FORMER club sponsor Harold Doonan is on a mission to rescue the Weymouth Wildcats from extinction.

As it stands, the Radipole Lane outfit will not be running next year after the club’s licence was returned to the BSPA and landlords Wessex Delivery Partner-ship LLP seized control of the Wessex Raceway.

Doonan is desperate to save the ailing club and avoid a dark future without speedway.

The owner of Doonans Sand & Gravel is part of a five-strong consortium looking to “resurrect” the Cats and return it to former glories.

However, the main obstacle standing in their way is the sizeable rent – believed to be £27,000.

Doonan, who is hoping to reach an agreement with ex-Weymouth Football Club chairman Malcolm Curtis, said: “There is a consortium of five, of which I am one, and we want to keep the speedway going.

“We have made our intentions known to the BSPA and they know we are in the offing.

“We are businessmen and we are prepared to put money into the club knowing we will lose it.

“We’re not doing it for money, we’re doing it for the speedway and hopefully we will be able to run it on a break-even point.

“The main factor though is whether we can negotiate a suitable rent with Malcolm Curtis and Wessex Delivery as it is far too high.

“As it stands the rent is as much as Poole Pirates pay for a proper stadium.

“When Malcolm Curtis was chairman of the Football club we had free electricity and use of the showers included in the rent.

“Now we have to pay the football club another £800 a month to use their electricity and showers, which means we pay more than Poole.

“We are prepared to resurrect the club – it will all be determined by whether we can negotiate the rent.”

The Dorset-based consortium is set to meet this evening and discuss the next course of action.

Doonan added: “Myself and the four other businessmen, who are all from Poole, are meeting tonight to decide which way we are going to go but the whole thing revolves around whether a suitable rent can be agreed.

“We have spoken to Malcolm Curtis already. If you have been getting so much money for something you don’t want to come down on your price but we’re in a recession and he has to realise that this is a non profit-making sport and we could lose another local amenity.”

Curtis did not wish to comment, while a Wessex Delivery spokesperson said: “With regards to the speedway site, we are reviewing our options and are not in a position to comment any further at this time.”

The Wildcats last went into hibernation in 1984 with fans being made to wait a whole 19 years before decisive action from Brian White saw the team reborn in 2003.