8:40am Saturday 19th December 2009
By Rob Meech
DEFIANT Phil Bartlett has insisted he is “fully committed” to the Weymouth Wildcats – despite admitting he had this week planned to quit.
The sudden sponsorship withdrawal of both Harold Doonan and Wessex Bus Raceway, which amounts to a five-figure sum, has left the troubled Wildcats fighting for their very existence.
And Bartlett had been poised to resign from his dual role as chairman and promoter of the Wessex Stadium-based outfit before undergoing change of heart on Thursday night.
Speaking to Echosport, he said: “I was going to pull the plug on my time at the club but I still love speedway and am not going to walk away.
“I’m fully committed and determined to turn the club around and provide a team that the town can be proud of. I have always tried my best and will continue to do so.
“We are going to build a strong team that fight for honours again right from the start, and will add to the success the club has had in the past.
“But the town has got to support speedway for it to continue to be here.
“If people don’t support it then it won’t be sustainable so we need more numbers through the turnstiles and to obtain new interest and new blood.”
D-day for securing replacement sponsors is January 24 and Bartlett was unequivocal in his assertion that this
will be achieved and that the Wildcats will be running next season. He added: “It’s massive to lose those two sponsors and that has put us in jeopardy, but I will fight tooth and nail to get sponsorship and advertising back.
“I’m sure there are a lot of people in this town that want to see speedway survive and companies that would want to be associated with the success this club has had.
“The main sponsor’s name is directly connected to the club and the coverage in the Press that the main sponsor will attract is phenomenal – you can’t buy that advertising.
“We won the league last year and came second this year to a team that had half of our team from 2008. In my view that makes us a very attractive proposition to prospective sponsors.”
When asked about the implications of not obtaining sponsorship before the deadline day, Bartlett replied: “I don’t want to go down that road.”
Last season the Wildcats finished as National League runners-up to runaway champions Bournemouth Buccaneers, who clinched the title in their first campaign in speedway. Weymouth’s line-up for 2010 will feature only two riders who represented the club last season, those being James Cockle and Terry Day. Bartlett is busily trying to secure five new riders and revealed that negotiations to sign a “heat leading” rider are at an advanced stage.
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