HAROLD Doonan’s attempts to save the Wildcats from extinction have been stalled by the silence of landlords Wessex Delivery Partnership.

The club’s former main sponsor – part of a five-strong consortium – has been working tirelessly in a bid to retain their National League status.

However, the all-important hurdle facing the local businessman has yet to be cleared, with Wessex Delivery and ex-Weymouth FC chairman Malcolm Curtis undecided on the future use of the Wessex Raceway – which was repossessed in November over unpaid rent.

Doonan has tried, unsuccessfully thus far, to agree a deal for the lease of the site and admits that time is running out.

He said: “We’re still in the picture, we’ve got all the track staff lined up and all the other people ready to do their jobs but until we get an answer from Mr Curtis and Wessex Delivery to fix the rent we can’t do anything.

“Time is of the essence as we’ve also got to apply to the BSPA for a licence, and that involves a track inspection as well.

“Everything’s in place, we’re just waiting for the green light. But the longer it goes on, the less chance it has of happening.

“We know we’re not going to make any money out of it, we’re doing it for the love of speedway and we will run it on a break-even basis.

“I have watched speedway since it first started here in 1954, it’s my sport and I do not want to see it leave the town. But it’s a bang your head against the wall situation.”

Former fans’ favourite Jay Herne has expressed an interest in returning to the Cats while Jem Dicken could be reinstated as team manager.

However, Doonan’s hands are very much tied. He added: “We had Jay pencilled into the team and I had a call from him in Australia recently, but I can’t tell him anything as we do not have a team yet.

“I would love to be able to tell him we will up and running next year but I just don’t know yet.

“Jem was manager of the team last year and we will obviously be looking for a manager ourselves. But I can’t organise anything in that respect as it’s no good speaking to him about things like that when we don’t know if we’ll even be running.”

Fellow potential saviour Craig Robinson has said he will only comment further once Wessex Delivery release a statement.

However, the latter, as well as Curtis, had no comment to make when contacted by Echosport.

* The National League AGM has been put back once again with the new date believed to be February 11.