The East of England Showground is a large showground area (667,731sqm) located on East of England Way in

Peterborough Peterborough () is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, east of England. It is the largest part of the City of Peterborough unitary authority district (which covers a larger area than Peterborough itself). It was part of Northamptonshire until ...

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and North ...

, England. The Showground is owned by

Bellway Bellway plc is a residential property developer and housebuilder based in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. History The company was founded in 1946 by Jo ...

as of around 2019 and the site currently includes the East of England Arena and Events Centre and a

motorcycle speedway Motorcycle speedway, usually referred to simply as speedway, is a motorcycle sport involving four and sometimes up to six riders competing over four anti-clockwise laps of an oval circuit. The motorcycles are specialist machines that use only ...

stadium. In September 2021, EEAS entered into a land promotion agreement with Asset Earning Power Group (AEPG). The purpose of the agreement was to develop new leisure facilities on the site and further the association with the

Anglia Ruskin University Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) is a public university in East Anglia, United Kingdom. Its origins are in the Cambridge School of Art, founded by William John Beamont in 1858. It became a university in 1992, and was renamed after John Ruskin in ...

East of England Arena and Events Centre

The East of England Arena and Events Centre hosts an array of various events throughout the year, including music and comedy events, exhibitions, trade fairs, vehicle shows, weddings and festivals.

Speedway stadium (East of England Arena)

The Showground is also the home of the

Peterborough Panthers The Peterborough Panthers are a British speedway team based in Peterborough, England. They are three times champions of the United Kingdom, winning the highest level league in 1999, 2006 and 2021. History 1970–1994 The Panthers inaugural sea ...

speedway team who race in the

SGB Premiership The Speedway Great Britain (SGB) Premiership is the top division of speedway league competition in the United Kingdom, governed by the Speedway Control Bureau (SCB) in conjunction with the British Speedway Promoters' Association (BSPA). It was int ...

, the highest level of

Speedway in the United Kingdom The sport of speedway in the United Kingdom has changed little since the first meetings in the 1920s. It has three domestic leagues, its own Speedway Grand Prix, and an annual entry into the Speedway World Cup / Speedway of Nations. History Se ...

. The track is long and the stadium has a 2,200 capacity grandstand along with grass banking on the back straight. The track record of 57.4 seconds was set on 13 May 2019 by Danny King.

History

The venue first hosted speedway on 12 June 1970, when Peterborough competed in their inaugural season

1970 British League Division Two season The 1970 British League Division Two season was the third season of second tier motorcycle speedway in Great Britain. Team changes The league expanded from 16 to 17 teams in its third season. Plymouth Devils dropped out but two new teams had bee ...

. The Peterborough track was also the host of the 2002 Speedway World Cup Final which took place on 10 August.

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, with

Jason Crump Jason Philip Crump (born 6 August 1975) is an Australian international motorcycle speedway rider. He is a three-time Speedway World Champion, a World Cup winner and a former World Under-21 Champion. In a 21-year career in Speedway, Jason Cr ...

Leigh Adams Leigh Scott Adams (born 28 April 1971 in Mildura, Victoria)Oakes, P.(2004). ''British Speedway Who's Who''. is an Australian former motorcycle speedway rider. He is a multiple Speedway Grand Prix winner and World Team Champion. He also w ...

Todd Wiltshire Todd Wiltshire (born 26 September 1968 in Bankstown, New South Wales) is a retired Australian motorcycle speedway rider who competed at the highest level of the sport, finishing a career best third in the 1990 Individual Speedway World Champ ...

, and Peterborough Panthers riders

Ryan Sullivan Ryan Geoffrey Sullivan (born 20 January 1975, in Fitzroy, Victoria) is a retired Australian international Motorcycle speedway rider who has won the Australian senior, Under-21, and Under-16 championships during his career. Sullivan achieved a ...

and

Jason Lyons Jason Rodney Lyons (born 15 June 1970 in Mildura, Victoria) is an Australian international motorcycle speedway rider. Jason is the son of former rider Rod Lyons. The younger Lyons was the winner of the Australian Pairs Championship in 1992 as w ...

, won their second consecutive

Speedway World Cup The Speedway World Cup is an annual motorcycle speedway, speedway event held each year in different countries. The first edition of the competition in the current format was held in 2001 and replaced the old Speedway World Team Cup, World Team Cu ...

defeating

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

and the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

. The Showground also hosted the 2001 Under-21 World Championship final won by Poland's

Dawid Kujawa Dawid Kujawa (born April 13, 1981 in Zielona Góra, Poland) is a Polish former speedway rider. In 2001 he finished first in the World Under-21 Championship. He rode for the Newport Wasps in the United Kingdom in 2004 but quit after just one meeti ...

. In 2022, by the owners Asset Earning Power Group (AEPG) that Arena would undergo redevelopment, which would include demolition of the grandstand and speedway track. Peterborough Panthers came to a short term agreement with AEPG that it could be used until the end of the 2023 season.

References

{{Reflist Speedway venues in England Sports venues in Cambridgeshire Sport in Peterborough

East of England Arena and Events Centre

Speedway stadium (East of England Arena)

History

See also

References