BRITISH Speedway’s third tier is celebrating a major new sponsorship deal for the 2016 campaign.

The National League, which this season has been boosted in number to twelve clubs, has secured title sponsorship with long-established tour company Travel Plus Tours.

The league will now be known as the Travel Plus National League – and owner James Easter, who has joined Mildenhall in an advisory role this winter, admits he has huge enthusiasm for the sport at this level.

Easter said: “Having been involved in the sport for well over 30 years it had always been an ambition to do something like this, and I’m absolutely delighted that we’re going to be sponsoring the National League.

“We did the Premier League KO Cup last year, and now with my involvement at Mildenhall I thought this would fit in quite nicely.“We’re determined to help out with the development of young British riders in any way we can, and this is the best way for us to do it.“It’s a really good league. I’ve been to matches at places like Cradley (at Wolverhampton), Birmingham and Mildenhall and I’ve always been very impressed with the standard of the racing.

“The atmosphere amongst the riders and fans at Mildenhall’s pre-season event last Saturday was quite staggering, I hadn’t seen anything like it for years, and that really made my mind up about doing this.

“We will be getting around as many tracks as possible, not only to promote our products but also to see how the riders are coming along, and we’re all really happy with it.”

National League co-ordinator Peter Morrish said: “We’re delighted to be welcoming James and all at Travel Plus Tours as our title sponsors. It’s a big boost for the league.

“I’m delighted that we have secured a title sponsorship, and we look forward to working with them throughout what promises to be a very exciting season.”