BYRON Bekker is to miss tomorrow’s National League clash at home to Rye House (7.15pm), the same day he finds out how long his back injury is likely to keep him out of the saddle.

A physio has told the Weymouth Weyline Wildcats’ number one that he has damaged the joint between two vertebrae, forcing his back muscles to contract and protect the damaged area.

The South African speedster has to perform specific exercises between each physio appointment to treat the injury and will find out how well the affected area has reacted when he visits again tomorrow.

And Bekker, who will be replaced by the Newport Hornets’ Mark Jones for the clash with the Cobras, said: “It would have been nice to come back for a home meeting as that’s obviously the track I have ridden on most, but that’s not going to happen.

“If I’m able to ride next week then I will because we have Plymouth on Friday and Scunthorpe on Sunday and we need to pick up some points.”

Bekker, 22, has also offered sympathy to the situation James Cockle finds himself in.

Technical problems are costing the London-born 24-year-old so much money that he may have to quit the sport before the end of the year.

Cockle is the only Weymouth rider to have outscored Bekker this season and the South African admits that the retirement of his team-mate would be a disaster.

“It’s very worrying because the last thing we need is to lose someone like James,” said Bekker. “Speedway is a very expensive sport – all the parts are expensive and nothing really lasts long on a speedway bike.

“I had the same situation last year where I was down to one bike and ended up having to ask Edinburgh if I could sit out because I couldn’t afford to do it anymore.

“It’s going to keep happening in the sport because it’s getting more and more expensive.

“The management can only pay what they can afford and that’s fair enough but with the parts going up it’s getting harder to keep everything in balance.

“When you are at this level, even £50 is a lot of money. I hope someone comes forward to help James because we can’t lose him, he’s too good.”

Although Bekker’s focus is on speedway, his friends and family back in South Africa have been experiencing football fever as the World Cup prepares to kick off, and he is hoping visitors from across the globe will get to see what his home country is really like.

He said: “Everyone is aware of South Africa but I’ve had it so many times where people think it’s just full of sand roads and animals running around because it’s part of Africa.

“But it’s a really well established country and hopefully people will get to see that it’s a nice part of the world and will go back again and again.”

Bekker also hopes that the boost the World Cup is expected to give the country’s economy will help speedway develop in South Africa.

“I’m the only one from South Africa over in the UK but my friend arrives here for a little ride this week,” said Bekker, who sends spare parts back home. “It’s not very big in South Africa because parts are expensive to buy and ship over.

“The World Cup can’t do it any harm and if the economy gets stronger because of it then maybe they will be able to buy some more stuff.”