4 speedway clubs – Plymouth, Sittingbourne and Cradley Heath and the Isle of Wight – will compete in the summer-long Nora Speedway League (NSL) in 2023.
The Isle of Wight will welcome back team racing after they dropped out of the National Development League at the beginning of 2020.
Plymouth will be a separate club from the Championship Gladiators, and the new NSL Sittingbourne Crusaders will race at Iwade, totally unrelated to Kent Royals. The Heathens – who have been without a permanent venue since their Dudley Wood Stadium home was sold for a housing development in 1995 – will be a fully-funded nomadic side, racing both home and away at each of the other circuits.
The Nora Speedway League has already attracted a league sponsor in the form of Nora 92 and will be known as the Nora 92 Speedway League in 2023. The NSL is a major boost to the sport’s grassroots, and organisers hope it will be a fertile nursery for Great Britain stars of the future.
The Nora 92 Speedway League is a natural follow-on from the two successful Nora speedway seasons staged on the Isle of Wight in 2021 and 22, and at other tracks around the UK.
Club bosses have already agreed the rules and regulations and insist the priority is to combine competitive racing with entertainment from the minute fans enter the stadium to their last step out on the way home. There will be a number of ground-breaking innovations that will set the NSL aside from other competitions, with the introduction of a revolutionary handicap system that was successfully trialled on the Isle of Wight last year.
Each team entering the league will consist of 6 riders who will get 5 rides per meeting. The league will use rules tested over the last 2 seasons on the island to encourage rider development while focusing on entertainment. These rules which deviate from regular speedway will be included in matchday programs but are expected to include Team Manager selection to handicap opposing team riders and rider selection across all three of the last heats.
Founding promoter Barry Bishop has said:
“The Nora 92 Speedway League will help develop riders even further with a focus on entertainment and value. In addition to this, it will be a league to encourage new riders into the sport by allowing them to be part of the meeting from an early stage while keeping a firm eye on the bigger picture of helping riders go on to great heights in the sport in the UK or abroad. What the league is not about is taking anything from the brilliant work of the BSPL’s National Development League; we are here to complement it, in a way that works for our businesses with the product that we want to put on under the guidance of Nora.
“We’ve proven that riders who come to the Island and participate in our meetings have shown considerable improvement over the last two seasons and the Nora 92 Speedway League will help develop riders even further with a focus on entertainment and value. My partner Martin Widman and I are so excited to be able to take the style of the Nora meetings we stage from the Island to the mainland and we are extremely grateful to stadium owners allowing us to rent their venues for this exciting new venture.
“The fixtures will be released as soon as possible and with most clubs, except the Warriors, running at the weekend we believe it is a brilliant opportunity for riders to get on track with the Nora 92 Speedway league for some fun time speedway. We would all like to thank Nora 92 for becoming the league’s sponsors in our fledgeling season and we are delighted they are on this journey with us. Hopefully, the fans and sponsors will welcome the teams to their hearts and get behind them all.
“We’ve worked so hard to ensure that we are ready for this and websites and social media will be online soon and, of course, team announcements. Hold on to your hats, this is going to be great. Please keep up to date with everything Nora Speedway League initially via our Facebook page: Nora Speedway League.”
“Lastly, we’re delighted to be finalising the 2023 agreement with Wightlink also and we will make a statement on this in due course.”
Would prefer to see proper league speedway back at Smallbrook, so this is not for me, however good luck to Barry and Martin and I hope you have a successful year as you deserve it for all the effort you put in.