BRITISH Speedway launches a week of celebrations on Sunday to mark the 80th anniversary of the launch of league racing in this country.

From Sunday July 19 until Saturday July 25 all children under the age of 15 will be admitted free of charge to any meeting throughout the UK.

And the first 250 children at every event will be presented with a specially commissioned autograph book and there will be opportunities to get the riders to sign them.

It's a project organised by the BSPA in another bid to try and tempt a new generation of fans to the sport.

Chairman Peter Toogood said: "It's a great week to stage the celebrations because there are some terrific fixtures.

"The week includes the Premier League Four Team Tournament at Workington on July 25, plus a host of mouthwatering league fixtures.

"We have a great advertising tool in Sky Sports who do a fantastic job promoting the sport, it would be nice to see new fans coming along with our tracks and sampling the sport in person.

"We are quite rightly proud of the fact that we are celebrating 80 years of league racing in the UK. It's something we wanted to mark in a special way and we hope to see plenty of youngsters visiting speedway tracks up and down the country throughout the week."