HenryW

Isn't that pretty much where things started? EL teams had the option of using one or two positions in their team for "double up" riders...They "signed" 2 riders who were PL riders to cover a position and used the one that was available. In most cases there was one rider who was far better than the other so the EL team used them every meeting that they could and rarely used the other....so then they decided that they didn't need the two riders and they would just use a guest when the PL rider wasn't available...and then we drifted into the current situation. So really you are asking how we get back to where we started from...

Todd Wiltshire managed it and he had the extra complication of being away due to serious injury.

Dudek's ban is from the PZM as it was a domestic meeting in Poland that he was tested at. Their rules allow for this reduction of ban length under certain circumstances so he would be crazy not to apply for it. I have no idea whether WADA have any input into PZM sentencing decisions.

Stefan Danno only received an 8 month ban. He failed the test in late September and was free to be racing again in June 2001. Edit- got my dates wrong first time!

You have to wonder why the full list isn't on the BSPA site...

Being pedantic, I think that Dariusz raced in the British League Division 2 and SCB asked about Poles in the premier league

Any Australian (or anyone from Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Korea and Taiwan) aged 18-30 can get a UK visa to work in a call centre or bum around farm to farm picking fruits with absolutely no problem. The tier 5 youth mobility visa covers this type of work but doesn't cover professional sports. He entered Australia in 1996, so not exactly relevant to current immigration laws, but he also entered as political refugee from Iran which is slightly different to seeking a work visa. As it turned out, Australia didn't do a good job of checking his eligibility for refugee status as he seems to have been a common criminal rather than a genuine political refugee. None of those listed are man for man better than a rider under threat? I would suggest that Andre Compton, Ben Wilson, James Wright and Adam Ellis are all as good or better than Matt Wethers and Mason Campton, the only ones that have been confirmed as having problems so far...

It's surely not a coincidence that Greg's late career revival came with the introduction of the terrible silencers which changed so much in the way the bikes handled.

The OED site suggests that you should use "a hotel" but "an hotel" was the correct form in the 18th and 19th century....Are you much older than you are letting on?

His choice of location, a prominent statue on the town square, probably wasn't the most sensible if he didn't want seen

THIS. This is what needs to happen. If you come in on a 7 average you should not be allowed to drop below that. A young Brit coming in on a 3 average doesn't get to drop below his assessed average, why should anyone else? I wouldn't allow the drop in average first year. I might, however, allow someone to start dropping average after 10 years of service or something like that... If someone still wants to sign Max Dilger or Rafal Konopka on a 7 they are welcome to do so but they have to take that hit to the team average.

The Aussies shot themselves in the foot as it turns out. Campton was the 3rd highest NSW rider in the New South Wales state final but out of state riders finished above him leading to his permit refusal...Oops!

Didn't he have a little problem with public urination after some celebratory drinks following one of Toruns meetings during that period?

Matty Wethers as well according to Workington's latest press release.

There are 2 US National Championships listed for 2014. One a series and the other a one of meeting. Not sure which one counts but Manzares was 12th in one and didn't contest the other. He also didn't make the top 4 of the California State Championship. He may not have raced in that either. However, if top 4 in a state title is what is required he could maybe be replaced by Adam Mittl, Dave Clark, Jesse Diem or Jerry Harman who were top 4 in the New York state title

The decent ones, those that are actually deserving of a visa, probably wouldn't be able to be replaced at least not without excessive costs...There just aren't the riders available and interested in racing over here. If there was a large delay I would expect facilities (guest/rider replacement) to be granted to teams due to the exceptional circumstances and that would actually help to prove that these riders were genuinely required in the leagues. As you are implying, anyone who can easily be replaced by a rider who doesn't require a work permit probably shouldn't be eligible for a work permit in the first place, and there are probably a few on the list of riders currently signed that might fit that category.

And yet the suggested rule would do nothing to fix this...After all that presentation, as long as the rider was still on his bike doing his gardening then he is safe, he is apparently only causing a problem if he is off his bike, which makes no sense. Do as the SGP does and get a clock out to show the 2 minutes...The riders can then take a look and know how long they can do their gardening for and can work out whether they have time to get off their bike to do it or not....The stadium announcer knows exactly how long he has to talk about each rider to build up the tension and the person in charge of the music also knows exactly how long they have to get their mood making music playing... Essentially, everything fits much better for presentation if there is a fixed and easily viewed time limit before a race is ready to start...Whether a rider gets off his bike during that time or not is utterly irrelevant.

Yes, this is exactly the same petition that gustix has been talking about. The creator of the facebook group that he has been so closely following and informing us about has linked to this petition, there isn't a different one on facebook. I have to admit that I have also been witness to riders drinking the night before they have raced on many occasions. Whether they were still over the regulated limit when their meeting started the next day I have no way of knowing... Whilst drinking the night before a meeting probably isn't the most professional approach, I have always just assumed that they knew the limit to keep themselves inside the rules and if they wanted to be something less than totally professional then that was their business. Let's not forget that Darcy himself was tested in Poland the day after the British GP last year as there were suggestions that he had been pished the night before and he passed the test fine... There are a lot of people on this thread that seem to be getting wound up about riders drinking the night before a meeting...I have no issue with a rider that drinks the night before a meeting as long as they are under the regulated limit when it comes time to take to the track. Any perceived lack of professionalism is between them and the team they are representing. As far as I can work out, the most sensible approach would be to make it compulsory for every rider to have to pass a breath test before every meeting that they are in...If it's enforced at every meeting you don't need to make it a big punishment for failure. Currently the potential big punishments are all about making an example of those that are caught because the testing isn't complete and that's fine for drug testing where it's relatively expensive to test at every event and the results aren't available immediately. Alcohol testing is cheap and easy. If you tested everyone before every meeting then a failed test would just lead to exclusion from that meeting...Missing that meeting would then be punishment enough.

Wow...So only about 350 of the 4,671 on that group actually signed the petition...That says a lot.

I'd be interested in the answer to this as well but it looks like you aren't getting an answer

I'm utterly bemused by the "gardening" rule change. Just what exactly is this supposed to achieve? It solves absolutely nothing. As screamer said earlier it would have been far better to follow the example of the gp series and use a 2 minute clock with all riders requiring to be ready to race when this expires.

To be fair, if he marginally failed the test then technicalities such as the calibration of the testing equipment are pretty damned important. Some people have mentioned that the other 2 riders tested passed OK, but they were probably providing zero readings. If there is a question around the calibration of the testing equipment it casts doubt on the accuracy when dealing with low positive numbers. Darcy has admitted that he had some drinks the night before, which I am not condoning, but if the results were marginal then it's entirely reasonable that he and his lawyers question the quality of the testing equipment. A difference of 0.01 in his reading could have been the difference between him becoming World Champion in 2014 and him sitting out the end of the 2014 and the whole of the 2015 SGP seasons.

The FIM only rule over motorcycle sports. It was the FIA that hammered McLaren.

Stewart was using Adderall and his defence was that this use was to treat his ADHD. After the failed test he applied for and received an exemption that said he was allowed to take the drug and still race. However, as he hadn't applied for this exemption before being tested he was given the ban regardless as he failed to follow the correct procedures.

Whilst I agree with most of what you said, this last statement is a little more difficult to be so clear on. I like the play-offs but the impact on crowds overall is quite difficult to judge. For some teams at the top, meetings that would previously have been critical for the title chase become meaningless little fillers whilst they wait for the play-offs to start. Having said that, the fact that teams lower down the league continue to have something to race for late into the season probably more than makes up for this but as I say, it's hard to judge the overall impact on attendance across the entire league season.