BUCCANEERS rider Luke Priest claimed he had “nowhere to go” after clattering into Newport’s Sam Hurst during a controversial National League cup-tie in Wales yesterday.

But the Bournemouth Castle Cover heat leader said he didn’t bring the Hornets man down on purpose before Hurst was thrown out of the meeting for allegedly aiming a punch at Priest.

Hurst denied the allegation, claiming he had only pushed Priest following the crash on the third bend of the first lap in heat three.

But referee Dave Watters still fined Hurst £300 for ungentlemanly conduct as Buccaneers romped to a 59-31 success at Hayley Stadium.

Watters confirmed he had also fined Priest £300 for his “father’s behaviour” in the aftermath of the on-track incident when an unsavoury skirmish took place in the pits area between members of both camps.

The Coventry-based official also fined Newport’s joint team manager Laurence Rogers £600 for alleged abuse of the referee, and their other boss Kevin Brown £100 for their protests at the ref’s decision to exclude Hurst from the rest of the meeting.

Priest said: “We were racing down the straight. He (Hurst) was in front of me and I had the inside line.

“He just shut off totally. It’s speedway, not slow way. You have to race into turns and he didn’t.

“I had nowhere to go. It was either the centre green, or into him, which I didn’t want to do.

“It was 50-50 whether I should have been excluded or him. It could have gone either way.

“But I wasn’t overly surprised. It was expected, but it could have gone either way.”

A clearly angry Hurst waited on the track at the scene of the collision for Priest to come round on his bike after the race had been stopped, and the pair exchanged words.

Talking about their conversation, Priest said: “He asked me what was going on and I said ‘You don’t slow in front of people.’ “Obviously he didn’t like that and his actions afterwards got him into a lot of trouble with the referee chucking him out of the meeting.”

Hurst said: “I think he (Priest) came in far too early when I was trying to go into the bend.

“He just rode straight into the side of me. It was a silly move but at the end of the day it happens.

“I did not punch him. I said ‘come on, what was that?’ He just said ‘you went in too slow’ and I just pushed him in the head.’”

Hurst added: “I don’t agree with the ref fining me because these things happen in speedway, and people can’t always keep calm all the time.

“I didn’t lose my rag. I was quite cool. As far as I was concerned, I was putting my point across.

“What the ref did was completely out of order. I got fined more money than I can earn in speedway in a month.

“How can a ref expect you to pay £300 when National League riders are paying to race speedway?”

Watters will send a report of the unsavoury incidents to the Speedway Control Bureau who could look into the events further.

See a full report of the meeting and heat details under Pirates match reports.