BRITISH SPEEDWAY SET FOR MAY 17 RETURN

British Speedway chairman Rob Godfrey confirmed league racing in the UK is set to resume with fans in attendance from May 17.

The UK Government set out its plan to ease the current coronavirus restrictions, starting with the return of children to schools on March 8.

Should social-distancing measures be lifted as planned, crowds will be able to return to speedway stadiums from Monday, May 17.

British Speedway bosses had initially planned to launch the season on May 1. While this start date will be pushed back by two and a half weeks, Godfrey says fans can now look forward to the return of league speedway in the UK.

He said: “Subject to no further delays, we are going racing from May 17. Naturally we all hope there are no further issues, but the government will continue to study the data so we must continue to do the right thing to get us back to our tracks on that date.

“It will be a massive moment when the first league racing takes place after everything everyone has gone through.

“We continue to offer our sincere condolences to anyone who has lost a family member to this pandemic and our thoughts go out to them.

“It is now time for us all to remain patient a little longer, but we can now start making concrete plans to start the season in May. The fixture lists for the Premiership and Championship were put together from May 1, but there is flexibility within to account for starting on May 17 and not May 1.

“We know how important sport is to people, meeting up with friends and enjoying the racing. Speedway is a great occasion and I think we have all realised how much we have missed it.

“There will be a lot of friends getting together for the first time since their last meeting of the 2019 season and that's something to look forward to.”