PIRATES SET TO STEP DOWN

Poole speedway bosses will be heading to next month's AGM of British promoters looking to see ratification of their decision to join the SGB Championship, which is the second tier of the sport in Britain.

After the club's worst financial season since taking ownership, Matt Ford announced his concerns for the viability of the club in the Premiership where they have yielded eight league titles, and so looked to the club's supporters to canvass the thoughts as to whether there would be support should the team drop a division.

"The response was immense and overall very supportive towards moving to the lower league. That will bring about a more varied fixture schedule, one that will provide a far more regular pattern of racing. It will also allow us to resume racing on the more favoured Wednesday nights and in truth we will still continue to see a number of riders that appeared here this season given the structures of the league's and doubling-up."

"Taking all the comments on- board and looking at the cost implications we have decided to seek registration to the Championship. We will have to wait until the November AGM before we can definitely say that we will be in the Championship but that is our preference and, judging by the comments received, one that will be backed by a large core of our support. "