PIRATES chief Matt Ford has confirmed that Poole Stadium will be the venue for the re-staging of yesterday's (September 12) rained-off SkyBet Elite League Riders' Championship, probably next month.

Referee Phil Griffin called the meeting off at about 4.30pm, just over half an hour after the scheduled start time, following frequent heavy showers in the afternoon that had saturated the track.

Following a centre green meeting with clerk of the course Paul Applin and the 16 riders due to take part, the referee decided the track was unsafe to ride.

It left a frustrated crowd of about 3,000 - some of whom had started a slow hand clap after about 30 minutes of waiting on a decision - to wind their way home having watched no action.

That was despite the best efforts of track curator John Hector and his staff to get the circuit in a good enough condition to stage the meeting after rain had first started falling at about 1pm.

Ford said: "After 2.30pm it wasn't the Poole promotion's decision whether the meeting would go ahead or not.

"All we asked was that we tried for the meeting to commence even if we got to 12 or 16 heats so that there was a result.

"However, the riders felt the track was not safe to ride and at that point only the referee could make the decision.

"We do have a further chance of running this meeting at Poole and we will let the public know as soon as we have finalised a new date.

"It is very frustrating after all the effort that has been put in, not so much for me but for all the fans, particularly those who travelled a long way to get here because they deserved to see some Speedway action today.

"The re-staging date will be in October and we will look in our calendar as quickly as possible to set a new date.

"Track admission tickets for today's meeting will be valid for entry to the re-staging of the ELRC only, not for any Poole club fixture.

"No-one is a winner after this type of event is called off, particularly the British Speedway Promoters' Association who inherited a bill of anything between £5,000 and £10,000.

"All we can hope for is that the weather is kinder to us next time.

"I would also like to say that had this been a World Cup or Grand Prix meeting I believe the riders would have had no other option but to ride.

"Hopefully it means that Andreas Jonsson, who missed his flight into the country, and Bjarne Pedersen, who has the flu, will be able to take their places in the re-staging. "I will also be looking for the support of the riders and their promoting clubs to see that their riders attend this event."

Following Jonsson's late withdrawal, Coventry were left with no representative at Wimborne Road as attempts to contact Billy Janniro failed to come to fruition.

Four other Bees riders were unavailable to take Jonsson's place. They were Chris Harris (riding a grass track meeting), Stuart Robson (no equipment), Sergey Darkin (no transport) and Morten Risager (riding in Denmark).

Poole-based Davey Watt, who began the season with RIAS Pirates but is now on the books of Eastbourne, was going to replace Jonsson, and Dean Barker, of Arena-Essex, was going to take Jonsson's place.