Eastbourne speedway boss Jon Cook has hit back at the organisers of this weekend's resurrected world championship meeting who are trying to get it dubbed "the fans' Grand Prix".

"If that's supposed to be the case, then they ought to have adopted a logo for the fans with a symbol sticking up two fingers," blasted Cook.

Cook is furious that his club's biggest meeting of the summer holiday period against Elite League leaders Poole Pirates has been scuppered by the indiscriminate restaging of the Scandinavian Grand Prix.

Last Saturday's world championship event was abandoned after three races because the specially laid track at the Ullevi Stadium in Gothenburg was dangerous and immediately rescheduled for tomorrow night.

Said Cook: "Hundreds of fans who made the trip to Sweden last week won't be able to go again and at the same time they have shown a complete disregard for British speedway and the supporters who follow the sport week in and week out throughout the season."

Cook and his fellow promoters stopped short of making a legal challenge to the Grand Prix meeting, believing it would not have been in the best interests of the sport.

But he warned: "What this has taught us is that it is time for British speedway to flex its muscles. I am bitterly disappointed at the way the decision about the Grand Prix was taken without any thought for speedway in Britain and we must make sure nothing like this ever happens again."

At least half a dozen Grand Prix riders, including the top three in the world, Eastbourne's Nicki Pedersen and Poole's Tony Rickardsson and Leigh Adams, would have been ruled out of the match at Arlington Stadium if it had gone ahead.

Said Cook: "The Elite League is all about the top riders going head to head, and if we had run the meeting in those circumstances it would have been a mockery."

Former world champion Mark Loram, one of the riders caught up in the middle of the storm, said: "It's terrible for speedway. No one's won out of this."

The Eastbourne star believes there could be more problems this weekend. "I'm surprised they have rearranged it for this week. I think they are taking another gamble. My league match in Sweden this week was rained off, and the weather forecast isn't good."

Loram was one of the riders who tried to race on the Ullevi track before last week's meeting was scrapped. How bad was it? "It was bad," he said.

There have been moves before to eliminate Grand Prix riders from British speedway and this week's developments are certain to raise the issue again.

Said Loram: "I imagine this will provoke some sort of stand-off during the winter and some promoters will want to ban Grand Prix riders."

Cook has no doubt there will be renewed calls to keep out Grand Prix riders.

He said: "I am sure there will people in the BSPA who will say enough is enough and say we don't want them. Personally, I wouldn't subscribe to that camp but I do think there needs to be a far better attitude towards British speedway at international level."

Cook believes the Grand Prix organisers might get a shock if riders were forced to choose between riding in Britain and following the Grand Prix trail.

"It's a bit nave to think riders are only interested in being world champion and the glory and all that. The money isn't all that great for the Grand Prix meetings.

"I don't like bandying figures about but a rider outside of Sweden and Poland would probably earn something like £300,000 in the Grand Prix in ten years, whereas he would earn £1million in ten years riding in Britain."

Eastbourne's next match will be at home to Peterborough on Monday, September 8. The Poole match will now be staged on Saturday, September 13.