Championship events and high-octane races highlight speedway calendar

LISMORE Speedway is set to roar back into life with the season calendar listing major championship events, returning fan favourites and a host of high-octane racing classes.

The 2026–27 season gets underway with the traditional Lord Mayor’s Cup on 7 November before concluding with the two-day Salute the Anzacs meeting on 24–25 April.

Promoter Mick Corbett said putting together the season calendar was a major undertaking, requiring organisers to balance the schedules of racing divisions and speedways across New South Wales and Queensland.

While a handful of categories could not be accommodated this season due to scheduling conflicts, Corbett said the program still offered plenty for motorsport fans.

The opening Lord Mayor’s Cup will again feature the popular V8 dirt modifieds alongside wingless sprints and production sedans.

“It’s a mission to put it all together,” Corbett said.

“You’re trying to coordinate between Grafton, Lismore, Toowoomba, Gympie and all the other tracks, so there’s a lot of different things that go into organising it.

“We’ve got some pretty entertaining things.

“Speedcars are back and we’re looking forward to it.”

 

One of the standout meetings on the calendar is Throwdown at the Showground on 23 January, featuring an open-wheel spectacular with speedcars, formula 500s, modlites, legend cars and AMCA nationals.

Other highlights include the SSA Modified Sedan NSW Title on 9 January, the East Coast Grand Nationals on 6 March, and the prestigious Bruce Maxwell Classic, which returns as a two-day event on 27–28 March.

Despite the challenges of juggling the Lismore and Grafton speedway calendars while working around the busy Lismore Showgrounds events schedule, Corbett said organisers were pleased with the final program.

Last season was heavily impacted by wet weather, with around half the scheduled meetings affected by rain.

“Lismore’s really tricky,” Corbett said. “You think you’ve got a day where it’ll clear up and then it starts raining.

“You’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t with the weather.

“We try to be on the safe side and not have people drive a really long way just to get rained out if we can help it.

“The track’s had a lot of renovation done around there from the flood remediation work and it’s coming along really good.”