A FULL scale junior league is to be revived this year.
Premiership promoters have revealed plans for all seven top flight clubs to enter four-man teams in a league competition which will be held in second-halves this season. Teams will meet once at home, and once away, following Premiership matches between the respective senior teams. BSPA Director and Ipswich promoter Chris Louis (pictured) said: "The Youth scene has worked very well over recent years thanks to the hard work of Neil Vatcher, and obviously we need to keep moving it forward. "But one thing we've found is that riders are moving away from their local tracks, and we're therefore losing the affiliation we've previously had between local riders and local clubs. "Personally I can only use Ipswich as an example, but recently we had Drew Kemp riding around before and after our meetings, and during the interval, along with Jordan Jenkins. "When Drew turned 16 at the end of that season we were able to give him an opportunity in our team, he did very well, and we had huge local interest because they'd seen him riding for a year or so beforehand. "We need to get back to that, and the Junior League will do that. People will see local youngsters riding their bikes at their local tracks, and affiliating with local fans, and it can only help with overall rider numbers. "It's important to build this league back up to what it used to be, and for it to be taken seriously. Part of the push is to ensure that we don't suffer a lack of rider numbers in the future."