Kyle: Bumper crowd spurred Buccaneers to victory

Promoter Matt Ford offered free entry to Bournemouth Castle Cover’s historic first National League meeting since the new side’s formation over the winter.

And the publicity stunt paid off in volumes as a 2,500 crowd, bigger than for the British Final staged 24 hours earlier at the same venue, packed into Poole Stadium, many of them clearly speedway newcomers.

It probably set a new record as the highest attendance for the fledgling National League, which was introduced as speedway’s Third Division this term.

Poole-born Newman is only 17 and in his first season of full-time racing, and it was the biggest crowd he had ridden in front of.

After grabbing eight paid nine to help Buccaneers secure three league points and jump straight up to fourth in the third-tier table, he said: “It was a fantastic crowd, and all that you could ask for is that they come back to watch us again.

“They were the ones who got us going after we had let King’s Lynn back in the match early on.

“We suffered a bit of a lull and they drew level, but you could hear the crowd spurring us on and it made us all dig deeper to make sure we won.”

Newman, whose Buccaneers had been previously used to performing in front of 400 to 1,200 people per meeting, added: “Riding in front of a crowd that size definitely gives you aspirations of riding in a higher league with bigger crowd levels.

“You see that crowd and you think ‘that is a Poole speedway-sized crowd.’ “Yes it does spur you on. When we were losing races the crowd got us going and gave us a boost.

“You feel the crowd’s participation and you want to ride in front of a crowd like that regularly.

“I know, for me personally, I want to ride for Poole Pirates in front of those crowds later on in my career.

“So my message to anyone who came last night who was a newcomer to speedway is ‘come back and get behind us again in another meeting.’”