REIGNING champions Ipswich have been confirmed as starters in a five-team Premiership next season – although it has not been revealed who will be running the club.
A BSPL statement following the promoters' AGM on Tuesday revealed that the Witches will defend their title against Belle Vue, King's Lynn, Leicester and Sheffield. But new owners of the Suffolk club, which was put up for sale by promoter Chris Louis in November, have still not been announced. On their own website, Ipswich simply said: "We hope to provide an official update of our own by the end of the week regarding the sale of the club." Louis stood down from the BSPL board at the AGM, with two new members – Belle Vue's Mark Lemon and King's Lynn's Rob Lyon – elected to join chairman Rob Godfrey, vice-chairman Damien Bates and John Campbell. Alex Harkess remains as President. In other developments, the Premiership points limit was set at 37 for six riders, with the five Rising Star selections revealed as: Belle Vue – Will Cairns, Ipswich – Jason Edwards, King’s Lynn – Jody Scott, Leicester – Dan Gilkes and Sheffield – Luke Killeen. Teams will meet each other twice at home and twice away, but the play-off format has been adjusted to allow for the reduction in the number of teams. The club finishing top of the table will be seeded directly to the Grand Final while the sides in second and third places will meet in the semi-final. In the Championship, all nine teams from 2025 are back and the points limit was confirmed at 40 points, although teams are only permitted to include one rider with an average of more than 8.00 in their starting seven. Meanwhile, the Super Heat following a drawn match has been dispensed with and teams will receive one league point each. The Super Heat has been retained to determine aggregate ties. We will have extended coverage of the AGM in next week's Speedway Star.
