# Motorcycle speedway

Motorcycle speedway is the sound of roaring motorbike engines, motorcycles zooming around tight corners, and speedway fans hurriedly filling in "programs". It's a spectator sport with short, exciting races that are not expensive to watch.

## Understand

Although countries vary when it comes to speedway, this motorcycle-racing sport involves riding speedway bikes (lightweight motorcycles with one gear and no brakes) on a short, oval shaped track. In some parts of the world, speedway is raced with teams and leagues (more like soccer), but in other countries it involves individual racing. Speedway matches usually involve several motorcycle races, with four riders in each race; in most matches, the winner of a race collects three points, second place collects two points, third place collects one point, and fourth place receives no points. If two teams are against each other in a match, each team will send out two riders to compete.
The most important countries in speedway are Australia, Poland, Sweden, and the United Kingdom; the United States also has a significant speedway scene, but it's largely restricted to California. These countries have at least several speedway tracks each that are, in most cases, open to the public whenever there is a match. There are many other countries that also have motorcycle speedway, but do not have enough of it to justify a section in this article. Examples of countries with less motorcycle speedway include Germany, Argentina, South Africa, France, Norway, and the Czech Republic.

## Australia

Australia has been the source of many Grand Prix-class speedway riders, particularly in the 2010s, including Jason Doyle, the Holder brothers, and Darcy Ward. Many of these riders did their training in Australia and then began racing in British leagues during the Australian winter. (That way, during summer in the Southern Hemisphere, they would race in Australia, and then during summer in the Northern Hemisphere they could race in Britain.) These riders have joined other European leagues as well and even won Grand Prix competitions. By doing this, Australian speedway riders have become important figures in European speedway racing despite having learned how to ride a speedway motorcycle on the other side of the globe.

## California

Although there is a speedway league in the southern part of the state, most speedway matches in California are individual matches. Most of the speedway racing in the United States takes place in California.

### Speedway tracks

* 38.89043-121.0725161 Fast Fridays (Auburn — Northern California) has the only major Northern California speedway track at the Gold Country Fairgrounds. This is California's best-known speedway track due to the number of individual matches that take place there. It is the home of the annual USA vs. the World speedway matches, in which some of California's best speedway riders race against a selected group of speedway riders from other nations (usually riders from Northern Europe).
* 33.668418-117.8998792 Costa Mesa (Southern California) is the motorsports venue credited with the renaissance of motorcycle speedway racing in Southern California. The track, which is 185 yards (169 metres) in length, hosts both solo and sidecar speedway.
* 34.025978-117.9387533 Industry Hills (Southern California)
* 34.275706-119.3044164 Ventura (Southern California) is at Seaside Park in Ventura, California and has a 1/5 mile, high-banked, clay oval track. Ventura Raceway hosts some speedway motorcycle events that attract many nationally-ranked racers and past World Champions such as Greg Hancock.

## Denmark

There is a Danish Speedway League in the country with several teams.

## Poland

Speedway and soccer are Poland's main sports. There are three main speedway leagues in Poland, with the one at the highest level being the Extraleague (Polish: Ekstraliga). Along with the Extraleague are the First and Second Leagues (Polish: Pierwsza Liga and Druga Liga).

### Extraleague clubs

* 51.83231116.5858945 Bulls (Leszno), the three-time defending Ekstraliga champions (2017–2019), have won the.Polish national championship 17 times, including 6 in the Ekstraliga era (2000–present). They are also one of two clubs to have competed in every Ekstraliga season. Their home track is in the Alfred Smoczyk Stadium.
* 51.12018717.0964816 Sparta (Wrocław) were established in 1950, and have also participated in every Ekstraliga season. Their home track is in the Olympic Stadium, which has a capacity of more than 35,000 people.
* 52.72104615.2294167 Stal (Gorzow), founded in 1947, had their greatest success in the 1970s. They have enjoyed something of a revival, winning Ekstraliga team titles in 2014 and 2016. Stal's home track is at Edward Jancarz Stadium.
* 51.92894415.5297428 Falubaz (Zielona Góra) was founded in 1946 when the motorcycle department of Militia Sports Club was established. The track is about 340 m long and has a granite surface. For safety, there is an inflatable air-fence.
* 50.80265419.1538669 Lions (Częstochowa) were founded in 1946. The club's home track is at the "Częstochowa Arena" Municipal Stadium, which has the capacity for more than 16,850 people.
* 53.47266518.76134410 GKM (Grudziądz)
* 50.1093518.54699111 ROW (Rybnik) were founded in 1964 by the merger of two other clubs, the older of which dates to 1930. While they've won 12 national team titles, their last was in 1972. Returning to the Ekstraliga in 2020 after a three-year absence.
* 51.23888922.56512 Motor (Lublin) are relatively new members of the Ekstraliga, having earned promotion from the First League in only their second season in 2018. Their track is at Stadion MOSiR Bystrzyca, with a capacity of 13,000.

## Sweden

Like Poland, there are three main speedway leagues in Sweden. A list of clubs is provided here for the Elite and National Leagues, but there is also a Division One league.

### Clubs
#### Elite League

The Swedish teams in the Elite League (Elitserien) are Dackarna, Elit Vetlanda, Smederna, Indianerna, Lejonen, Rospiggarna, and Masarna.

#### National League

The Swedish teams in the National League (Allsvenskan) are Piraterna, Gnistorna, Griparna, Vargarna, Västervik, Örnarna, Valsarna.

## United Kingdom

The three important British speedway leagues are the Premiership (formerly Elite League), Championship (formerly Premier League), and the National League. British speedway is organized by the British Speedway Promoter's Association and the Speedway Control Bureau.
Britain has plenty of speedway racing and is one of the best places to watch the sport. However, it suffers badly from rain, since if a speedway track is waterlogged when the racing is supposed to take place, the racing must be postponed.

### Clubs
#### Premiership

There are seven teams in the Premiership. The reason there are not more Premiership teams is closely related to the expenses of operating in this league. This was previously called the Elite League and before that was speedway's First Division.
* 53.460225-2.18896313 Aces (Belle Vue — National Speedway Stadium, Kirkmanshulme Lane, Manchester) have been in the Premiership for some time.
* 52.519458-1.89848214 Brummies (Birmingham) came close to financial disaster in the mid-2010s when they were racing in the Elite League (and went into debt) but were saved by Tony Mole and went into the National League. They entered the Championship before the 2019 season and have since returned to the first division.
* 52.668906-1.1610115 Lions (Leicester — 1 The Lions, Beaumont Leys, Beaumont Way) left the Premier League and joined the Elite League during the 2010s and then went back down to the Championship (Premier League) after the 2018 season. Jason Doyle has been on their team in the past.
* 51.72597-1.1994916 Spires (Oxford) was closed throughout the 2010s before re-opening in 2022 in the Championship as the "Cheetahs" and "Chargers" (National League) and coming under new management with former speedway world champion Jason Crump. Later moved up to the First Division as the Spires while maintaining the lower league team.
* 52.7301230.38916217 Stars (King's Lynn — Saddlebow Road) has been the highest league for several years and has in the past owned a National League team (called the King's Lynn Young Stars) as well.
* 53.406186-1.49254318 Tigers (Sheffield) have the same name for their speedway team as Glasgow.
* 52.0543851.22512419 Witches (Ipswich) moved into the Premiership after the 2018 season.

#### Championship

The Championship was called the Premier League until 2016, and was formed from speedway's Second Division in 1995. It is the lowest-level league in British speedway that allows fully non-British speedway riders. It has, however, become nearly equal with the Premiership for the levels of the riders and their racing; for example, you can now find Grand Prix riders in this league, while in the past such a thing would have not occurred.
* 55.759885-2.01567920 Bandits (Berwick)
* 54.575295-1.19239521 Bears (Redcar) are based in the north of England.
* The Cheetahs are the Championship team of the Oxford Spires.
* Comets (Workington) closed prior to the COVID pandemic, but reopened and once again ran in the second division.
* 50.390877-4.08346522 Gladiators (Plymouth) were have been in the Premier League and the National League at different times and for one season were in both leagues. Speedway began there when speedway ended at Exeter. Since 2006, when the current track began to host speedway, Plymouth has been successful in the National League but not so successful in the Premier League.
* 55.899042-3.68416423 Monarchs (Edinburgh) are one of two speedway teams in Scotland, along with Glasgow.
* 50.722591-1.98226424 Pirates (Poole — Poole Stadium, Stadium Way), the reigning Premiership champions, are one of the most successful Premiership teams; many Grand Prix champions have been on their team, including Greg Hancock and Chris Holder.
* 53.616384-0.65507225 Scorpions (Scunthorpe) are known for having once been the speedway team with Tai Woffinden in it.
* 55.885983-4.24436626 Tigers (Glasgow) were once a struggling speedway team, but they have been turned into one of the best Championship teams under different ownership.

#### National League

The National League used to be called the Conference League. It's the division lower than the Championship and Premiership, but the National League has higher-class riding than the Development Leagues and serves as the gateway for young British speedway riders to Championship and Premiership racing.

## International
### Grand Prix

The Grand Prix is an individual speedway competition that occurs over several matches each year that are hosted during the Northern Hemisphere's late spring, summer, and early fall. The speedway rider with the most points accumulated over the several Grand Prix matches that take place is the speedway world champion for that year. Speedway riders can win and have won the championship multiple times in the past; examples include Ivan Mauger, Hans Nielsen, Greg Hancock, and Tai Woffinden. The Grand Prix is the most important international competition in speedway.

### Speedway of Nations

There is also a speedway world cup called the "Speedway of Nations" where several important speedway nations will create national teams and several matches will be ridden to decide the winning nation, somewhat like the Football World Cup. However, in the Speedway of Nations, four speedway teams (representing four different nations) compete in each match. Russia won the 2019 championship, in Russia.

## See also

* Motorcycles
* Motor sport