Villar benefit opens 2004 season.

Literally thousands of speedway fans from the North, and indeed the entire UK are expected to swarm on Berwick tomorrow (Saturday) night to help out the paralysed Carlos Villar, the Argentinean Speedway star with the "never give up" attitude to his exciting brand of racing, by donating to attend his benefit meeting, a Four Team Championship between Berwick, Glasgow, Workington / Edinburgh select and a Newcastle select.

The meeting is the culmination of 5 months of hard work on behalf of Carlos by his committee who have already raised nearly ?19,000 to make the rest of his life somewhat easier under tragic circumstances. But... there's a long way to go yet!

Everyone in the area is pulling together to make this a massive success, and the only worry is with the weather which is a little wintry at this stage, although it is expected to improve rapidly through the week. The Berwick Speedway Clubcall line (09066-555-926 charged at 60p per minute) will carry full details and weather reports as and when necessary on the build up to the big day.

Elm Bank Berwick Bandits' team manager, Tom Graham commented last night on behalf of the fund raising committee, "The 5 months since Carlos suffered his terrible injury have flown by due to the amount of work put in by the committee in getting all the pieces of the jigsaw in place in readiness for the big night on Saturday.

"It would not have happened had it not been for the solid commitment shown from all the other participating promotions, riders, media outlets, and fans from all over the World.....and our total thanks goes out to all of them.

"No matter who wins the events on Saturday, it matters not. The aim was to hold an attractive and entertaining event to raise vital funds for Carlos, and in the field that we have at Shielfield Park this weekend I believe we have that mixture just right, we're in for some fun, and in the process we will see Carlos benefit in a big way, and that's why we will all be there on Saturday night.

"It's going to be a packed night, it's going to be a memorable night, it's going to be a great night... and I would urge all speedway supporters from everywhere to pop along the A1 to join the party. That way Carlos' life might just be changed well and truly for the better!"

A full range of Carlos merchandise will be available on the day at the track including tee-shirts, baseball caps etc.... as well as the highly desirable enamel badge (details below) as well as the fundraising Berwick Speedway 2003 highlights video tape as produced by Mike Hunter of Edinburgh. A tape that raises ?12 from each tape sold!