THERE’S been a bit of a silly season developing of late in the Elite League. It all seems to focus on the returning Darcy Ward whose 10-month alcohol ban ends on June 28.

Will he be part of the Poole squad for the remainder of the season? Will he be loaned out? Who knows?

While Pirates owner Matt Ford has tweeted that he could well be loaned out, there are cynics who suggest he will return to the Poole side which will retain 2012 world champion Chris Holder and his fellow GP rider 'Magic' Janowski. The latter two are certainly not riding to their title-winning 2014 form but presumably either Davy Watt or Dakota North would then become available and the latter is certainly very marketable.

Adding fuel to the fire is the social media suggestion that Hans Andersen (who has recently changed his Polish club) is unhappy at Coventry, perhaps because of the way the track is prepared. A total of 19 points from his last four matches contrasts somewhat to the 27 he scored for the Robins in two guest appearances.

Given there is a body of opinion that Swindon's currently sidelined Adrian Miedzinski may not come back to Britain following his injury, it is easy to see that there could be a rider change or two over the next few weeks.

It has been suggested that the Polish authorities could fine riders such as Miedzinski and his fellow countrymen should they be injured riding abroad. Indeed, he has indicated that his return will be gradual as he concentrates on getting race-fit for his Torun side.

He made his comeback on Sunday scoring six points from three rides, including a cleverly-taken win in heat three. Miedzinski nearly came off in his third race and was replaced in his last as a precaution.

The 2015 Grand Prix series resumed in Tampere, Finland on Saturday and Troy Batchelor got a win and two seconds on a very rutted and difficult temporary track. However, he failed to pick up anything from his fifth race and so did not qualify for the semi final.

The meeting was won by Dane Nicky Pedersen from Tai Woffinden and the latter leads the series by three points.

After the GP Batchelor and his mechanics had a 900-mile journey to ride at Ostrow in the Polish League where he scored 10+2.

FINNISH GRAND PRIX SCORES: 1, Nicki Pedersen 16; 2, Tai Woffinden 17; 3, Andreas Jonsson 12; 4, Jaroslaw Hampel 11; 5, Jason Doyle 11; 6, Krzysztof Kasprzak 10; 7, Michael Jepsen Jensen 10; 8, Greg Hancock 9; 9, Matej Zagar 7; 10, Troy Batchelor 7; 11, Chris Holder 7; 12, Chris Harris 6; 13, Niels-Kristian Iversen 6; 14, Tomas H Jonasson 4; 15, Timo Lahti 3; 16, Maciej Janowski 2; 17, Nike Lunna 0; 18, Jiri Nieminen 0.

OVERALL SERIES STANDINGS: 1, Tai Woffinden 22; 2, Nicki Pedersen 19; 3, Jaroslaw Hampel 18; 4, Andreas Jonsson 16; 5, Matej Zagar 15; 6, Jason Doyle 15; 7, Michael Jepsen Jensen 15; 8, Greg Hancock 14; 9, Krzysztof Kasprzak 13; 10, Niels-Kristian Iversen 13; 11, Chris Harris 13; 12, Tomas H Jonasson 8; 13, Chris Holder 7; 14, Troy Batchelor 7; 15, Maciej Janowski 5; 16 Tomasz Gollob 4; 17, Bartosz Zmarzlik 3; 18, Timo Lahti 3.

On Saturday the third round takes place in Prague, a circuit that has suited Woffinden in the past.

THE Swindon Robins were without any meetings last week but resume against the Leicester Lions on Thursday evening.

Leicester, with Swindon asset Jason Doyle at number one, have gone through a difficult spell of late with Dane Bjarne Pedersen – a long-time supporter of British racing – pulling out for personal reasons.

Other than Doyle, the side have little recent positive experiences at the Blunsdon circuit. So hopefully this will be a routine home victory.

However, Kyle Howarth sustained an injury to his left knee following a heat 13 fall in his Premier League match at Workington on Saturday causing him to miss Workington’s meeting at Rye House on Sunday.

Next Tuesday (May 26) the league-topping Coventry Bees visit the Abbey Stadium in a Sky Sports-televised fixture and lots of work is being done to make sure the pits, in particular, look the part.