The Mildenhall Fen Tigers proudly sponsored by Manchetts Rescue and Recovery will be one of eight teams who will compete in the newly remodelled National Development League in 2021. They will be joined by Belle Vue (TBC), Berwick, Eastbourne, Edinburgh, Kent, Leicester and Newcastle. Due to the late start to the season, and availability of dates for some clubs there will be no play offs this season just a straight league tournament. We appreciate that is only seven home meetings but we are working with the BSPA (who are being very supportive to us as the leagues only stand-alone club) to get some additional meaningful meetings lined up. We are certainly confident of having ten home meetings and maybe more in what will be a truncated season.
As part of an overhaul of British Speedway the new league will be part of the drive to support the development and progression of young British riders as part of a recently announced five year plan, a plan that the Mildenhall management are fully behind. The biggest change for supporters is the reduction of points allocated for team building from 39 down to 35. This change has meant that the Fen Tigers will be unable to track the team they had signed ahead of the 2020 season and three of the riders named in that team will now not be part of the 2021 team. It is hoped that the season will commence in late-May/ the start of June pending further government guidance.
Club co -owner Phil Kirk was positive about the future, he said “We, as a club, are fully behind this move by the BSPA to support the development of young British riders and provide them with a clear path to progress to the higher league's. Mildenhall Speedway has always been a club that has looked to develop young riders for the bigger stage and has a proud record of success in that area going back many years.
Of course the change in the points limit has had a considerable impact on our plans and we are sorry to lose some of the 2020 team as we had hoped to be able to track that septet this season. Building a team to 35 points brings it’s own challenges and we have had to adapt quickly to this new ruling like all clubs in the league. We have built a side of young exciting riders, all whom we feel can improve considerably this year and provide our supporters with great entertainment and challenge for honours this season. Our seven are all signed and we hope to announce the riders over the next few days starting on Friday evening.
As a club we cannot wait to get back on track again and to welcome back our loyal supporters to Mildenhall stadium. It is incredible to think the last meeting at Mildenhall was back on 8th September 2019 and hopefully now the long wait to see the sport we all love is entering the final laps and soon we will be hearing the roar of the bikes once again. We are currently looking at dates with the stadium owner and will keep fans fully advised as information becomes known”
