is at least partly a result of the doubling up doors being jammed wide open for all about 15 years ago. A short sighted decision at the time that is now coming home to roost. At that point there were more than enough riders to go round. Rider power probably drove that one. Recently it’s been exasperated by the tighter visa rules post-Brexit it seems. It’s definitely a case of a best case scenario out of the current mess. One league seems to me to be more of a ballsy attempt to give the sport a long term future, not without massive potential pitfalls. The standard would drop, it’s unavoidable, but it could be the only way to repopulate the domestic rider pool in the mid to long term. Otherwise we end up losing clubs annually, dropping to teams of five (horrible idea) and before long there’s nothing left. Carrying on as we are seems to be agreeing to continue with death by a thousand cuts. It would be just another sticking plaster.

I think 2H 2A is overkill in a 14 team league. One round off league fixtures and then find other ways to fill the calendar for me. But not the extent of trying to fit in another 13 meetings at each track. Be it extra regionalised league meetings, a cup/trophy etc. We’ve been meandering towards the last one out turn off the lights scenario for decades, things have picked up pace now though. It needs radical change, not the lip service we get every winter.

The Saudi model is to throw money at already thriving sports too. The sport here could thrive again but it will take a long time, a lot of hard work and huge amounts of patience/faith from existing fans. The gulf between the 'world class' and top domestic riders is ever widening. Those top domestic riders are also not going to be with us forever (Nicholls, Harris, King, Lawson etc.). The next generations coming through aren't up to their standard in the main. That's part of why those older names are still the top domestic riders in 2025. Brexit has made it harder to get competitive riders from overseas into the country also. Despite it not being a popular solution, the way to make meetings more entertaining is to cut the head off the snake and go without the big names. Riders of a lower standard are more plentiful (and cheaper). The more level the playing field in terms of rider ability the more competitive and entertaining the racing should be (in theory, massive asterisk against that point). That's a hard sell to most existing Premiership fans of course, especially when they'll be asked to pay just as much, if not more to get into meetings. Stadium rent will still need paying at the end of the day and won't decrease because the standard of riders has. The kicker being the standard of riders outside of the world class ones is already declining year on year and ageing to boot. So as a governing body own it rather than hoping nobody notices. Transparency has to be key. Things being stripped back and rebuilding from sturdier foundations is needed. Tell the fans that is what is happening and why. If you still want a sport to watch in five, ten years then this needs to be done now. People will be more understanding and supportive if kept in the loop.

Appreciate the points, my post was a bit of a sweeping generalisation. Not meant to knock Poland, I’ve been there plenty and it’s a lovely place (from what I’ve seen), more to the point that we could and should do a better job than almost anyone at promoting speedway. Realistically the sport here has to step back now to achieve that rather than trying to build on sand for yet another winter.