2023 News

The Young Lions are excited to announce that in association with Workington Speedway, a three day Training Camp will be taking place at the Northside venue on Monday 19th, Tuesday 20^th and Wednesday 21^st February for riders who have registered to take part in the 2024 British Youth Championship.

British Youth chief Neil Vatcher said: “There will be track days on the Monday and Wednesday, and the Tuesday will involve fitness sessions at a local gym in the morning, then nutrition and mechanical classroom sessions in the afternoon.

“We will have qualified coaches and experts taking the classes at all three days, with names being confirmed early in January.”

Numbers will be limited, but riders who would like to attend are asked to email neil@scbgb.co.uk  Riders are asked to await confirmation of their attendance prior to making any arrangements.

The Young Lions would like to thank their British Youth Sponsors, which enables this event to take place: Nuneaton Speedway Supporters Club, Wessex Marine, Brian Royle Racing, AGF Plant, Friends of Speedway, Foxbury Motors, Gordon Pairman, Rentruck, Ignite Insurance, Northern Scaffolding Solutions and In Memory of Speedway Nut.

In preparation of the upcoming 2024 season, the Young Lions are currently in the process of organising fixtures for the British Youth Championship.

Riders who would like to participate in the 2024 Championship are asked to register their interest with Neil Vatcher by email at neil@scbgb.co.uk.

Riders in the 500cc class are reminded that the age has been increased to riders Under 17 on the 1^st January 2024 are eligible to compete. Other classes are riders riding 250cc motorcycles (minimum age of 11) and riders on 125cc (or Daytona 150cc, with the minimum age of 8).

As well as riders, the Young Lions are looking for companies and or individuals who would also like to support the Championship in 2024. Please contact us , by sending an email to the same address – neil@scbgb.co.uk for more information.

Image credit: Ian Charles

The Young Lions are delighted to announce a ‘Celebration of British Speedway’ evening will be taking place at the home of the Nuneaton Speedway Supporters Club in Coventry on Saturday 20th January, from 7pm.  All of the 2023 British Youth Champions will be in attendance including:

Under 21 Connor Bailey

Under 19 Dan Thompson

Youth 500 Ashton Boughen

Youth 250 William Cairns

Youth 125 Oliver Bovingdon

Youth Support Rocco Webb

Ian Brannan, the voice of the British Speedway Network will be hosting the event.
All British Youth riders and Sponsors are welcome to attend.

The Young Lions have confirmed that with approval from the Speedway Control Bureau, and in line with the BSP plans for more track time for up-and-coming British riders, the age limit for the 500cc section of the 2024 British Youth Championship is to be increased.

Riders will now be eligible for the series by being under 17 years of age on January 1, 2024 (rather than under 16).

British Youth Boss Neil Vatcher explained: “The proposal went before the members of the SCB for a number of reasons, primarily to give young British riders who have not yet got to a level of league racing the opportunity of more track time in racing conditions.“

Also in the last couple of seasons there has been a lack of riders in this class, and therefore it made sense to increase the age category to enable a bigger pool of riders the opportunity of competing. 

“This has been put in place to encourage riders to participate in the Youth Championship and continue on their progression path to eventually getting to a level of Premiership and Championship standard, and therefore the criteria will be that riders who are declared in Premiership and/or Championship teams will not be eligible.”

Dan Thompson was crowned British Under-19 Champion at Birmingham on Wednesday in his first meeting for over two months after a lay-off due to a dislocated shoulder.Thompson, who had a spell with the Brummies earlier this season, scored 14 points from five rides at Perry Barr which put him into a run-off for the title with Nathan Ablitt.

It was Ablitt who made the better start, but Thompson cut back cleverly off bend two before charging under his rival into bend three, and when Ablitt came to grief Thompson was declared the winner.

Said Thompson: “With this being that first meeting back I knew it was going to be tough. I was really pleased with the way I rode though, and the changes I made along the way.“Fair play to Nathan as well; I knew before the meeting he was probably going to be my main competitor and I had to keep putting the wins on the board to stay with him.

“I’m glad I’ve been able to win this one in my final year of doing it; I haven’t had much luck in events like this, so to finally get one over the line is a great feeling.”

Thompson’s brother Joe secured the final rostrum place on 12 points by winning his last outing when up against direct rival Ben Trigger, who was joined on the 10-point mark by Freddy Hodder.

Young Lions boss Neil Vatcher praised the competitors in Wednesday’s British Under-19 Final for putting on a fine show at Birmingham.

Vatcher said: “Congratulations to Dan who was, obviously, one of the standout riders of the night.“Along with Nathan, they both rode very well and while Nathan was disappointed with how his night finished, he obviously played his part in taking things right to the very end.“

A big well done to all 16 riders involved though; this was a first British Championship Final for some of them and that experience will stay with them and stand them in good stead I’m sure.“A big thank you to all the supporters that came out in such cold weather as well, your support for the lads and the event really was appreciated.

The official referee scorecard is available here

The 2023 British Under 19 Final which was cancelled after heat 4 on the 28^th June due to rain, has been rearranged to be again hosted at Birmingham Speedway on Wednesday 25^th October.

The revised line up is as follows in draw order

1. Nathan Ablitt 
2. Luke Killeen
3. Ben Trigger
4. Max Perry
5. Jake Mulford (TBC)
6. Max James
7. Dan Thompson (TBC)
8. Ace Pijper
9. Luke Harrison
10. Jody Scott
11. Joe Thompson
12. Sam McGurk
13. Mickie Simpson
14. Vinnie Foord
15. Ashton Boughen
16. Freddy Hodder 

 Reserves 

17) Ashton Vale
18) Mark Parker

The Young Lions would like to thank the Birmingham Promotion for their determination to host this event and the BSP Ltd for their support, along with the support of our sponsors and the Brummie supporters. The Young Lions would also like to give credit to all the riders for their keenness to ride in such a big event in the last week of the 2023 season.

BRITISH youngster Seth Norman enjoyed the best meeting of his short career at the FIM Track Racing Youth Gold Trophy in Gdansk on Sunday.

Norman dropped just one point from four qualifying races in the 125cc event, which put him into a run-off for second place with two other riders behind winner Noah Urda.

He was up against German rider Thies Schweer and Ukrainian Makar Levishyn who both also ended up on 11, and he ended fourth overall after some controversy at the start line.

GB Youth boss Neil Vatcher explained: “Seth had last pick and ended up with the inside gate, of which the starting grid should have been split into three, meaning he could have gone more towards the favourable gate 2 position, rather than gate 1 which had been the worst gate all afternoon.

“However, the start marshal insisted he start off gate 1, and therefore unfortunately he got clamped on the first corner and never had time to recover, and missed out on a podium finish and finished in fourth place overall.”

It was a busy weekend for three GB riders as Norman, Oliver Bovingdon and Stene Pijper all competed in the European 125cc Youth Track Racing Cup on Saturday at the same venue, scoring seven, seven and four points in their respective groups. In Norman’s case, that saw him miss out on the semi-finals on countback.

All then competed on Sunday, and Vatcher said: “Having now had some track time on the Gdansk circuit, they were hoping to be more competitive, and this was proven as all three improved on their performances from the day previous, showing that experience of riding these European tracks is beneficial.”

Both Bovingdon and Pijper battled hard for their points and from four heats each were worth more than their scores, with Bovingdon again ending up with seven and Pijper with five.

Ashton Boughen clinched the British 500cc Youth Championship with victory in the final round at Belle Vue on Friday.

The Leicester youngster went through the card at the National Speedway Stadium, finishing ahead of Max James and Ashton Vale in the Final on the night, whilst Jody Scott was second in the series and Vale was third.

The 250cc title was won by William Cairns, who also won on the night ahead of Jamie Etherington and Cooper Rushen, who were second and third respectively in the overall standings.

Image credit: Ian Charles

Round 7 Results:

British Youth Championship Round 7 results:

500cc

1st Ashton Boughen

2nd Max James

3rd Ashton Vale

250cc

1st William Cairns

2nd Jamie Etherington

3rd Cooper Rushen

Championship

500cc British Champion- Ashton Boughen

2nd: Jody Scott

3rd: Aston Vale

250cc British Champion: William Cairns

2nd Jamie Etherington

3rd Cooper Rushen

The 7^th and final round of the 2023 British Youth Championship takes place at Belle Vue this evening (tapes up 6pm) prior to the Colts NDL fixture with the Edinburgh Academy.

With the 125cc Championship and Support classes already completed, this is the last round for the 500cc and 250cc classes, which will see a new British Champion crowned in both groups.

Ashton Boughen leads the series in the 500cc class and needs to beat the total score of one of the other 7 competitors tonight to claim his first British Title, and for William Cairns with only 3  250cc riders in tonight’s event, he will be crowned British Champion after competing in his first heat.

As well as the British title, the race is still on for the silver and bronze positions in each class, with Jody Scott looking as if he will claim the Silver medal in the 500cc class whilst the battle for bronze is between Ashton Vale and Sonny Springer, with Vale currently holding a 7-point advantage over his nearest rival.

In the 250cc class, Jamie Etherington is all but guaranteed  to claim the silver medal and Cooper Rushen the bronze.

British Youth boss Neil Vatcher commented ”Once again, this has been a fantastic series with so much young talent coming through and it has been a pleasure working with all the riders and their families, all of whom have shown great commitment to the championship.

It does seem a bit strange that we are finishing the series so early in the summer, however we have done well to run 7 rounds across the months of May, June and July and it has been fun.

I would like to thank the tracks and promotions of the clubs who again have hosted this year’s Championship, Glasgow, Belle Vue, Edinburgh, Scunthorpe, Birmingham, Redcar and Workington and also all the British Youth Series sponsors for their continued support;

Nuneaton Speedway Supporters Club, Wessex Marine, AGF Plant, Brian Royle, Friends of Speedway, Foxbury Motors, Ignite Insurance Brokers Ltd, Northern Scaffolding Solutions, Rentruck, In memory of the Speedway Nut and Gordon Pairman.

Even though the 2023 series is coming to an end, a number of the British Youth Riders still have events taking place in Europe, and some will be involved in the re-staging of the British Under 19 Final. 

The Young Lions are intending to run some training camps during the school holidays, so there is still plenty of speedway to look forward to in 2023.

Connor Bailey admitted “everything went to plan” after winning the British Under-21 title.

The Glasgow asset produced a spectacular last to first final to take the championship at Ashfield Stadium on Sunday.

Bailey had scored 13 points in the qualifying heats before his epic display in the last race to grab glory. 

He said: “It hasn’t really sunk in yet. I think I knew I was going good so to win the final isn’t the adrenalin rush I thought it would be. 

“Everything went to plan really. The bike was working perfect and even halfway through the meeting I felt I could keep it going. 

“In the final I knew I just had to keep it up round the outside. I made the worst start of the day. But I just kept plugging away and knew I’d get my chance. 

“I had to drive under Dan Thompson into the first bend. It was a risk, one of those crash or trophy moments. Thankfully it was the latter!

“I’ve got to race at Belle Vue on Monday so no celebrating, I couldn’t even spray the champagne on the podium. So tonight I will just celebrate with an Irn-Bru and jet wash the bikes!”

Anders Rowe finished second, Dan Thompson third and Dan Gilkes fourth. Glasgow’s Ace Pijper scored three points which included a huge second race crash. 

Report by Phil Lanning

BRITISH UNDER-21 FINAL results.

SCORES: Anders Rowe 15, Connor Bailey 13, Jason Edwards 12, Dan Gilkes 11, Dan Thompson 11, Drew Kemp 10, Leon Flint 10, Sam Hagon 9, Nathan Ablitt 8, Ashton Boughen 6, Sam McGurk 5, Ace Pijper 3, Ben Trigger 3, Jody Scott 2, Mickie Simpson 2, Freddy Hodder 0.
Semi-final: Gilkes, Thompson, Kemp, Edwards.
Final: Bailey, Rowe, Thompson, Gilkes.