NEIL Middleditch insisted speedway had lost a “member of the family” following Lee Richardson’s tragic death.

Richardson died in hospital in Wroclaw on Sunday night after a sickening back-straight crash while racing for Rzeszow.

The former Pirate, who rode for the Dorset club in 1996 and 1999, was thrown head first into a solid fence at the Polish track and suffered internal bleeding and breathing difficulties.

The 33-year-old, who leaves wife Emma and three sons, was a mainstay of Middleditch’s Great Britain squad before quitting the national team last year.

He starred in the World Cup final at Poole in 2004, alongside Scott Nicholls, Gary Havelock, David Norris and Mark Loram, as Middlo’s men came within one point of the trophy.

Middleditch told the Echo: “Lee was just a fresh faced kid when I started managing Poole in 1999, but he turned into a superb international.

“With Team GB, he was the mainstay of the line-up and was there until I finished my first spell as manager. He was the top-scorer and as soon as he pulled that race suit on, that was it – he was in race mode.

“It’s just so hard to believe that he is gone.

“He was a tremendous ambassador for the sport, a great husband and father and it’s just dreadful.”

Richardson won the world under-21 title at Vojens in 1999 and went on to become a fully fledged Grand Prix rider between 2003 and 2006.

Middleditch added: “I remember when he came to Poole as a kid from Reading. John Davis came down and took him under his wing and turned him into the rider he was.

“The professionalism John had was what Lee had and he was totally focused on his racing – he was a model professional on and off the track.

“John came over to mine on Sunday night and we just sat in the garden staring into space for about three hours. It’s heartbreaking and I woke up in the morning just hoping it was a dream.

“Speedway is a family sport and we have lost a member of the family.”

Richardson had been due to line up for Lakeside at Wimborne Road tomorrow night.

The meeting will take place as scheduled at the request of the Hammers management, with former Pirates skipper Davey Watt returning to Wimborne Road for the first time since Poole’s dramatic Elite League title win last year.

Watt paid tribute to team-mate Richardson, telling the Echo: “I have lost a mate. It’s so tragic and I’m so upset that he has gone.

“He was a great father, husband, racer and friend. I’ll miss him and I am sure the world will be a darker place without him.”