BOURNEMOUTH Buccaneers team manager Garry May is leading a consortium which hopes to save the Weymouth Weyline Wildcats.

Wessex Stadium promoter Phil Bartlett has confirmed the club will not run beyond the end of this season, unless a buyer steps forward.

And with the Buccaneers set to close at the end of the campaign due to poor crowds at Wimborne Road, May is determined not to lose another National League team in Dorset.

While he declined to reveal who is part of his consortium, May hopes they can do a deal with Bartlett to save the Wildcats.

But he admits it would be tough to take Weymouth over until they know the format of next year’s National League, or whether it will run.

May said: “I want to carry on National League speedway. You’re never going to make any money down there, but the consortium I’m with is made up of fans. We don’t want another track to fold.

“The problem is we don’t know what the format of the National League is going to be. If we haven’t got a league, we’ll be buying something we are never going to use.

“We have been in talks with Phil and they are ongoing. But we need to wait for the league structure. We need to know what’s happening before we do any more.

“It’s always the same with speedway; promoters say ‘I lost money, I’m not running.’ But then they say ‘alright we’ll run’. They always leave the conferences for the National League until January. No-one knows what’s happening basically.”

With a number of members taking the hit on any financial losses, May says the club would be in safe hands.

But he admits there is some distance between the consortium’s valuation of the club and Bartlett’s asking price.

He added: “At the moment, the price is too high. He has come down a bit, but it has to come down even more.

“The rent is high when you think how many people are coming. But my consortium and I love speedway and we’ll do anything we can. We’re not worried about making money.

“If we did make a loss with the people I’ve got there, it’s not one man taking the hit, it’s several.”

Meanwhile, James Cockle will fly the Weymouth flag in the National League Riders’ Championship at Rye House tomorrow (4pm). Team-mate Tom Brown will travel as a reserve.