2026 British Speedway Championship Best Pairs line-up revealed

The line-up is taking shape for the 2026 British Speedway Championship Best Pairs, with defending champions Redcar heading to Poole looking to retain their crown on Wednesday, September 2.

Charles Wright, a rider with an impressive record in individual and pairs competition, will spearhead the Bears’ title defence and will be joined by Jason Edwards for the 7pm showdown.

The Bears have won the event in three of the last four seasons, and were runners-up on the other occasion, with Wright involved in each of them.

Last year the British No.2 combined with Erik Riss to defeat Poole in the Final, and it was the fourth time Wright had been successful overall as he also won the Pairs with Sheffield back in 2018.

Pirates skipper Zach Cook, one half of the defeated finalists in 2025, is back for another attempt and he will this time join forces with Richard Lawson in a powerful home combination.

The only club other than Redcar to win the silverware since Covid is Glasgow, who were led in 2023 by Chris Harris, and his partner on this occasion for the Tigers is Leon Flint.

Elsewhere in the line-up, Oxford’s Sam Masters is a former winner from back in 2014 when he rode for Edinburgh, and the Australian will be joined by Anders Rowe.

Plymouth captain Danny King partnered Wright to the title when in Redcar colours two years ago, and he is scheduled to line up alongside Scott Nicholls for the Gladiators, subject to the latter’s recovery from a broken collarbone.

Scunthorpe will be led by the league’s top rider Josh Pickering, joining forces with young gun Luke Harrison, whilst Berwick deploy an experienced duo of Peter Kildemand and Nick Morris.

Edinburgh have their ‘Thom(p)son twins’ in action with Dan Thompson pairing up with Aussie racer Kye Thomson, and Workington will be represented by mid-season signing Drew Kemp along with Comets No.1 Jonas Jeppesen.

The format for the event remains unchanged in that each pairing has four races during the qualification section, which comprises 18 heats in total and is scored on the 4-3-2-0 system.

The top four teams after Heat 18 proceed to the two semi-finals (1st v 4th, 2nd v 3rd), with the highest scoring pair in each semi-final moving to the Final.

Gate choice for the Final is determined by adding the points scored from the semi-final to the qualifying scores for the two teams concerned, with choice going to the team with the highest total.

The meeting winners will then be the team scoring the highest number of points in the Final.