PIRATES’ disappointing season took another unexpected twist when they lodged an official protest against Kevin Doolan lining up for Belle Vue last night.

The Aussie rider has been snapped up as the Aces’ new number eight in place of Josh Grajczonek and he was due to make his debut in their Elite League Knockout Cup home tie against Poole Castle Cover.

But the bottom-of-the-table Dorset club lodged a protest with referee Jim Lawrence before the start of the meeting and handed over a £250 fee.

They believe Doolan, who began the season with a 10.32 average for Workington, was ineligible to ride for Belle Vue after claiming his Premier League average is too high.

Ironically, the quarter-final first leg tie did not go ahead in the end.

It was called off at 8pm, 30 minutes after the scheduled start time, after heavy rain saturated the track.

So Doolan, who was going to replace injured Billy Forsberg at reserve, was unable to make his Aces debut, anyway.

Pirates team manager Neil Middleditch said: “After I had a conversation with our promoter Matt Ford, we lodged an official protest about Kevin Doolan’s eligibility to ride for Belle Vue.

“As far as we’re aware, the ref asked a reserve promoter on the BSPA (British Speedway Promoters’ Association) management committee about the situation and he advised the ref to accept our £250 protest fee and go ahead with the meeting.

“So we decided to ride under protest even though we feel Doolan’s inclusion was contrary to rule 17.4.5.

“Doolan finished on a 10-plus average in the Premier League last year when according to that rule he should be on nine or less to be eligible to ride as number eight for Belle Vue.”

Belle Vue co-promoter David Gordon said: “Poole have made a protest, but we have got an approved declaration from the BSPA that Doolan is in the team.

“Our team is clearly in the spirit of the rules and we strongly believe there is no reason why we couldn’t or shouldn’t use this team.

“He would have ridden in the match.”

The BSPA’s management committee will now have to make a decision on Doolan’s eligibility.

If last night’s meeting had gone ahead, and if Poole’s protest was held up by the authorities at a later date, it would probably have meant Doolan’s points being deducted and the final score being adjusted to take that into account.

Pirates won’t be too disappointed with the cancellation as they would have had to ride without injured Chris Holder, who is nursing a broken collarbone.

Middleditch said: “Hopefully we’ll have Chris back for when we are at Belle Vue in the cup again so we can be at full strength.

“Chris is doing well and he could return for us at home to Lakeside on Wednesday.

“He’ll have a late fitness test after saying he feels a lot better.”

Middleditch added: “It was the right decision to call the meeting off. It’s just unfortunate the rain stopped 30 minutes too late.

“There was a lot of standing water and they would have caused more damage getting it right.

“Speedway is a dangerous sport as it is, and we certainly don’t want any more injuries.”