BUXTON promoter Laurence Rogers confirms that the first fixture under the new regime at the unique and picturesque hillside venue, will be a four-team tournament featuring teams labelled Kings, Potters and Wolves (the nicknames of defunct clubs Crewe, Stoke and Wolverhampton) against the new-look Ductair Bulls.
Regina Chain have already been secured as meeting sponsor.
Work at Buxton to revive speedway there for the first time since 2018 continues apace. A willing band of volunteers have been hard at it, non-stop every Sunday, carrying out tasks that will hopefully – if the BSPL accept the Derbyshire Peak District club back into third-tier racing – result in a long-awaited reopening one Sunday afternoon next April.
Meanwhile, John Roberts and Richie Cawthorne spent the whole of last weekend at the track, and have already got the surface looking better and better, while another group have been replacing fence posts in readiness for the mandatory air fence to go up in the weeks ahead. Once the air fence is in position, practice sessions will commence.
Enhanced rider and spectator facilities at Buxton will show significant improvement on what remained from seven years ago. Work to demolish the old changing rooms and bar area should be finished over the next few Sundays, at which point the new changing room will be moved into position, before construction of a shower block and medical room. The pits will be renovated before a new junior riders’ pits is added.
Stands are being constructed on either side of the referee’s box, providing fans with a good viewing area. Trackside parking – a popular novelty feature at Buxton over the years, especially when the temperature dips! – will continue on the back straight.
There will be a sponsors and media area on bend one, where the old bar used to be, utilising a newly-acquired caravan.
As part of the club’s PR offensive, Buxton were one of only three teams (along with Workington and Oxford) to take a stand at last Saturday’s Speedway Show at Gaydon, where Rogers was the first to be interviewed by host Craig Saul as he outlined the club’s plans to a packed audience.
Rogers said, “It was nice to be able to talk to fans from all over the country at the show, and each and every one of them expressed how pleased they were that Buxton is coming back. Many said they would be visiting on a regular basis, with a large number indicating they will be attending our opening meeting. So we could be reopening to a bumper crowd.”
