British Speedway bosses have moved to clarify the decisions over two well documented issues.
Firstly, at a meeting of the British Speedway Promoters’ Association General Council, a review took place of the decision to prevent Premiership riders with an average of six or above also riding in the Championship.
This rule was introduced for those riders who didn’t double-up last season and was seen as the first step towards reducing doubling-up in the sport.
Unfortunately, and regrettably, Scott Nicholls and Edward Kennett – two fine servants of British Speedway – were caught up in this.
General Council members have now voted to keep the regulation in place in order to gain more control of the doubling-up situation and begin steps to reduce the prospect of Premiership and Championship clubs looking too similar.
Secondly, the application by Edinburgh to use American rider Luke Becker has been rejected.
This is based on criteria set down by UKVI and not the British Speedway Promoters’ Association and, as such, the management committee had little choice but to follow the correct procedure.
This also applies to Australian Ryan Douglas who is keen to race in the UK and clubs have registered their interest in signing him – but, like Becker, he doesn’t qualify for a visa.
These procedures were clarified and implemented forcibly in recent years when British Speedway ran a serious risk of losing the use of all visa riders.
We hope this statement goes some way to explaining the reasoning behind decisions taken by the Association as we continue to strive for transparency with our public, riders and sponsors.