British Speedway’s Premiership is pleased to confirm plans have been finalised for the 2027 season.
The Ipswich Tru7 Group Witches take on champions Belle Vue, runners-up Sheffield, local rivals King’s Lynn, Premiership Knockout Cup winners Leicester and this year’s newcomers Northampton.
Clubs will once again compete over a two-home-two-away league format, with the top four qualifying for the title play-offs. There will also be a cup competition, with the name to be confirmed, starting on a mini-league basis, meaning each club is guaranteed a minimum of 12 home matches across the Premiership and cup competition.
In a switch of groups from 2026, holders Leicester will now go up against Ipswich and King’s Lynn, while Northampton will compete with Belle Vue and Sheffield. The two group winners will qualify for the Final.
The Premiership points limit remains at 37.00 for the top six riders, with teams to be completed by a Rising Star, who must be a British rider, aged under 21 on January 1, 2027, and with an average lower than 3.50 if they have previously appeared in the Premiership.
Following discussions within the International Speedway League Bureau, featuring representatives from Britain, Poland, Sweden and Denmark, all clubs will then be required to track a second under-21 rider of any nationality, whose average (actual or assessed) will be included in the points limit for the top six riders in the team.
Clubs will have protection on their existing Rising Star if they still meet the criteria, and those teams who need to recruit one can select a Rising Star from the 2027 list in reverse order according to the 2026 Premiership finishing positions, meaning Northampton selects first, Ipswich third and Belle Vue last.
The criteria for 2027 means Will Cairns, Jason Edwards, Dan Gilkes, Luke Killeen and Joe Thompson, who appeared as Rising Stars in 2026, will no longer be part of that group, and all will therefore receive a 25 percent reduction on their Premiership average for 2027 team building.
It should also be clarified that Cooper Rushen, while still eligible for inclusion as an under-21 rider, does not receive a 25 percent reduction as he did not race as a Rising Star in 2026, but he will receive the normal 2.5 percent development reduction available for riders coming through the National Development League.
Rising Star selections for the 2027 season will be announced this Friday (November 13) at 9am.
It has been agreed that any under-21 rider from outside the UK entering the Premiership for the first time will be eligible for a drop of one category in the published criteria for assessed averages, in order to mitigate the effects of potentially inflated averages arising from different race formats abroad. Riders in Category 6 would be assessed at 3.00 rather than 3.50.
Should a Rising Star miss a meeting, the guest replacement will continue to be a rider from the Rising Star list who is not in an existing Premiership team declaration.
Should a rider in the other under-21 category miss a meeting, the guest replacement can be any other under-21 rider (including Rising Stars) with a match average lower or equal to the missing rider.
Great Britain will retain Mondays and Thursdays as priority days for fixtures within the International Speedway League Bureau, and Premiership matches will continue to be raced on these days in 2027.
An agreement has been reached with the PZM, which will enable a maximum total of eight fixtures from the PGE Ekstraliga and Metalkas 2. Ekstraliga (combined) to also be staged on Thursdays. Dates for these fixtures will be communicated to the UK compilers to ensure minimal interference for Premiership clubs.
A further change in PGE Ekstraliga and Metalkas 2. Ekstraliga concerns the declared No.8 riders for their fixtures, who must now be a Polish rider. Clubs will be unable to track a non-Polish rider in that position, which had previously been the case and resulted on occasions in riders being unavailable for their UK clubs but not actually racing in Poland.
Premiership CEO Phil Morris said: “We were seeking continuity in terms of team strengths from 2026, and I’m pleased that we have achieved it, with all six clubs from this year committing to being back once more. We have stability with these six clubs. It has been good to establish Northampton as the newcomers in 2026, and we are looking to build for future years.
“The points limit allows for strong teams once again, with the potential for some new faces, and although people see the points limit at 37.00, it’s worth reminding everyone that this is for six riders, so the addition of the Rising Star takes it effectively up to around the 40-point mark.
“The Rising Star list is currently being finalised, and the clubs will be confirming their selections by the end of the week.
“They are also keeping me in touch with their rider signings to enable us to work on the fixture list, and the intention is to have this completed and issued at an early stage.
“I genuinely believe there is lots to be positive about, I expect a very exciting season, and the clubs are all on board and want to push things forward in every aspect of the sport.”
All regulation changes are subject to ratification by the Speedway Control Bureau.