NEWCASTLE have withdrawn from the SGB Championship after owner Rob Grant closed the club on Monday night.
The Diamonds boss said he was left with "no option" and Tuesday's scheduled league fixture at Plymouth has been called off. In a club statement, Grant revealed: "I have to point out this is my decision only, as my fellow co-promoters and anyone else who had a keen interest in keeping Newcastle Speedway going, wanted to help things run until the end of the season, but there really is no other option, and in the longer term, it is for the good of Newcastle Speedway. "The situation has taken a massive toll on the finances of the club, a massive hit on my own mental health and also a substantial toll on my other businesses and I cannot allow this to take me down. "Crowds have, naturally, dwindled to an unworkable level and with results like our matches at home against Redcar and Leicester, trying to encourage folk back into the stadium was never going to work, but again that's all down to me making poor decisions. "The team needed changes, yes, but the fact was clear, as many other promoters will tell you, there simply are no top guys available to come in at the moment and that crippled our efforts to bring in top-end new blood despite massive efforts to do so. "The situation was critical, and it had to be shut down now before it became too late for prospective new people to look at taking the club into 2023. Had we continued like we were, I'd have ended up running Newcastle Speedway so deep into the ground that it would have been impossible to bring back to life or clear its financial commitments successfully, all of which will be in due course, but now at least there is an option for someone to get in touch and see if new blood can fully take over the club for the future. "I want to apologise to our fans for how things have ended up. I want to thank my staff and sponsors for striving on through a dark season and wish the club and everyone connected with it the very best moving forward. Sadly, the club has run out of steam, the finances have run out of steam and I'm running on fumes. It's a sad day, but it's a day which had to happen now. "If anyone wants to talk about taking the club forward, please contact via our website on the info@newcastle-speedway.co.uk." BSP Ltd chairman Rob Godfrey said: "It's obviously a matter of serious regret to be losing a club, and it did come as a shock to us last night. "We had been working with the Newcastle promotion in an attempt to get them to the end of the season, and every opportunity and help was given to them. "Discussions had been ongoing for several weeks, but they have suffered a number of unfortunate problems this year. We did feel they would be able to see things through, but sadly that's proved not to be the case."