POOLE, eight-times top flight league champions since 2003, will apply to join the SGB Championship in 2020.
Promoter Matt Ford has confirmed that the Pirates will lodge an application to switch to the second tier because of fears over the Dorset outfit's continuing financial viability at the top level (read the full story in Speedway Star this week). The Poole management sought the opinions of supporters in a bid to gauge opinion about any change of level and Ford revealed: "The response was immense and overall very supportive towards moving to the lower league. That will bring about a more varied fixture schedule, one that will provide a far more regular pattern of racing. It will also allow us to resume racing on the more favoured Wednesday nights and, in truth, we will still continue to see a number of riders that appeared here this season given the structures of the leagues and doubling-up. "Taking all the comments on board and looking at the cost implications, we have decided to seek registration to the Championship. We will have to wait until the November AGM before we can definitely say that we will be in the Championship but that is our preference and, judging by the comments received, one that will be backed by a large core of our support."