Speedway: Poole Pirates boss Neil Middleditch backs guests in title quest

Poole will be forced to use the facility for the remainder of the season after world speedway officials decided to hand out a suspension to spearhead and captain Darcy Ward.

The Australian has been stepped down indefinitely pending a definitive punishment after he failed an alcohol breath test ahead of last month's Latvian Grand Prix.

Ward led from the front as Pirates regained the Elite League title after crushing Birmingham in last year's grand final and had played his part in helping them mount a challenge this season.

Team boss Middleditch, who was highly critical of Ward and his ill-advised actions in Latvia, has also described Pirates' 22-year-old number one as “irreplaceable”.

But although his absence will come as a major blow as Pirates bid to topple leaders King's Lynn and gain first pick in the play-offs, Middleditch believes the situation is still not insurmountable.

Middleditch was speaking after Pirates had failed to make up any ground on the Stars following last night's 35-26 defeat at the hands of play-off chasing Lakeside.

The rain-affected contest, which was shown live on Sky Sports, was eventually abandoned after 10 heats due to adverse track conditions, although the result will stand.

Bjarne Pedersen and Dakota North guested for Pirates against the Hammers, with the Dane failing to score from two rides and the Swindon man collecting three points from three outings.

Middleditch told the Daily Echo: “It is a difficult time. You look forward to getting in the play-offs and we are getting to the business end of the season.

“To lose Darcy was an absolute nightmare but we have got the facility to use guests and that is what we will do.

“We will get the best available guests but there are teams the likes of Coventry and Swindon perhaps who are not going to be too keen to loan us riders because they are in the title race as well so we will have to be very astute with who we get.”

Frontrunners King's Lynn, who are six points ahead of Pirates, have also lost their main man for the rest of the season after Niels-Kristian Iversen sustained knee ligament damage in the Polish Grand Prix on Saturday.

Middleditch added: “Niels had a nasty crash with Greg Hancock and has said he is going to be out for the rest of the season so King's Lynn are in a similar position.

“Nobody wants to see a rider get injured and Niels is a good guy. It happens in speedway, you get so many injuries and you just have to get on with it.

“I think Coventry are the dark horses. They are coming up on the rails very fast so they are the ones to look out for. Despite tonight's result, we are still gunning for top spot so we can get first choice. That is the aim.”

Pedersen and Lakeside's Lewis Bridger will guest for Pirates when they host Wolverhampton tomorrow.

Lakeside 35: 1 Davey Watt (2*-3-2) 7+1, 2 Kim Nilsson (3-3-1*) 7+1, 3 Richard Lawson (0-1-3) 4, 4 Lewis Bridger (3-3-2*) 8+1, 5 Danny King (3-2*) 5+1, 6 Ben Morley (0-0-2) 2, 7 Adam Ellis (2-fx-r) 2.

Poole Pirates 26: 1 Bjarne Pedersen (guest) (0-r) 0, 2 Dakota North (guest) (1-2-1*) 4+1, 3 Vaclav Milik (1*-0-r-r) 1+1, 4 Josh Grajczonek (1-2) 3, 5 Maciej Janowski (2-2-6^) 10, 6 Benji Compton (1-f-fx) 1, 7 Kyle Newman (3-1-3) 7.

Ht 1: Nilsson, Watt, North, Pedersen, 58.60 (5-1)

Ht 2: Newman, Ellis, Compton, Morley, 60.00 (7-5)

Ht 3: King, Janowski, Milik, Lawson, 59.20 (10-8)

Ht 4: Bridger, North, Newman, Morley, 59.80 (13-11)

Ht 5: Watt, King, Grajczonek, Milik, 60.10 (18-12)

Ht 6: Bridger, Janowski, Lawson, Pedersen (retired), 59.40 (22-14)

Ht 7: (re-run) Nilsson, Grajczonek, Compton (fell), Ellis (fell, excluded), 62.40 (25-16)

Ht 8: Lawson, Bridger, North, Milik (retired), 63.10 (30-17)

Ht 9: Newman, Morley, Compton (fell, excluded), Ellis (retired), awarded (32-20)

Ht 10: Janowski (tactical ride), Watt, Nilsson, Milik (retired), 61.50 (35-26)

League points: Lakeside Hammers 3 Poole Pirates 0.

Other results: Belle Vue 36 Coventry 56, Wolves 50 Leicester 42.