NEIL Middleditch labelled Pirates' trip to King's Lynn as farcical and insisted: "The real loser is British speedway."

The Poole team boss claimed certain members of the Stars camp had wanted last night's meeting called off due to what they perceived as unsafe track conditions.

However, Middleditch said none of his riders had voiced concerns over safety.

Extensive work was carried out on the circuit midway through the rain-affected meeting and Pirates went on to claim a priceless 52-40 victory, allowing them to displace King's Lynn in third in the SGB Premiership standings.

Middleditch told the Daily Echo: "If my boys had said it was unsafe to ride, I would have said we weren't going to ride but they said it was fine.

"We just got on with the job. The track was grippy, I will admit that, but I asked my boys how they felt about it and they said it was raceable.

"Some of the King's Lynn riders were having trouble with it and they voiced their dissatisfaction, shall we say.

"There was some dissent in their camp and there was a lot of gesticulating going on. I'm not going to point fingers at anybody but they imploded. They were their own worst enemy.

"That's why I kept my boys out of the way and kept them calm. We sat down and let it unfold.

"They were basically trying to get the meeting called off. That's what I felt anyway. I don't want to start naming names but certain riders were the main instigators.

"The real loser is British speedway. It turned into a bit of a farce but through no fault of our own. We just did what had to be done.

"It was a very unfortunate situation. For speedway, I'm very sorry as it was a sad state of affairs."

At the time of the track work, which occurred after Kai Huckenbeck and Robert Lambert had failed to arrive at the tapes for heat nine, Pirates were 25-23 in front.

Home rider Chris Holder had already missed the two-minute time allowance once and the same happened in heat 13 – although the reasons for both no-shows were unconfirmed. The Aussie could face a fine.

Stars number one Troy Batchelor withdrew following his second ride due to injury, while King's Lynn team boss Dale Allitt ended the evening in hospital after being taken ill during the meeting.

Middleditch, who wished Allitt a speedy recovery, had 24 hours earlier seen Poole suffer a 49-44 home defeat to the Stars.

The Pirates team boss added: "If prior to Wednesday you had offered me four points over the two fixtures, I would probably have taken it.

"The way we got the four points was a bit unusual but all in all, it was a very satisfactory end result.

"The away meeting was very unusual, probably one of the strangest I've been involved in for a while. It was a farce and someone should be held accountable."