THE date of the League Riders' Championship, to be held at Wimborne Road, is to be rescheduled.

Poole was set to play host to the event on Saturday, July 2, with the top riders from across the division competing against each other in an individual competition.

It is the first time since 2019 the Riders' Championship has been on the speedway calendar.

And while it is still due to take place in 2022, a new date is being sought, due to rider availability issues on the originally scheduled night.

Pirates promoter Danny Ford said: "It became apparent that the original date would have clashed with a number of riders' overseas engagements and we could have lost at least a quarter of the expected field.

"And so, in a bid to maintain the quality of the line-up, we have taken the decision to defer the staging so that we can call upon the top riders and make it an event that deserves its status.

"We have taken this approach in the best interests of the sport, but we do understand that some supporters may have made travel arrangements for the original date and to anyone who has we would like to extend our sincere apologies.

"However, we maintain that, by avoiding this fixture clash, we will be able to attract the top riders from each Championship club to make this a wide-open title race."

The suggestion is the meeting is now expected to take place on a Wednesday, Poole's traditional home racing night.