WORLD SPEEDWAY LEAGUE

Poole Speedway's season has been rocked by the decision of the Federation Internationale Motorcycliste (FIM) to indefinitely suspend their skipper Darcy Ward from all racing engagements following his failed alcohol test prior to the Latvian GP.

That announcement has not only ruled Ward out of this Saturday's GP in Gorzow, Poland but also precludes him from riding for the Pirates in the inaugural World Speedway League meeting in Zielona Gora and potentially the final 6 league matches and the play-offs.

Poole boss Matt Ford described the decision as 'devestating' coming just hours after he had finalised a quintet to represent the club.

"From first learning that we would be unable to use Chris Holder as I had expected, and then learning of the change of format, this dream competition has become a major headache for me.

"This latest FIM's ruling on Darcy has all but taken the shine of things and we are forced into a further change for Sunday, but of course the implications go well beyond then."

Ever since a young lad Ford had dreamed of seeing the Poole Pirates race in a club competition against other leading nations' top sides and with Zielona Gora (Poland), Piraterna Motala (Sweden) and Esbjerg (Denmark) providing the opposition those dreams will become a reality on Sunday. And in a twist of fate he will also realise another ambition, as he will get to see Emil Sajftutdinov, one of the world's most talented riders that so far has not appeared in Poole colours, pull on the skull and crossbones race jacket.

Explaining the situation further, Ford said "It is with a heavy heart that I have been forced to name a team for this competition, one that I have been longing for most of my life, without Chris in the side.

"When the rules were first drawn up I studied them carefully and Chris fulfilled all the criteria to qualify to ride for us on Sunday and I had spoken to him about it and he was really looking forward to being one of our four riders. But in recent days it became evident from the powers-that-be that not only were teams to be 5-man sides, instead of 4, they were also insistent he rode for his present Swedish club, Piraterna and although I fought tooth and nail to get that decision over-turned we were left scouring for a replacement.

"Coupled with last Saturday's injury to Shamek (Przemyslaw Pawlicki) and the availability of Vaclav (Milik) due to the European U21 final in Rybnik clashing with Sunday's date, we were running out of options fast.

"We were then advised that we could engage Emil (Sajfutdinov) and Piotr Pawlicki as cover and I have to say that has given us a potentially strong line-up. I have always wanted Emil to ride for me but it has never been possible in the past so I guess Sunday will see two of my ambitions realised. To cover for Darcy I am grateful to club asset Leon Madsen for agreeing to ride at relatively short notice.

"I accept that the use of guests is not an ideal situation but neither would putting out an under-strength side in the competition. Zielona Gora have boldy agreed to stage the event  and I know from the costings that I did initially it is not a cheap meeting to put on.

"The competition deserves to have a world class line-up. It is attracting a lot of interest, we have many fans from Poole making the trip at the weekend to see the Gorzow GP and going on to support Poole in this new competition. If we were to become the first ever winners then that would be great for the club and the town. It will be "Poole" that would headline in the history books not necessarily the make-up of the team on the day.

Sunday's teams
Zielona Gora: -  Kamil Adamczewski, Jaroslaw Hampel, Andreas Jonsson, Aleksander Loktajew, Piotr Protasiewicz
Poole: - Josh Grajczonek, Maciej Janowski, Leon Madsen, Piotr Pawlicki, Emil Sajfutdinov
Piraterna: - Greg Hancock, Chris Holder, Bjarne Pedersen, Anton Rosen, Linus Sundstrom
Esbjerg: - Rene Bach, Mikkel Bech, Niels-Kristian Iversen, Krzysztof Kasprzak, Artem Laguta