IN ALL my 16 years racing, I have never known the start of a Speedway season to be so strange.

We are heading into the middle of May, nearly three months of the campaign completed, and the Pirates have only just had their third home league match.

Apart from rain-offs at home against Ipswich and at Belle Vue, we have had our full quota of scheduled fixtures.

But while other Elite League clubs have been rattling off matches, we have been forced to sit out and watch the excitement on teletext page 449!

And then, of course, we had last night's proposed match at Peterborough without three of our regular riders. Tony Rickardsson - Mr Inspirational for the Pirates so far this term - starts his defence of his World crown tonight in Norway while our two young Danes, Bjarne Pedersen and Hans Andersen, are both competing in a 2003 Grand Prix World Champion-ship quarter-final tomorrow.

So when we finally got a match of true meaning, half the team were not there.

Like I say, it's been a strange season so far.

Whoever was responsible for compiling our fixtures obviously was aware that Poole would be playing catch-up throughout the 2002 season.

Hence, Pirates are scratching about at the bottom of the league with King's Lynn and Belle Vue.

It has also placed the side into a completely false position. In our three league matches at Wimborne Road we have comprehensively dispatched Peterborough and Belle Vue. And let's not forget Coventry either, who won at Eastbourne by a point.

We have also beaten the Eagles at home - albeit a challenge - and drawn with the Elite League's early pacesetters Wolves in the cup and would have won that but for mechanical gremlins to Bjarne and Marius (Staszewski).

So while our form on the road has been patchy - with two new Polish riders sampling tracks for the first time and the loss of Greg (Walasek) through injury - the bigger picture is that you write Poole off at your peril. Remember, this year's Elite League title will be decided in a play-off system.

So while the likes of Wolves and Eastbourne are loading up league points home and away, our priority is getting into the top five and peaking in those play-off matches later in the season when it really matters.

I have been overwhelmed by the incredible support I have received for my full throttle campaign to make it mandatory for ALL British speedway tracks to be fitted with air fences.

British Speedway Promoters' Association president Terry Rus-sell recently revealed in the sport's trade magazine that "financial realities facing speedway clubs" make it impossible for every track to have an air fence.

I have on good authority that it isn't that expensive to rent an air fence for one race night a week and that would make all the difference.

But it seems the sport cannot AFFORD to protect riders further.

Well, as far as I'm concerned, we can't AFFORD to keep having these serious injuries.

Something has to be done. Now.

(Note: Havvy penned his column before Friday night's meeting at Peterborough)