MATT Ford last night launched a passionate defence of his Pirates regime after Poole had come in for a blistering attack from rivals King’s Lynn.

Wimborne Road chief Ford was responding to criticism from Stars promoter Keith Chapman and team manager Rob Lyon.

The King’s Lynn bosses lit the blue touch paper ahead of tonight’s Elite League showdown between the clubs in a row that centred on Pirates’ inclusion of Artur Mrockza as a guest for Adrian Miedzinski.

Lynn hit out at the Speedway Control Bureau (SCB) after claiming the body had overturned a decision by the British Speedway Promoters’ Association (BSPA), which would not have allowed Poole to use a guest facility for Miedzinski.

Stars insisted Pirates should not have been handed a facility for Miedzinski after both he and Poole had previously admitted that he was no longer available to ride in the UK.

But Ford confirmed the SCB had given Poole permission to use Mrockza – instead of the three-point replacements they had to track due to having a non-facility in their past two fixtures – as Miedzinski remains in their declared one-to-seven and is unavailable due to his commitments in the Grand Prix qualifiers. He is also set to ride for Pirates again next week.

Chapman said: “It is disappointing the SCB has not backed the BSPA on this but it seems they are happy to roll over and let Poole use a loophole in the rule-book to their advantage yet again!”

Lyon added: “Poole are ruthless in their quest for supremacy and seem to be prepared to go to any length to achieve success, so I suppose we will have to reluctantly accept the SCB’s decision and ride against a team which is already unbeaten this season and stronger than it should be on this occasion.”

When asked about Stars’ criticism, Ford told the Daily Echo: “We run our club the way that we deem fit.

“It is a successful club and often by being successful you leave yourself open for abuse or criticism.

“My sole objective in this matter is to do what is best for Poole Speedway and its sponsors and supporters. As long as I am here, that is all I will do.”

Ford added: “We don’t tell other clubs, who are perhaps running less successfully, how to run their businesses and perhaps people should also allow us to run ours the way we deem fit.”

Ford also claimed Pirates had been prepared to switch the fixture to Wednesday – even though that would have left them with no facility for Miedzinski.

The BSPA, via its press office, politely declined to comment, while the SCB said there was nobody available to comment and that the situation was still being dealt with.