Two major steps forward have been made in getting the Fen Tigers Speedway club back on track at Mildenhall Stadium. A meeting of the Mildenhall Speedway Supporters Trust last Sunday (22nd. June) voted unanimously to endorse the proposals to use a bespoke combination of foam barrier and air fence and to apply to the NORA92 approved authority for the necessary insurance accreditation for the motorcycle sport to return to the West Row venue in what is the 50th. anniversary of Speedway opening there.
And with the go-ahead given by the members of the Trust (a legally-constituted Community Interest Company [CIC] – a unique feature in British Speedway), the next stage was for the Stadium owner Deane Wood of Spedeworth Motorsports to meet with NORA92 to get the necessary insurance and other reassurances. That meeting was held the day after the Trust’s approval and went well, so the green light has now been given for the Trust to order the foam blocks needed for a track inspection by NORA, as soon as possible in July.
Steering Committee member Kieran Phillips commented,
“It’s a pair of very big steps forward – the way we have secured 62 trust members all putting in at least £100 and received the full backing of these members to proceed down the routes of a foam barrier in tandem with the existing air fence, well it couldn’t be a clearer indication that people want Speedway at Mildenhall Stadium again.
” Of the 62 members, as acting CIC Secretary Derek Barclay explained at the meeting held in West Row Village Hall, 29 had voted via email in favour of adopting the NORA route to return to active racing and the 27 paid up members in attendance, without a dissenting voice, voted in person to follow this path: thus a 100% vote in a ‘turn-out’ of over 90% - the clearest of mandates”.
The meeting heard the campaign spokesperson Steve Ribbons outline the plans and the reasons for moving away from the Speedway Control Bureau [SCB],
“We had a track inspection following the changes that had been made to the racing circuit by a new wall for the Stock Car events at the stadium and the SCB official told us we couldn’t race Speedway using the existing air fence and instead needed a foam barrier. We were told, despite actually obtaining quotes from other suppliers both here and in Poland, that only one particular company was approved by the SCB and the quote from then was, including VAT, over £90,000. This was obviously totally prohibitive for us and so we looked at other options”.
The option being pursued is, as Ribbons explained to the meeting of Trust members, track staff and other interested parties, to retain the air fence used when the Fen Tigers last competed in league Speedway in 2023 and the wooden fence which hangs over the steel hawsers of the stock car wall - but, crucially, by placing foam barriers in between the two. Additionally, to address the understandable concerns of the recent track inspection, the metal stanchions which are set into the concrete wall will be enveloped in protective, made-to-measure ‘tea-cosy’ foam covers – some totally innovative safety measures to which thanks go to among others, experienced rider Sam Woods.
Ribbons went on to explain.
“We got back to the SCB with this proposal, and they agreed to get back to us by the end of May – it’s now virtually July and we cannot afford to wait any longer. The stadium landlords are naturally concerned that the deal we put in place with them was for a certain number of dates and our Trust members have put in their money and support to see racing happening in 2025 and so our alternative option is to go with NORA instead.”
NORA92 Ltd. Is a body approved by HM Government under legislation to authorise off-road motorsport (others in this classification include the Auto-Cycle Union and the RAC) and is fully approved for sanctioning Speedway racing.
Ribbons went on,
“I’ve run NORA racing before, in 2024 at Iwade in Kent and we put on excellent meetings with a very good standard of riders including an international fixture and indeed we believe we can deliver a significantly better product for the Mildenhall Speedway-supporting public than the watered down National Development League racing which seems in the main to be struggling at other tracks, with limited riders and disappointing crowds.
“With the dates which will be at our disposal in August, September & October we plan matches against the Isle of Wight (who this week confirmed they’ll also be racing in NORA competition in 2025), Thurrock, Rye House, Cradley and Kent Kings and a special Golden Jubilee Meeting at West Row”.
Phillips concluded,
“We will take no chances whatsoever with safety and firmly believe that our proposals will make the Mildenhall track safer than at any time in the club’s proud 50-year history. We took great pains at the meeting to show our Trust members the exact sort of foam blocks to be used and there were detailed discussions over the logistics of track set up as well as how NORA meetings would run – to get the overwhelming support and a positive mandate to go on is so encouraging and now we move onto the procurement and set up stages.”