Having just missed two weeks of action at Cowley because of a rain-off and the Grand Prix, Oxford speedway fans now face another three successive Fridays without action, writes John Gaisford.

We all know the GP series takes a big chunk out of a normal Elite League season - around six Fridays in all.

But the problem is made worse by rain-offs, and now the Oxford greyhound track is set to undergo refurbishment.

That means the Elite League clash against Ipswich on Friday, July 7 also falls by the wayside. My heart goes out to promoters Steve and Vanessa Purchase, for there is nothing they can do about it. It's just unfortunate that everything falls at once in the coming weeks.

Financially, it could be a killer for them. They rely on a regular fortnightly income from the sport and when there is none forthcoming, it can only spell trouble.

Already this season, Steve Purchase has admitted he has had to bail out the club once again, and this comes on top of two years of heavy personal losses.

What's the answer? If the ruling bodies take the Grand Prix to a wider world audience such as America, Australia and South Africa, it could spell disaster for the top clubs in this country. Oxford has a stadium perfect for top-flight racing, but it has to be regular and they need to track a competitive side. That takes an awful lot of dosh and, with support on the low side this season, there could be only one alternative.

That is to switch to Premier League racing where, with one exception - Carl Stonehewer from Workington - none of the riders are engaged in GP action and therefore the fans have no break in their regular speedway action.

We all know that Purchase is committed to the very best at Cowley, and he has always intimated that he wouldn't stage anything else but top-flight racing.

But if the fans knew there would be speedway every Friday, they would be a lot happier bunch than they are now.