Blog

Plymouth Gladiators are delighted to welcome Truro born club stalwart Benjamin Barker back for the 2025 Championship season.

Barker will be competing in his 22nd season in the sport, having started his career as a teenager in 2003 with the Cornish team Trelawny. His career has included spells at some of the major UK clubs including Coventry, Ipswich, Peterborough and Glasgow.

Director Mark Phillips commented;

“Ben will start the season on an average that belies the immense talent he still has. He can be a match winner at The Coliseum on any occasion and is still a real asset to the Club with his wide experience of all of the away tracks we’ll visit. His 2024 campaign was truncated with niggling injuries and a lack of track time, which resulted in a lack of sharpness that he would normally have by riding in the Premiership and Championship Leagues.

We will be working hard with Ben to help him get fully race fit and to offer him as much track time as possible, to get him back to the sort of genuine Heat Leader form that we know he is still capable of. The significant alterations we made to the track last winter, and further alterations we are making this winter will only boost his all action style which our supporters love.

Ben won’t have the added pressure of being our number one highest average rider next season, and I think the reduced pressure on him will be a major boost and make him one of the most dangerous riders in the league, with a real opportunity to increase the average he starts on significantly.

We are well advanced in negotiations to sign our final two riders, and are just waiting for a few logistical factors to fall into place in those pursuits, and we expect to have more news early in the New Year.

In the meantime on behalf of everyone at Plymouth Speedway may I wish all of our Sponsors, supporters, track staff and speedway supporters everywhere and very Happy Christmas and New Year.’

The Plymouth Centurions National Development Trophy team is complete and will be led by Gladiators regular Joe Thompson and local favourite Ben Trigger.

The Centurions have also announced the signings of Chad Wirtzfeld and Kai Ward, along with three newcomers to regular league racing.

They will track Charlie Southwick, Morgan Williams and Ryan Ingram, the latter having also signed for Leicester along with Trigger in the parallel NDL competition.

The Team Manager will be the Isle of Wight Promoter Barry Bishop, who commented;

“It’s been hard to keep this under wraps for a while now but when Mark Phillips said he was entering a National Trophy side and asked if I would consider being Team Manager, it was a challenge too good to refuse.

One thing I am very passionate about is rider development, and I’m delighted to be able to continue to work with Joe, Morgan, Ben, Kai, Ryan, Charlie and Chad. 

This team has the foundation of an excellent side where all the riders can improve their averages and development – youth and experience.

I’m really looking forward to meeting all the Plymouth fans and staff at our home meetings and to be back on the road at our away matches at Workington, Kings Lynn, Birmingham, and Kent.

I’m thankful to Mark for the opportunity and now cannot wait to get going.

This appointment doesn’t affect my responsibilities on the Isle of Wight and I hope that I can use all the things I will learn at Plymouth Gladiators Speedway on the Island during the season.

So now it’s time to get the show on the road and look forward to Press and Practice Day.

Plymouth Gladiators are delighted to announce the signing of 24 year old Australian rider Mitchell Cluff for the 2025 GB Championship season.

Cluff, who hails from Blackalls Park in New South Wales, has built an excellent reputation in his homeland in recent seasons and was recently crowned the 2024 South Australian Speedway Champion by beating a good quality field at famous Gillman Speedway on the 30th November.

Mitchell has global speedway experience representing Australia at Under 21 level on a number of occasions and spent the 2024 European Summer season riding for Czestochowa in the Polish Under 24 League where he impressed many observers in his third season at that level.

Mark Phillips, the Plymouth Gladiators Owner and Promoter and Team Manager Garry May are delighted to have secured the services of Cluff for his debut season in the British Championship League.

Phillips is clearly buoyant to have signed the newcomer;

“This is a deal that Garry and myself have been working on behind the scenes for quite a while and we believe that Mitchell is a newcomer to British Speedway who can make a significant impact for us in the present and in the future. 

He has had an excellent grounding in the Polish Under 24 League over the past 3 seasons, riding for a very professional Club in Poland and that experience and his maturity and enthusiasm allied with his clear ability to adapt to being away from his homeland, will stand him in great stead on his first venture into British Speedway.

We very much look forward to working with Mitchell and are sure that our wonderful supporter base will welcome his arrival with a little bit of surprise but growing excitement when they look at his progress and pedigree in the past few seasons. We believe that we have signed one of the best newcomers to UK Speedway in the past few seasons.

Michell is the fourth part of the jigsaw that we are building around having very strong reserves and second strings and he joins Lasse Fredriksen, Alfie Bowtell and Joe Thompson in the engine room of the team.

The Club is in active discussions with 3 bona fide Heat Leaders at the time of writing and hope to make further Championship Team announcements before the New Year.” 

Negotiations and discussions are also well advanced in building the new National Development League National Trophy Team and Team Management structure; with more news on that front soon with a number of deals already agreed.

A reminder that a Fans Meeting to discuss 2025 plans and aspirations and all things Plymouth Speedway is being held this evening (Friday 13th December) at the Railway Club, Mullet Road, Laira, Plymouth PL3 6TD from 7pm

Please note – 500 Club and Season tickets are also now available to purchase online here.

The Plymouth Gladiators have launched a new initiative for the 2025 season, the 500 Club, which provides the opportunity for members to watch all of the action in the Exclusive Hospitality suite at The Coliseum, which is situated on bend one, and has elevated views of the track.

The 500 Club is limited to 40 members, and includes a Season ticket and a range of other benefits as shown below.  

For further information, and to join the 500 Club, please contact mark@plymouth-speedway.com

Plymouth Gladiators are delighted to announce 27 year old Norwegian rider Lasse Fredriksen as their third signing for the 2025 Championship Speedway season. 

Lasse comes to Devon with a solid background and knowledge of the other Championship Tracks after three seasons with the Edinburgh Monarchs; where he became a popular Member of the Scottish Team. 

Lasse will join the already announced Joe Thompson and Alfie Bowtell in the engine room of the Team, and the Club expects to be announcing more exciting captures soon; with talks progressing on a number of fronts around the globe. 

Promoter Mark Phillips said “We once again aim to consistently track the strongest Reserve pairing in the League and to build a Team around strength and depth.

Lasse fits that part of the Team jigsaw perfectly, with 3 seasons in UK Speedway under his belt. 

We’ve heard only good things about his attitude and application; and we are delighted with his signing. I am sure that Plymouth fans will welcome him with open arms. 

We were very impressed with Lasse on his last visit to Plymouth when he scored 9 points and 1 bonus point from 5 rides for Edinburgh from the difficult No 3 spot in the top 5 of their team that night; and that included beating our own Track specialists, Ben Barker (twice) and Dan Thompson. 

We anticipate more exciting Team News soon; and whilst we await the 2025 Fixture List for both our Championship and new NDL Trophy Teams before we can announce Season and Match Ticket pricing, if anyone wants to speak to me about Sponsorship or Advertising, please feel free to do so by mailing me at mark@plymouth-speedway.com

The Plymouth Gladiators will be holding a Supporters Meeting at the Railway Club in Plymouth on Friday 13th December, starting at 7pm.  

The meeting will cover the Gladiators plans, targets and ambitions for the 2025 season, along with sponsorship opportunities and season tickets.

The Railway Club

Mullet Road

Laira

PL3 6TD

Plymouth Gladiators are seeking a new Title Sponsor for the 2025 Championship and NDL Trophy seasons, following the scheduled end of their 3 year agreement with Prow Park Business Village. The Newquay based Company has given outstanding support to the Club since 2022 for which Club Promoter Mark Phillips will be eternally grateful.

“Prow Park Business Village have been fantastic supporters of the Club in the past three seasons and joined us at a time when the Country was thrown into a terrible cost of living crisis that affected everyone. 

The Julian family who own the Business are related to the former Cornish Speedway legend Chris Julian and had it not been for their support during this difficult period when all of our costs like electricity rocketed; I am not sure that we would have been in the position we are now. 

Our agreement was not due to extend for this long which makes their ongoing commitment all the more remarkable. Everyone at Prow Park Business Village will be welcome to join us at Plymouth Speedway to enjoy the sport at any time; and we wish them all the best of luck in the future and part on the most grateful and amicable terms.

Life goes on though; and we now have an exciting opportunity to offer Title and many other forms of Advertising and Sponsorship to existing and new Sponsors for the 2025 season. We believe that Speedway remains an outstanding product for anyone seeking Sponsorship and Advertising.

In addition to Team Sponsorship we can Offer Advertising and Sponsorship of The Coliseum Site and Stands, Heat Sponsorship and all sorts of affordable bespoke packages and we also have massive untapped potential for Site Advertising with The Coliseum Arena being adjacent and clearly visible from the A38 Eastbound Flyover with its huge traffic flow particularly in the busy Summer months.

We are therefore reaching out to Businesses with a base in Devon and Cornwall, the wider South West and even those with a nationwide footprint with whom we would love to build mutually advantageous partnerships.

I’d also like to encourage anyone with a background in Sales/ Marketing including Telesales or with a genuine enthusiasm to support the Club who may want to come and join our Commercial Team and to earn lucrative commissions for any deals they can set up for us, to contact me in confidence”.

Mark can be contacted for all related enquiries (by e-mail initially to set up an initial discussion) at mark@plymouth-speedway.com

The Club anticipates making some further exciting Team Building announcements in the coming week as a new Team for the 2025 season slots into place; and will also look forward to the competition and settlement of the 2025 Fixture Schedules before announcing Season Ticket and Match Ticketing prices for the new Season.

An action-packed schedule of 58 meetings will be making their way to your screens in 2025.

To supplement British Speedway’s official broadcast partners Discovery+/Eurosport, the ROWE Motor Oil Premiership have again agreed to show 18 live meetings on BSN.

These include 14 Premiership league meetings, along with 4 KO Cup including both legs of the Cup final.

The Cab Direct Championship is back for a fourth successive year, with a whopping 40 live meetings.

Similiar to 2024, BSN will broadcast 27 regular season meetings, ALL the Cab Direct Championship play-offs and the BSN Series and KO Cup Grand Finals.

Not forgetting BSN will be the home of Cab Direct Championship Major Events such as the CLRC, Championship Pairs and the British Under-21 Final.

BSN Director Martin Hunter said “2024 was a very successful year for all involved, supported greatly by our superb customers.

“To go into this next season with a very similar providing is brilliant.

“However, we will be doing plenty of work behind the scenes to improve our offering with some new features introduced for 2025 as well as our usual investment into more equipment. We never stop striving to improve what we offer.”

As previously announced, 2025 Season Passes will be frozen at the prices charged in 2024.

They are now available to purchase on the BSN site here.

2025 Prices

Total Season Pass – £249.99

Premiership Season Pass – £99.99

Championship Season Pass – £169.99

Customers are also able to spread the cost of their Season Pass over several months.

Total Season Pass – £28.49 (9 payments)

Premiership Season Pass – £12.99 (8 payments)

Championship Season Pass – £19.49 (9 payments)

Buying as a gift?

BSN offer Gift Cards for each Season Pass. You can have the voucher emailed directly to your recipient on a specific date or use the printable voucher for a more physical touch. Details can be found here:

British Speedway’s National Development League structure will expand in 2025 to feature more clubs and more track time for the sport’s young riders.

All six competing teams from this year will return, whilst with five more clubs entering the NDL system, a new National Trophy competition has been formed.

The two competitions will have the same points limit and regulations, but they will run as separate entities.

And therefore it will be possible for riders to sign both for a club in the NDL and also a club in the National Trophy – therefore maximising their track time and almost doubling their meetings at this level compared with 2024.

The points limit for both competitions has been set at 38, and both will be settled on a league-only basis of one home and one away match against each opponent, with the league leaders declared champions.

The clubs in the two competitions are:

NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT LEAGUE: Belle Vue, Edinburgh, Leicester, Middlesbrough, Oxford, Scunthorpe/Sheffield.

NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT TROPHY: Birmingham, Kent Eagles, King’s Lynn (subject to confirmation), Plymouth, Workington.

British Speedway chairman Rob Godfrey said: “The National League really came back to life last season, so it’s great to have all six clubs back for that but also now to be able to introduce the additional National Trophy group.

“That group will utilise largely the same riders as the NDL which means they will get maximum track time between the two groups, and also more experience on different circuits.

“If you look at it from a rider’s point of view, they will have a home track in the NDL and all the away tracks in that league, and then if they’re in the National Trophy they will have another home track there along with four more different away tracks to visit.

“There’s no replication between the two groups, so really it’s fast-track experience for the riders and they’re going to be much busier next year compared to this, when we do appreciate there were some big gaps for them.

“We’re also delighted to have a Southern based club coming back with Kent competing in the Trophy, and we welcome them into the competition.

“Everyone is doing this for the right reasons, and we’ve now created more meetings for the Youth and developing riders to participate in, and with the majority of our tracks involved, so we see this as very positive all-round.”

The Plymouth Gladiators are delighted to announce the return of Joe Thompson for the 2025 Championship season.