Speedway’s British Final at Ipswich goes ahead – despite a drastic cut in spectator numbers by the government.
Only 1,000 fans are permitted for the pilot event looking at the reintroduction of fans into sporting venues – now there are hundreds who will miss out on Saturday September 26.
Before the sport’s bosses suspended ticket sales on Wednesday morning pending the government update well over 1,000 people had ordered tickets.
A decision has been made to honour the first 1,000 tickets ordered, most of which were on Tuesday, but the rest will receive refunds as soon as possible.
The line-up is taking shape with former champion Danny King joined by ex-Witches Richard Lawson and Rory Schlein. More riders will be revealed over the coming days but some have declared themselves unavailable after not riding all season.
Ipswich promoter and British Speedway director Chris Louis said: “It’s been a whirlwind 48-hours and after last night’s announcement we knew we had lost over half the numbers we were allowed.
“Thankfully the event is still over two weeks away so, with some hard work, we can deal with this and the first 1,000 tickets will apply. Sadly after that there will be a lot of disappointed people.
“It has taken a massive effort to get to this stage and so many hurdles have had to be overcome but we are excited about hosting the event here at Ipswich.
“The way the line-up is taking shape it promises to be a really close, exciting contest and hopefully we will prove fans can be admitted back into stadia for professional speedway without any problems.”