Four Weeks To Get Mildenhall Revival Up & Running!
The campaign to bring Speedway back to Mildenhall Stadium is moving on apace with the establishment of a Community Interest Company – the Trust-based model decided on to resurrect the club at the recently well-attended public meeting and over 90 people now signed up as members of the trust.
Co-promoter Steve Ribbons updated,
”It’s all systems go, we’re just waiting for the relevant authorities to process our application for CIC status and then we can collect the monies committed by our members, pay the Bond needed to the British Speedway Promoters Ltd [BSPL] to rejoin the league system and we’ll be able to confirm our riders and team manager for the 2025 season and get fixtures out for the National Development Trophy campaign”.
That competition would see the Fen Tigers (in their Golden Jubilee season) taking on teams from King’s Lynn, Birmingham, Leicester, Plymouth and the Kent-based Sussex Eagles – and a deadline has been set by the BSPL of the middle of March for Mildenhall’s entry to be confirmed.
BSPL Chairman Rob Godfrey has commented,
“Obviously a number of boxes need to be ticked before we can welcome Mildenhall back and top of that list at this stage is a track inspection. We understand that the home NDT fixtures at West Row will be held in the summer months which is obviously acceptable to us, so this four week window now is about they confirming to our track inspector that the track and works around the new Stock Car fence at the stadium will be ready to go for those fixtures when the season gets underway. If the inspection passes and the Bond is in place in time for March 15th. then Mildenhall will be good to go”.
Ribbons has been so heartened by the fantastic response of Speedway supporters (the majority from the Suffolk and wider East Anglian area but from further afield also) to the appeal to establish the trust to get the Fen Tigers back on track; and also from all the riders who’ve been in touch keen to don the famous orange and black race jacket in a comeback season for the club.
“We’ve announced formally the youngsters Hayden Watts and Kenzie Cossey as our two reserves and also the experienced Sam Woods and I can tell our fans that when they hear the names of the other four riders we have lined up ready to go they are going to be knocked out. We will have a side fully able to compete for the silverware and also we will be announcing the return of a huge Fen Tigers favourite of the past as our Team Manager. Let’s get that tack inspection on and then all can be revealed!”
Persons wanting to come on board and join this unique Supporters Trust can do so by downloading the application form here
Trust Gets Massive Thumbs Up !
140 Mildenhall Speedway supporters packed into West Row Village Hall on Sunday (2nd. Feb.) to give a resounding vote of approval to a re-launch of the club, a significant number agreeing to contribute towards the funding mechanism put in place via a Community Trust which will ensure the Fen Tigers can return to track for the 2025 season. The Steering Committee of Steve Ribbons, Keiran Phillips, Jeremy Reader, Diane Farmer and Derek Barclay have been charged with responsibility for progressing the application for Mildenhall to join the National Development Trophy [NDT] competition for 2025 and to confirm a team (all of which will be riders not associated with any other 2025 British Speedway side) to bring the Fen Tigers back to action for their Golden Jubilee season.
And it’s going to be Saturday Night that’s alright for racing for this latest Mildenhall Speedway era, as Ribbons explained,
“We have secured, thanks to the cooperation of track owners Spedeworth International, ten weekends across the Speedway season and the plan is to have a meeting on the Saturday night, followed each time by a practice/training session on the next morning. This is, we feel, the perfect model for developing riders - so youngsters and others who come along to the training are able to graduate to second half racing. And the practice/training on Sundays will provide a vital income stream to subsidise the Fen Tigers’ promotion.”
The enthusiasm in the packed room was tangible and a massive fillip not just for those seeking to bring Speedway back to West Row after a year’s hiatus but for the sport nationally, as Fen Tigers’ ‘original’ (debuting in that 1975 season) and club legend, Rob Henry told the crowd,
“When I started my Speedway career with Mildenhall the track hadn’t long been laid on what had been a potato field. Now it’s vital for all who care about both this club and the sport in general that we don’t ever go back to seeing potatoes growing there again. In those early days we thrived on flat out enthusiasm which was felt throughout the town and wider area and I can feel that same sense of enthusiasm in this room today.”