MATT Ford has given the thumbs-up to British speedway’s decision to implement set race days in a bid to cut out fixture clashes and allow greater rider availability.

The move had been under discussion during the past few weeks but was finally approved at the British Speedway Promoters’ Association’s annual general meeting.

It will see Premiership meetings run only on Mondays and Wednesdays with Championship clubs staging their fixtures on Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.

One caveat will see Swindon given consideration for a number of protected Thursdays due to stadium commitments.

Ford told the Daily Echo: “The biggest problem we have in British speedway is a lack of riders. There are probably only 250 in the world who are capable of riding league racing.

“We have 19 clubs in Britain and need at least 133 to be riding here. Sadly, that isn’t the case and we actually only have around 90.

“A lot of riders double up and, last year, we had Jack Holder and Paul Starke doing it. In some teams, like Ipswich in the league below, six of their seven were doubling up.

“There would be fixture clashes where we were riding on separate days and it was causing immense problems.

“Supporters were beside themselves with frustration as to why they couldn’t see their normal one to seven on a weekly basis.

“The moves have been made to try to alleviate and almost kill the problem completely but at least eradicate as much as we possibly can.

“There are three clubs in the league below – Ipswich, Sheffield and Redcar – who all run on Thursdays. Initially, Mondays and Thursdays were being mooted but the direction changed because it would have had a huge impact on the league below. Potentially, two of those three clubs wouldn’t have come to the starting tapes.

“That’s why we have gone with Wednesdays which, in itself, can cause one or two issues. But I do believe working together we can get round them.”