MARK Lemon admitted that plans to stage his farewell meeting at Poole had been “put on hold”.

The Belle Vue and Australia boss, who was contracted to Pirates for his entire riding career, says the meeting will definitely not happen this year.

Lemon last month revealed plans to stage the showpiece night at Wimborne Road.

But his commitments to Darcy Ward since the Queenslander’s crash pushed down the pecking order his individual aims.

Lemon told the Daily Echo: “I think with everything that has happened with Darcy, the farewell meeting has been put on hold.

“I haven’t given it any more thought since Darcy has been injured. Obviously I was involved with his evacuation from Poland, dealing with the insurance side of things and trying to help the family, so there have been bigger things to deal with.

“It hasn’t been brought up with me by anyone and it definitely won’t happen this year now.”

Lemon rode in Poole colours for five seasons in the nineties and noughties and hung up his kevlars at the end of 2014.

He told the Daily Echo in August: “I still feel really close to Poole and it would be nice to have one last hurrah over here.

“I have an affection for a lot of clubs as I have travelled around a lot but Wimborne Road was first and foremost in my mind for this meeting.”

Lemon and Belle Vue are due to face Pirates in the two-legged Elite League play-off final next week.