Ghostwalker

I agree that there should be a difference between performance enhancing substances and stronger substance like alcohol. The difference is that the former is "just" cheating while the latter is blatantly (and possible lethally) dangerous. So the latter should therefore obviously result in a stronger punishment/penalty. Since the offence happened before January 1st 2015 the maximum suspension for a first time offence is 2 years. For offences after January 1st 2015 the maximum suspension is 4 years for a first time offence.

Sebastien Aldén have retired for the second time in one year. He says that he cannot get his budget together This means that the teams he intended to ride for in 2015, Smederna and Valsarna now have to replace him with another rider. However Smederna have decided not to bring in a new rider at the moment. I don't know how Valsarna will act. http://www1.idrottonline.se/SmedernaSpeedwayforening-MotorcykelochSnoskoter/Nyheter/Nyhetsarkiv/IngenAldeniIkarosSmederna2015/

Lets take an example. My team is Ikaros Smederna and here are their website social media profiles: http://www1.idrottonline.se/SmedernaSpeedwayforening-MotorcykelochSnoskoter/ (this webhosting is for sports clubs of sports that are members of RF, other speedway clubs use other commercial hosts) https://www.facebook.com/Ikaros.Smederna https://twitter.com/IkarosSmederna http://instagram.com/ikaros_smederna Quite an extensive "digital profile" how much do you this cost Smederna annually? The truth is that it doesn't cost them anything. The website/social media staff consists of 6 persons but they all are volunteers (like most of the people who works the club). So it doesn't have to cost a fortune to maintain social media profiles. All clubs have their own websites/hosting and social media policies there is no central website hosting/policies.

Best gater: Jarek Hampel Best racer: Jason Crump Best team rider: Leigh Adams

A short video about Posa: http://www.svtplay.se/video/2590761/stopptid/posa-mannen-som-inte-kan-sluta

I doubt that since they I doubt they would have suspended him if they didn't have proof. Also compare this to cases Dudek and James Stewart, both could explain how the forbidden substance had gotten into their system, while Darcy does not have anything to blame. Well neither club are/were forced to sign him and his Swedish team took a gamble and signed him anyway despite that they didn't know if Darcy would be available for 2015. So if Darcy is unavailable for them this season, they only have themselves to blame.

Rospiggarna have declined to host a round of SEC, they say that they want to focus on the Swedish championship weekend which they host just two weeks prior to SEC round 3. http://norrteljetidning.se/sport/1.2789974-rospiggarna-tackar-nej-till-att-arrangera-em-deltavling

FIM uses Wada's list and you can find it here; https://wada-main-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/resources/files/wada-2015-prohibited-list-en.pdf Some substances, like alcohol, is only banned during competition for some sports (mainly different type of motorsports).

A link to confirm it: http://www.rospiggarna.nu/vm-kval-isracing-i-hallstavik-flyttat/ An article about it: http://norrteljetidning.se/sport/1.2788166-vadret-besegrade-rospiggarna

The weather have been quite warm the past week. For the nearest 10 days the temperature is expected to be both above and below zero. According to the article linked below substantial subzero temperatures is required for the ice to build/freeze fast enough. They say that they expect to know pretty good in the upcoming weekend if it looks doable or not. http://norrteljetidning.se/sport/1.2778751-vm-kvalet-i-isracing-flyttas-fram

I read about another doping case, a MX rider who got caught with amfetamine during a competition in April, he had his hearing in October which was 6 months from April. I don't know why it took so long, perhaps it could be due lack of availability of the members of FIMs International Disciplinary Court? Amfetamine like alcohol is In-Competition forbidden only so I guess that this case and Darcy's case are similar in several ways. It also seems that the MX rider was a quite a big star being a multiple world super cross champions. It also implies that FIM did not take any consideration to his "star level" and subsequently suspended the MX rider for 16 months. The difference between the MX case and Darcy's case seems to be that the MX rider, just like Dudek, could give a reasonable explanation (aka excuse) to why he had amfetamine in his system while Darcy have nothing to blame.

The host of round 3 still have not been announced.

Ostrow Wielkopolski! will host the final round of SEC 2015. http://www.speedwayeuro.com/news/n/440/sec-final-in-ostrow-wielkopolski-.html

I think there is a decent chance that the ice racing event in Hallstavik will be able to go ahead, judging by current weather forecast. Of the next 10 days, only one day is forecasted to have temperatures above zero degrees Celsius. If the forecasts will be correct I think that they will be able to hold the qualifier at Hallstavik. http://www.smhi.se/vadret#ort=2708426,Hallstavik,Norrt%C3%A4lje,Sverige,60.05/18.6;flik=0

Confirmed with link: http://www.thjracing.se/okategoriserade/ny-klubb-i-polen/

Let's go Munkebo!

Kildemand have signed with a club but he/they won't announce it yet. https://twitter.com/peterkildemand/status/545605763956498432

The last four seasons have ended with a monster sponsored rider as a world champion and I think that 2015 won't be any different. So either of Tai, Greg, or Chris Holder is my guess.

I think the same as Patryk Dudek got would be a minimum and maximum would 24 months. That is 12 month suspension from all speedway plus another 12 months from international events. However there are a few differences between this cases: 1. Dudek claims that he got the forbidden substance into his system by mistake (which at least theoretically could be true). Darcy on the other hand consumed the forbidden substance on purpose and he also went to the pub/bar/nightclub with the intention of consuming alcoholic beverages. Especially since he should have realized that drinking so much alcohol the evening/night before a meeting would set him over the limit. 2. Dudek's substance can at least in theory make him a slightly better rider. Alcohol does not make Darcy a better rider (quite the opposite) but it could make him a very dangerous rider the negative effects of being under the influence of alcohol when driving a motor vehicle is well know. So the latter should by any logic by punished harder then the former since causing danger to others is worse then "just" cheating.

No unless there is an unexpected major weather change the nearest week to much colder weather, there is no chance that the competition will be able to go ahead. The weather forecast for the next 10 days says mostly temperatures above 0 with both rain and sun. http://www.smhi.se/vadret/vadret-i-sverige/land/hourByHourTable.do?endtime=2014-12-23+22%3A59%3A00&starttime=2014-12-14+16%3A00%3A00&geonameid=2708426

Rospiggarna will have a team event tonight with 500cc bikes on their 80cc track, http://www.rospiggarna.nu/ Live updates are promised to be posted on twitter: @Rospiggarna

Speedway Best Pairs 2015 (Official Trailer) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JZRG_qIPD0

The Australian GP is irrelevant in this case and no consideration should be taken to it. All that matters is the rules that he broke and that he should get a punishment that does not take any consideration to who he is. He might be one of the most talented riders ever but in the end that does matter either because you cannot have different rules for different riders. This is also why this in not about Darcy Ward but about a speedway rider who got caught being over the allowed alcohol limit during a competition. It does not matter if that rider is a hight profile GP-star or a PL-rider most people never heard of. The rules has to be the same for both, the punishment also has to be the same for both, You cannot start make up your own rules that this or that rider should get a "special treatment" just because he is GP-star or because he is "needed" to bring some extra spectators to a GP. If you start having (although BSI have already started) different rules for different riders then you are on a very thin ice.

It just as well be the opposite, if they intended to let him off with a few months they would have just handed him a short ban already instead of dragging this out for about 5 moths.

Rospiggarna seems to have been offered to host a round of SEC: http://norrteljetidning.se/sport/1.2754694-nt-avslojar-rospiggarna-kan-fa-arrangera-em-tavling-2015 Not really my favourite track, too small and circular.