BRIAN White's controversial decision to move the start time of Weymouth's Golden Jubilee meeting forward by six hours at the Wessex Stadium on Saturday proved to be the right one.
The Wildcats boss rescheduled racing between Great Britain Lions Under-21s and the Rest of World to noon after receiving weather forecasts predicting heavy rain at the original advertised tapes up of 6pm.
Sure enough, the heavens opened bang on 6pm, by which time the Lions had secured a comfortable 54-39 success over their opponents.
White said: "It was a big gamble moving the start and I know it left a few people disappointed because they couldn't make it. But on Friday we received those forecasts giving rain at 6pm and they proved to be dead right.
"Had we left it the meeting wouldn't have been run and so by bringing it forward we were able to get 15 heats of speedway in.
"I can only apologise to those who missed out but I think it's safe to say that the right decision was made."
Bringing the racing forward also meant there was no vintage bike display or parade of former Weymouth greats although fans were treated to some excellent racing by the cream of the Conference League.
"Changing the time meant we unfortunately had to cancel a couple of the advertised attractions," added White, "and again I can only apologise. It was really hard work getting everything sorted for the noon start but once we were up and running we saw some cracking speedway."
Another major change to the original plans was the appearance of a Rest of the World select side. Britain's original opponents had been Young Australia but team manager and former Wildcats boss Neil Street was forced to call on a few outsiders at the last minute.
He explained: "I'd like to say sorry to supporters for the change but I was hit with some last minute withdrawals which were unavoidable. A couple of the lads had to go back to Australia earlier than expected and we lost young Sam Martin who was injured while racing on Friday night.
"But we got the meeting on which is the main thing and I'd like to thank riders like Tom Brown, Justin Elkins and Matt Bates for stepping in and helping out at the last minute.
"For me, sharing in Weymouth's Golden Jubilee celebrations was a great honour because this town and the speedway club have always been dear to my heart. I'd like to congratulate Brian White and all his staff and helpers for bringing speedway back and here's to the next 50 years."
Great Britain manager Peter Oakes was also full of praise for the Wildcats management and he thanked White for supporting the Lions youngsters.
"Brian was brave to move the meeting forward because of the threat of rain and I congratulate him on having the foresight to do it," said Oakes. "We are always grateful to tracks who support the development of Britain's young riders and Brian and Weymouth have demonstrated their commitment to the future of the sport in this country.
"I was pleased with the way my riders performed today and it was good to see the two home lads, Jack Gledhill and Dan Giffard in the points.
"I'd also like to thank Neil Street for providing a strong opposition despite all his availability problems and to Weymouth for acting as great hosts for what has been an important speedway meeting for Great Britain."
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