MATT Ford is still counting the cost of the disruptive April weather and admits: “It is killing the sport.”

The speedway supremo revealed Poole and their counterparts from around the country had been hit hard by the persistent recent rain.

Pirates have not competed since Good Friday after three successive postponements – including their past two scheduled home fixtures.

The dearth of live action has been mirrored throughout British speedway as clubs struggle to prepare suitable tracks for racing.

Ford revealed Pirates and their Elite League rivals had suffered financially as a result – with costs such as programme printing and riders’ expenses proving to be wasted money.

The Poole promoter told the Daily Echo: “It is no one’s fault what is going on in speedway at the moment.

“People will have seen what happened at Belle Vue on Monday where they had the first bend and that was it – it was finished. That was a club desperate to get a fixture on, they did everything they could and prepared the track.

“But this is the problem at the moment – we have a four or five-hour period with no rain and you think you can get it on.

“What we are having are April showers, but they are prolonged showers. They are killing us and they are killing the whole sport, but I can categorically state that there is no one in the sport that wants this.”

Ford, who revealed he looked into putting a roof over Poole’s Wimborne Road track, admitted there was little clubs could do and said track covers were not the simple solution some might think.

He added: “Wolverhampton’s crowd on Monday, and Eastbourne’s on Saturday, were dreadful and it is very damaging to the businesses because people just don’t come out when it is like this.

“They have a fear that a meeting will be called off or, potentially, there is something else on television that night. We often come up against big televised football matches and it is difficult to take on those things. People won’t take a chance if there is a fear the meeting may not go ahead or be completed.

“I have every sympathy with all the promoters at the moment because they are trying their best. No one wants rain-offs and they cost every one of us a lot of money.

“The only thing you can do is keep good faith with the public, who would be far more upset if the meeting started and was called off after six races.”

Pirates’ clash at Swindon last night was postponed. That came hot on the heels of rained-off home meetings with the Robins and Wolves.