Name of Northampton British Speedway team revealed
The new club's first home fixture is set for late April.
Northampton will join the likes of Belle Vue Aces and Ipswich Witches (pictured) for the 2026 British Speedway season [Getty Images] A new team formed to join the 2026 Speedway Great Britain (SGB) Premiership will be known as Northampton Foxes, British Speedway has announced. Its fixtures will be at Northampton International Shaleway, near Brafield-on-the-Green, and the Foxes' nickname is a reference to a former Northampton speedway team, known as the Flying Foxes, who competed briefly in the 1950s. The newly-formed team makes its league debut away at King's Lynn on 20 April, before a home opener against Ipswich on 30 April.
The team's co-promoter, Tony Gaul, said he hoped they "will make a decent impact" in SGB, the top flight of the sport. The inclusion of Northampton brings the league up to six teams for 2026, after both Birmingham and Oxford left after last season. Gaul said: "I'm so pleased to be involved in what is another new adventure for me in speedway, and looking forward to working alongside Paul Hunsdon as co-promoter and getting the season underway.
"There's been so much hard work by many over the last few weeks to get this all together... we are all fully committed to making a great success here at Northampton Speedway. " The Northampton team's fixtures will be held at Northampton International Shaleway, near Brafield-on-the-Green [British Speedway] Team affairs will be handled by Chris Adams, who joins the Foxes after spending the last two seasons as part of the management team at Birmingham.
The Foxes have also announced their roster of riders, which includes Australian Jaimon Lidsey, the former world under-21 champion. British Speedway said work was ongoing at Northampton International Shaleway to ensure the venue, which is also used for stock car racing, meets "the necessary infrastructure modifications to ensure speedway's compatibility". Ipswich Witches will be Northampton's opponents in their opening home fixture [British Speedway] Follow Northamptonshire news on BBC Sounds , Facebook , Instagram and X .