A NEW date has been announced for the 2022 League Riders' Championship, to be held at Wimborne Road.

Poole Pirates will play host to the event later this year, but the date has been changed after the original plans to hold it on Saturday, July 2 were shelved.

Instead, the best riders from the division will battle it out against each other on Wednesday, August 24 at Poole Stadium (7.30pm).

That meeting will now be run a week after Pirates are scheduled to end their regular Championship campaign, at home to Redcar Bears.

As a result of this meeting now being installed on August 24, the British Under-21 Final in Birmingham, originally due for that date, will now move to Wednesday, August 31.

Discussing the decision to move the individual Riders' Championship event, 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 on August 24, to make this a wide-open title race."

Pirates return to Championship action against Plymouth Gladiators at Wimborne Road on Wednesday (7.30pm).