PROMOTER Matt Ford believes the future of Poole Speedway is ‘protected’ after revealing a two-year sponsorship with plant hire company Readypower.

The deal with previous main title sponsors Coastal Aluminium expired in November, two months after it had emerged that the Poole company was set to be liquidated.

Poole Speedway’s new contract with Wokingham-based Readypower – the business of Peterborough Panthers co-owners Rick Frost and partner Julie Mahoney – is worth a six-figure sum over two years.

And Ford predicts a bright future for the Elite League champions, who will go in search of a fourth top-flight title in five years in 2015.

The Pirates chief told the Daily Echo: “We’ve been very lucky to have some great sponsors over the years and our thanks go out to each and every one of them.

“Sadly, Coastal Aluminium had problems last year which had a huge impact on the company and its staff, as well as on the finance coming into our club.

“This new deal is a great move for us. It stabilises the club and helps us move forward in terms of building our asset base and protecting the future of Poole Speedway.

“The deal came about as a result of a tongue-in-cheek conversation between myself and Julie. I contacted her to discuss the transfer of Dakota North and jokingly said that it would be great to have Readypower come on board as our main sponsors.

“It was just a cheeky comment but she came back to me the following morning to say they were interested. Since then we’ve had a couple of get-togethers to discuss things and I’m incredibly proud to bring such a prestigious and successful company onto the Pirates ship.”

Ford admitted that he hoped Pirates’ association with Readypower would extend beyond the duration of the current contract and said he was keen to boost the company’s presence on the south coast.

The promoter added: “It is a two-year deal and I see no reason why that wouldn’t continue.

“If we can be successful on the track then that will certainly help matters in terms of getting the Readypower name across to everybody.

“It’s a bit of a new opening for them down here and I’m really keen to work with Readypower in order to get them a presence in the local area.”