It's a shame Poole skipper Gary Havelock decided to come out with the attack on Cheetahs in The Sun over the weekend.

He claimed Oxford should not be using guests for the injured Lukas Dryml because he believed he was on an inflated average. He also reckoned that, because Cheetahs look like winning the Sky Sports Elite League this early in the season, it was bad for the sport.

And he added that the only reason Oxford are top is because they have had so few injuries and the best team won't have won the title. It's a joke, he declared, and, asked the BSPA to look into things.

It all sounds like sour grapes by the bucketful, and I wonder if he would be so outspoken if the roles were reversed.

Most speedway fans know that you have to have some luck along the way to win anything and that injuries are part and parcel in the sport.

You have riders competing in Poland, Sweden, Denmark and Germany and then fit the Elite League into their busy schedule, and the odds are stacked against them when it comes to on-track incidents.

OK, Oxford were fortunate that when Lukas Dryml got injured he was on an eight-point average, but they have chosen their guests and rider-replacements well thanks to the management duo of Colin Meredith and Richard Palmer, and deserve to be where they are - at the top.