Wackie

Some compelling arguments for Darcy on the petition. Barry Humphries - It's an Australians right to do his job while drunk! Power to the people I say, the FIM have got to sit up and take notice.

Pardon my lack of forum etiquette in my quoted reply Gustix. I'm afraid the tears of laughter obscured my vision of the keyboard. I wouldn't sign that petition either. But I'd love to be in the FIM offices when they receive it.

To be over the limit the following day though would suggest he was either on the way or rat arsed the Saturday night. Might have helped him to relax, but not the trait of a professional or serious sportsman.

Did we ever find out what the 'mitigating circumstances' for Ward having a few too many that night before the Latvian GP was? Or was that just another excuse to try to deflect the attention from another chapter of his biography "ooops, I did it again"

Not sure why you would link anyone for celebrating with a newly crowned world champ to their ability to do a job. Me thinks someone just wants to expose the fact they were at the monster party, but were maybe a wallflower, and didn't get asked to dance

Big whoosh there orion. Everyone knows that's Middlos job

Hmmm... Echo noun: a sound that you hear more than once because you are in a big, empty space Yeah, I reckon there's one or two of them on here!

All of the above norbold. I've seen the light. He looked sorry at the Poole D&D, if that's good enough for some who were there, that's good enough for me. Although Darcy has had a good bit of practice at perfecting his remorseful gaze in the past couple of years.

You're obsessed too! So, he's made a few mistakes in a short space of time. He's a bloody good rider and a crowd puller every where he goes (speedway circuits, pubs, hotels, courtrooms - they've all received extra exposure because of him). If they slap a long ban on him it'll be more than just speedway that suffers, but I can see Poole being in serious trouble, especially as Holder is rumoured to be joining Swindon. For the good of world peace, they should give him no more than a 6 month ban, which he will have served before the start of the 2015 season, and at least 9 GP wildcards, with points scored in the 3,6 and 9th all counting double.

Poor Darcy, how's he going to enjoy Christmas with this hanging over his head

He's not the Messiah, he's a very naughty boy!

Of course Monster will have an influence! Do you really expect anyone to think differently? Monster are headline sponsor, they'll want as much exposure as they can get for their money, which will including as many of their riders as they can get into the series. Wasn't Monster Joe out with Ward the night before his failed breath test? Could it be he feels a little responsible for encouraging, or not stopping Ward getting leathered the night before the GP? If Ward isn't banned, you can almost guarantee he'll get a wild card for 2015. Is it speedway people at the FIM who are appaulled? Mr Castagna perhaps who's relatively new to the FIM and it's workings? To be fair, it's quite possible that Ward or his advisors comments about the technicalities of how the test was carried out has probably delayed things. I would imagine the FIM are ensuring that they have a hydrated tight case before presenting their findings to the jury. It really would be egg on their face if after a public confession by Ward that he was to then get off on a technicality.ink Personally I think he'll get a 2 year ban with a year suspended, so he'll receive a fair-ish punishment but will still get the wild card for the Oz GP. Bit like taking a kids bag of sweets away, then giving him back his favourite one!

It'll probably make another 100 pages after the FIM hearing too. Ward certainly divides opinion

Better late than never I guess! Better late than never I guess! Did you not see the final SEC round last night? Plenty of young, gifted and exciting riders about at the moment, whilst the sport is enhanced by Ward, it certainly doesn't revolve around him. Thankfully the FIM jury won't be swayed by his talent and he'll be dealt with as any other competitor who has fallen foul of the FIM rules and regulations. I'd be very surprised if he didn't receive at least a 1 year ban, he didn't accidently take something that contained a banned substance, he knew the risk of drinking alcohol in some form of excess the night before a major FIM event, but did it anyway and got caught. As the saying goes, don't do the crime if you can't do the time. About time some people accepted that.

Fantastic track, great meeting and vintage Lindback too

That's great footage JL. Think we should insist on Nicki cam being on the red button during GP's!

Was that when we used to see Andy Smith in one GP and not the next and with that awful race format of two thirds or fourths and you're out?

I'm almost twice the age of Ward, and have made a couple of big mistakes in my time, yet I don't think I've made as many or as serious in my lifetime as he has in the past 2 years. All the guidance has supposedly been there. He's had a stable base in the UK for years - ok, maybe not the mentor we all thought would go with it. But, he's had the likes of Holder, who was petulant himself early in his speedway career, Hancock and Crump offering advice. If he's not going to listen and learn from them, what or who will make him take stock of things? I'm presuming that as all he's every really done in his adult life is be a speedway rider, being World Speedway Champion is the pinnacle he's always aimed for. Take that opportunity away for a year or two and he might learn, If he walks away from the sport, so be it. It obviously didn't mean as much to him as some think, or believe.

So are people saying that he's unlike to learn any lesson regarding the consequences of his stupidity so just give him a 6 month ban? I can see why there's a consensus of breath tests being compulsory for all competitors at FIM events (should be all meetings really) going forward, but from some of the comments/tweets I've seen from top riders, I don't think many would be best pleased if Ward got with this offence lightly. Dudek, maybe. His misdemeanor does seem to have been more naivety than anything else, but anyone with an ounce of common sense know that alcohol doesn't rid itself from your body as quickly as it absorbs. If the maximum penalty Ward gets is a 6 month ban, he'll be laughing! He'll miss out on the Aussie champs, won't get a chance to qualify for the GP series, could miss out until 2017, blah, blah, blah. If Monster are still involved as series sponsor, does anyone honestly think they won't have a sway in getting him a WC entry for 2015. I'm not anti Ward, I'm not a fan either, but you can't deny he's fantastic to watch and I appreciate his speedway talent, but those rails have been wobbling for a good few years now, and unless someone or something pulls the brake he's going to go careering on until his comes off big time. A 12, 18 or 24 month ban may see him turn his back on the sport, but it may also give him time to sort himself out and come back older (although still in his speedway prime) wiser and better. Surely either's a better outcome than seeing another Mike Lee or Kelly Moran materialise?

You keep mentioning the possibilities of correct procedure's not folowed in Daugavpils, I take it that since his mitigating circumstances didn't cut any ice, that Ward and his advisers next tact is to scrutinise every step of the way the tests were administered on him, and hope he can out of it on a technicality? Really???? Outside of his clique, I can't imagine he's have much respect left in the speedway world at the moment. He's supposedly a professional sportsman, and has already pretty much openly admitted to having a "few too many" the night before a major event for him. Career wise, i honestly think he should man up and take any punishment pending. If he receives a ban, use the time to get fit, get sorted and come back stronger and sober. If he get's off on a technicality, no matter what he goes on to achieve, he'll still have the stigma of being the p*ss head who got away with it.

He was found guilty, hence the fine and ban from riding in Latvia. It's not unusual for FIM to allow competitors to carry on competing for a while before handing out suspensions. With tests being carried out by different people at every SGP they probably want to dot the i's and cross the t's, as someone else said, to ensure their procedures have been followed correctly. Honestly, do people really think there's some big conspiracy going on because of who Darcy Ward is, or who he rides for? The FIM won't give a crap about Matt Ford, Poole Speedway or the GP series. Ward will be treated the same way as any other competitor who failed their anti-doping tests, but these cases aren't open and closed over night.

Thought that too. Maybe because the excuse mitigating circumstances Ward claimed to have weren't so mitigating after all, his landlord is trying to save face.

I think that did happen of sorts a few years back. A couple of Reading riders made complaints against another rider being in an unfit state to ride on more than one occasion, I think these concerns were raised "somewhere to someone" along the line by their promoter. Sure enough he was picked up as failing a random drugs test at a league meeting by the sports council along with a team mate! One held their hands up and got a 12 month ban, the other wanted his B sample tested and got 18 months. Both returned to the sport, and the rider who received the 12 month ban took revenge on one of the riders who had raised the issue originally on track - allegedly stating to his face something along the lines of "that's you sorted, your team mate is next!" Apparently the drug use by this particular rider was well known of within the sport, but only a couple of riders had the balls to speak up about it. Makes you wonder why things don't seem to have changed much in the sport. Getting on a bike next to someone you suspect of not being in full control of their faculties is surely akin to getting into a car with a drunk driver and letting them drive you home - you just wouldn't do it.