MARK Loram finally confirmed he would not be lost to speedway after riding his emotional farewell laps at Poole last night.

Britain’s last world champion, whose racing career was cruelly cut short by injury four years ago, has vowed to help with the development of youngsters in the shale sport.

Loram, the first man to lift the world individual crown while a Pirates rider, had never ridden in public since he broke his leg in a horror crash at Ipswich in March 2007.

He had completed some practice laps behind closed doors two years ago, but, after confirming there was no way back, reluctantly announced his retirement from the sport in December 2009 to concentrate fully on running his garage business in Suffolk.

But Loramski, possibly the most popular of only six British world champions since the late 1930s, turned the clock back in scintillating style at Wimborne Road last night.

In front of an enthralled crowd of about 2,500 – at least 1,000 more than for Poole Castle Cover’s season-opener against Eastbourne last week – he sizzled around the Dorset bowl one last time.

Loram, who spent two unforgettable seasons lighting up Wimborne Road with Pirates in 1999 and 2000, took only 16 seconds to go round the 299.1 metre circuit on the last of his six laps.

With hardly any practice over the past four years, it was a phenomenal performance by Loramski, who looked as though he had hardly been off a bike.

Bear in mind the average time it took top stars like Jason Crump, Greg Hancock, Fredrik Lindgren, who won the meeting, Chris Holder and Davey Watt to get around one circuit last night was about 15 seconds.

It showed the 2000 world champion has still got the class that saw him soar to those heights and that he could still do the business in the Elite League now.

Sadly for British speedway fans that’s not going to happen though, particularly as Loram’s priority now lies with his wife Flo, their three-year-son Toby and six-month-old daughter Dot, along with Mark’s teenage son Rhys, who were all at Wimborne Road last night.

Loram told the crowd: “It’s just been an unbelievable night. Everyone said they would turn out when I first announced I’d be holding the meeting here and they have.

“It’s just fantastic, including everything with sponsorship. People are just so giving.

“To everyone here tonight and who has helped me, I appreciate it so much.

“Tonight has been everything and more than I expected from it.”

Looking back on his last laps, Loram added: “I went steady when I did four laps from a practice start.

“Then I gave it two hard laps but I was running out of steam. I wanted to do four but I didn’t want it to end in tears (so I stopped). But it was great.

“It’s a shame I have to give up but, when I rode a couple of years ago when my leg wasn’t right, it sort of put me off.

“Riding now, I feel alright. It’s the 40-year-old bit that has caught up with me. But I do plan to get to more speedway meetings (as a spectator) from now on.

“ I’m sure people will see me around the tracks and hopefully they will come up and talk to me.

“As much as I watch speedway on TV, I haven’t had a lot of time to travel to meetings before now.

“When the time is right and the right thing comes along, I would love to help young riders.”

The meeting was held up for 30 minutes when Alex Davies fell and was taken to hospital with chest and rib injuries.

Qualifying: Davey Watt (3-3-3-3-2) 14, Fredrik Lindgren (3-3-3-2-2) 13, Chris Holder (2-2-2-3-3) 12, Jason Crump (3-2-1-3-3) 12, Ryan Sullivan (2-2-2-2-2) 10, Hans Andersen (1-1-3-3-1) 9, Scott Nicholls (3-3-1-2-0) 9, Cameron Woodward (1-3-2-0-3) 9, Kenni Larsen (2-1-3-2-1) 9, Greg Hancock (1-0-2-0-2) 5, Edward Kennett (2-2-0-1-0) 5, Adam Shields (0-2-1-1-1) 5, Renat Gafurov (0-1-0-ret-3) 4, Shane Parker (1-ret-1-1-0) 3, Joe Screen (0-0-fell-0-1) 1, Kyle Newman (0-0-0) 0.

Reserve: Alex Davies (1-fell exc) 1, Mark Loram dnr.

Referee: Ronnie Allan.

Ht 1: Crump, Newman, Parker, Newman, 59.64.

Ht 2: Watt, Sullivan, Hancock, Gafurov, 60.09.

Ht 3: Nicholls, Holder, Woodward, Screen, 60.02.

Ht 4: Lindgren, Larsen, Andersen, Shields, 60.16.

Ht 5: Lindgren, Holder, Crump, Hancock, 59.46.

Ht 6: Nicholls, Shields, Gafurov, Parker (retired), 60.08 Ht 7: Woodward, Sullivan, Larsen, Newman, 60.39.

Ht 8: Watt, Kennett, Andersen, Screen, 59.74.

Ht 9: Andersen, Woodward, Crump, Gafurov, 60.56 Ht 10: Larsen, Hancock, Parker, Screen, 61.13.

Ht 11: Watt, Holder, Shields, Newman, 59.54.

Ht 12: Lindgren, Sullivan, Nicholls, Kennett, 60.21 Ht 13: Crump, Sullivan, Shields, Screen, 60.00.

Ht 14: Watt, Lindgren, Parker, Woodward, 59.62.

Ht 15: Andersen, Nicholls, Davies, Hancock, 60.69.

Ht 16: Holder, Larsen, Kennett, Gafurov (retired), 60.10.

Ht 17: Crump, Watt, Larsen, Nicholls, 60.17.

Ht 18: Holder, Sullivan, Andersen, Parker, 60.53.

Ht 19: (re-run) Gafurov, Lindgren, Screen, Davies (fell excluded), 61.46.

Ht 20: Woodward, Hancock, Shields, Kennett, 61.68.

FINAL Ht 21: Lindgren, Watt, Crump, Holder, 60.26.