Chris Brown

With you 100% on the last bit, having said that Middleditch would have been better keeping his mouth shut because he has consistently whined that he should be let off. He was a rider, wonder what he would have thought if this was one of his opponents ? He may not have condoned it but he has made endless excuses for him from Day 1 when he claimed it was because he had some bad news. All the way through he has made an arse of himself

Let us not forget that only one thing has brought all this stress on poor little Darcy............................the fact that was drinking alcohol the day before a GP. Now we hear about dodgy tests etc, but NOTHING escapes the fact that he has admitted to drinking the day before and for that and for that alone for me he deserves massive punishment and so far its been 2 months based on the fact that there is no speedway from October to March (and he never rides in Aussie) Middleditch has continued to make himself look a complete tool in all this to be honest and has done Ward no favours IMO Simple message to Ward though, had you not been drinking the day before there would be no issue Stop blaming everyone else I can certainly vouch for the fact that one of his team mates couldn't stand up the night before a major individual meeting a few years ago. Maybe its systemic thing. Personally I would like to see testing of every rider, having seen one good mate paralysed and another nearly killed on track (neither related to alcohol I must add) then that reminds you how dangerous this sport is and how ANY alcohol in the blood has no part in such a dangerous sport Just my view

Lets not praise him too much for going a whole 18 months without a run in with the law. Most of us manage to go our entire lives without getting any incidents

If he is guilty then I am sorry but he has nowhere near paid his dues, he has missed a couple of months of racing and for what he is alleged to have done and then gone out on track 2 months does not scratch the surface sadly Lets just hope whatever the outcome he learns from it. The first thing he can learn is to get the hell away from Middleditch because he is doing himself and Ward no favours

The voice of reason who makes the point I really cannot understand why people are not grasping How about a slogan such as "Don't drink and ride".......................or for the Darcy supporters, "Its OK to drink and ride as long as you can get off on a technicality"

Surely it must have been because no sane adult could possibly think that given he turned up at a speedway meeting with alcohol in his body above the limit that he should just be allowed to get off because he's good at speedway...........................oh apart from Middleditch and he is proving himself to be plain silly with his comments

perish the thought that if he had not drunk ANY alcohol the day before a GP then it would not matter about calibration of the machine Geez the point is being horrendously missed here

But as long you are only a little bit over the limit its sort of OK according to Middleditch. A drunk driver killed my sons mate at 18 when they were out in the village, good news is that he was only a little bit over the limit but didn't stop him killing an innocent 18 year old. But according to Middleditch he should be treated more leniantly than if he had killed him when way over the limit. Heaven forbid if Middleditch had a child killed by someone just over the limit, would he really think the same ? Brilliant, with logic like that he could be a high court judge And Starman, I do not have an issue with Middleditch but have a massive issue with the ridiculous statements that I highlighted and if you were honest with yourself so would you As for any comments about drunk, I agree that is clearly not correct but in terms of the crime its also completely irrelevant. Drunk or 0.01 mg over any limit is 100% and completely the same in this case. Arguing and trying to get him of on a technicality is pathetic, take you punishment, learn from it nad come back a better person. Instead he will do anything to get off and continue to be on the edge of the law for time to come

I really think the last thing Middleditch needs is thanks, some of this recent quotes are frankly embarrassing "it wasn't drugs and it wasn't and it wasn't performance enhancing. If anything it would be debilitating to his performance" "was he just over or way over ? They need to take that into account" "he'll be riding at the start of the season, which is what everybody is hoping for" "they've ruined two year of his career" "he has 3 mechanics sitting around wondering if they are going to have a job" Sorry but some of this is shocking, its alcohol in a dangerous sport Middleditch you fool, it does not matter one jot whether he was just over or couldn't walk. Just the same as when you drive a car. The drugs v alcohol comparison is also a disgrace Does 'everybody' really want him riding at the start of the season ? I don't, I want him punished if he is guilty Lets not forget that its Darcy Ward who turned up over the alcohol limit, the position he is in has been 99% caused by Darcy Ward and the reason 3 mechanics are sweating over their jobs is that their boss can't control himself And to be honest with crap like this being spouted by the bloke who supposedly looks out for him its hardly surprising. The FIM have not helped but let us not lose sight of why there is a problem As for the fact that these frankly appalling quotes were even given column inches by the Speedway Star..................well I am surprised and disappointed Still the bloke is clearly a car crash and he has learned nothing from previous scrapes so if he worms his out of this one on a technicality then its only a matter of time before the next one Complete waste of a huge talent and being let down by those around him IMO

Its without doubt one of the success stories of fans all agreeing on something. I recall I used to phone Ernie Hancock's results line many years ago and Leon Hill and Rod Leverton led the way with live results in the 90's I think. Leon covering Oxford and Rod and Vic doing pretty much the rest of the country on their own Its just great the way its developed and is without doubt an invaluable service with many people spending their own time and money in texts to keep us up to date

What a wonderful thought !

There is of course the rivalry but Josef Franc was there and has been every year pretty much

Oh please let's not even contemplate that he will be charged with a lesser offence because he was caught. For me that is completely irrelevant and lets hope 'commercial considerations' are not at play here. Its like me walking out of the pub pissed up but being breathalysed before I get in my car and that making it OK because I didn't actually drive But you know my view, the people running this circus couldn't give two hoots about the sport and the impact of allowing a bloke who was planning to ride while breaking rules concerning alcohol. As long as they make money they could give a toss about the sport Lets hope they prove me wrong because this should NOT be about commercial considerations but Philip's comments suggest the clowns are looking for a way around this

Yep, and the text clearly says subject to ratification from the BSPA.

But he is not a Co Promoter. There is a key passaqe of words in the website article that was quoted which I understand means he is not Bit unfair on Neil isn't it ? Its not really for him to answer on behalf of either the current or former promoter. All he can give is his opinion

Probably a far more beneficial 11 points than he could have got at Peterborough

Now I genuinely know nothing but he has scored an absolutely hatful of points in the last 2 weeks so It does make you wonder if there is any chance of seeing the money Its very sad to this all going on at Peterborough which is a great club Also sad to see Ales finish, my last chance to see a Dryml ride will be in Pardubice in a few weeks which will bring to a close a brilliant 17 years of association with them

I totally disagree with this, I think had Poole sacked him it would have sent a huge message that British Speedway will not tolerate this sort of breach of the rule and I for one would have been leading the charge in praising the Poole management had they done that. Instead they have come out with firstly an angle which said he was going through a tough time, then one saying they hoped he was let off and not he is suspended they finally come out and say the right thing but then try to somehow blame the FIM for acting too slowly Poole had this issue in their control, had they acted swiftly and sacked him on Saturday night then they would have had 2 weeks to sort it As for looking silly, well if you are going to do whatever the FIM say then you would but if you grew the balls to take control of the situation yourself then you wouldn't. Had no suspension been in place then personally I believe Poole would look more stupid than even I thought them capable of by condoning a rider drinking alcohol and putting at risk not only the other 6 Poole riders but every other rider who would have been unfortunate enough to be in the same race. Whether you like it or not, he cannot be trusted and will have to earn that back A missed opportunity for Poole so change a lot of perceptions

Blimey, that is a bit different from what he said at the time. Well said anyway, just a shame the first reaction was to defend him because of having bad news the day before As I said previously, they have had 2 weeks to replace him because they should have got rid of him anyway

Bit dramatic isn't it. British Speedway is finished because the FIM took 2 weeks to ban a rider who was happy to ride with alcohol in his blood. I think British Speedway has survived bigger crises than this !!! I suspect despite all the Poole hierarchies desire for him to get off they didn't for one minute think he would and therefore would have a plan. You can blame the incompetence of the BSPA for many things in speedway but for once they are squeeky clean here. If the rider in question had been then there would not be a problem to solve. Don't let anything detract away from who is the only person at fault here Be nice to have seen Poole act decisively and drop him anyway irrespective of whether he was banned or not. That would actually have been the right to do for the sport..........................bugger all chance of that though because all they wanted was to see it swept under the carpet

Course he will, I am sure we will see a spineless fine which he will have earned in the last week anyway and told for the 17th time to clean up his act For the authorities to really deal out a meaningful punishment which sent a real message of intent this needed to be someone nearer the bottom end of the scale in terms of the riders. Had this been a lesser rider in say the World U21 or maybe one of the Latvian team at the SWC then the book would have been thrown at him. As its one of the top riders I fully expect it to be swept under the carpet Maybe his clubs should take a stand.....................................OK, now I being silly

Ford says this in the same week that he has accused other promoters of only considering their own self interests when talking about the use of squads The man is a hypocrite and I guess we should thank him for making sure we can all see it for ourselves. Even his South Coast disciples cannot defend him on this one

Can't disagree with this ion any way. I think the important word is again. He should of course be judged for this offence on its own but someone in the sport or his family needs to take control here because you cannot help to think he needs help. Clearly those close to him now should give up as they are simply not getting through, maybe the authorities can help him by taking him out of the spotlight. We should not forget that he is an overseas rider who needs a work permit to ply his trade in the UK, accepting this particular incident occurred in Latvia, should he not be a sportsman would he be continually allowed to reside in the UK with a working permit. Australia are very strict on who is allowed in and maybe we need to help him in some way, not sure if denying a work permit here would help as no doubt the rest of Europe would continue to let him ride but something needs to be done to help as well as punish him Understand the sentiment of the Best comparison but Best was not putting other peoples life at risk after having a drink Not sure of the answer but lets be honest do any of us really believe we will not see Darcy Ward involved in some sort of scrape again sooner rather than later ?

I agree that this should be judged on this incident alone To be honest you don't need any other incident to come to an obvious conclusion that he needs to be taken out of the sport. Motorcycle racing is extremely dangerous and this is the most competitive racing in speedway as this level, riders have to have complete and utter trust in each other when racing. Now I could not care two hoots how far over whatever limit there is he might be but the one thing he has shown is a total disregard for the other riders and I wonder if ever again they can trust him. Harsh maybe but as a rider I would be very concerned So this incident is enough in its own, if I was to be stopped and breathalised on the rode it would not matter how much over a limit I might be, the ban would be warranted. Having seen my sons mate killed by a driver over the drink and drugs limit I struggle to find a morsel of sympathy to be honest. I sympathise with any bad news he may have had but lets be honest it doesn't really come as a surprise does it ? And Middleditch, well what a great job he is doing to keep him on track. I really think the best thing for him to have said today was nothing because he has not come out of this covered in glory Whatever ban he gets needs to be a 'in season' ban, a 6 month ban now is in reality only 2 months as they season would be over. Personally chuck him out of the GP series for this year and stop him getting a wildcard for next. Maybe he should realise that there is a hard way to get into the GP series Somehow he has to learn and the way it is at the moment he appears to be learning little

As usual the speedway press defend the backside off BSI These people have been destroying the sport for years in my opinion, they could not give two hoots about the supporters yet those who pay naff all to go continually defend them. And they wonder by the sport is dying on its arse