MONDAY'S New Year Classic will be dedicated to the man who started it all back in 1999 – Tim Stone.

The late Newport promoter introduced the event, the only outdoor meeting of its kind in the UK, and it has since been held at the Queensway Meadows track every year except 2009, when the club was closed down after his sudden death and Poole ran the event.

Now in its thirteenth staging and the twelfth at Newport, this is the first one not to be held on a Sunday.

Co-promoter Steve Mallett said: “We have been considering this for some while but only just got round to doing it.

“Previously we had dedicated the Prince of Wales Trophy to Tim but the New Year Classic is really more suited as it was his brainchild.

“The riders will be competing for the new Tim Stone Trophy.

“We will now dedicate the Prince of Wales Trophy in March to Neil Street, who was a Newport legend. This seems much more appropriate.

“The 2012 Classic has, I think, an interesting line-up and it is difficult to predict who might win it.

“My son Nick and Laurence Rogers have done a good job with the field and they have also gone out and succeeded in getting race and advertising sponsors to back the meeting.

“Hopefully, the weather will be with us and we will be able to give speedway fans from all over the country a day out enjoying their favourite sport.”