SPEEDWAY wild man Michael Lee has urged Darcy Ward to ignore Pirates legend Malcolm Simmons and stay hard on the throttle.

Ward has wowed the Wimborne Road crowds with some sensational, daredevil racing this year as Pirates romped to the Elite League title.

The young Aussie, though, was urged to tread carefully by Simmons ahead of the club’s grand final showdown against Eastbourne earlier this month.

But ‘Mike the Bike’, who starred for Pirates in 1983 and 1984, insisted the 19-year-old Queenslander should not tone down his daredevil style.

Lee told the Echo: “That’s what makes Darcy what he is. I wouldn’t change him one little bit because he is tremendous.

“He pulls off moves that others can’t do. People like Simmo can say he is wild but you have to be wild to succeed in this sport. Look at all the top boys – probably the only one who isn’t that wild is Greg Hancock but that is because of his experience.

“Even Greg, though, pulled off some crazy moves in the Grand Prix this year. I remember one where he went round the outside of two riders on the first bend and there wasn’t a gap.

“Most would have shut off, but Greg got away with it. Darcy does that more often than most, it’s true, but that is his style and that is what makes him who he is. He has taken a few knocks this year, but that is part of speedway.

“I wouldn’t change a thing with him. I can see where Simmo is coming from to an extent because it’s a dangerous game, but you have to put your nose in gaps that aren’t there and that is what Darcy does.

“He is a big enough lad to deal with it. He is solid.”

Controversial Lee, who was banned from racing in 1984 after allegedly riding the wrong way round the track at King’s Lynn, stormed to world title glory in 1980.

The 52-year-old, meanwhile, attempted a comeback in 1991 but broke his back while practising at Poole and was forced to quit.

Lee is as infamous for his various off-track misdemeanours as he is for his incredible talent on a motorbike, but admits he can see much of his own racing style in Ward.

Lee, who served a jail term for drugs offences and hit the headlines after an apparent 130-mph police chase down the M1 at the wheel of a Porsche, added: “I can see things in Darcy that I had when I was riding.

“I was no different in that I didn’t care where the gap was either – I would just go for it whether it was two inches off the fence or one wheel up the grass.

“Darcy reads conditions well and he is always the first person to go for something and then everyone else cottons on. He is adventurous.”