Wolverhampton Speedway, home to the Wolverhampton Wolves team and thought to be the oldest active speedway track in the UK, is facing closure after nearly 100 years of racing. Entain Leisure, owners of the Monmore Green site, have decided to concentrate on greyhound racing, and informed the Wolves promoter Chris Van Straaten that the current lease would end on 31st October.

Until now, the team has signed up for a three-year rolling lease, but the latest lease has been cut back to one year. A short statement on the Wolverhampton Wolves website read: “Club bosses are devastated by the news and will be making no further comment at this time.”

“The impact on British speedway as a whole will be considerable,” wrote Matt Maha, Chief Sports Writer for local paper Express & Star. “In a sport always fighting to stay alive, Wolverhampton are one of the biggest and strongest clubs. Yesterday’s news will have sent shockwaves through teams up and down the country.”

Speedway fan Chris Adams has started a petition protesting Entain’s decision at change.org, and Andy Lockett, one of those who signed the petition, wrote: “Speedway is a family-friendly affordable motor sport – Wolverhampton is known as the oldest active track in the UK, it provides entertainment for thousands of fans over the course of a season. To kill it off as a local community-based leisure facility is needlessly short-sighted.”

Jim Freeman, Chair of the BMF, added: “ I remember a Wolves meeting back in the ‘70s, as a teenager, being taken there by my then brother in-law. The noise! The smell of Castrol R! The short, intense races, shale spraying everywhere, a terrific atmosphere with none of the aggro that seemed to afflict other sports at the time. I just hope that something can be pulled out of the bag before October.”

Wolverhampton Wolves Facebook page – click here

To sign the petition – click here

Written by Peter Henshaw

Top image courtesy of British Speedway Facebook page – Jeff Davies