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FITNESS WORRY: Jonas Davidsson

LAKESIDE boss Jon Cook isn't giving a 100 per cent guarantee - but he expects injury doubt Jonas Davidsson to line up against Pirates in the Elite League play-off final.

Hammers, however, will definitely go into the crunch two-legged showdown without injured Lubos Tomicek.

Cook came under heavy fire for not using those two riders in Lakeside's semi-final triumph over Swindon after both men had ridden on the continent shortly before.

But he insists neither were fit as Davidsson continues to recover from a punctured lung and broken ribs and Tomicek is hindered by a head injury.

Cook has also backed Poole Castle Cover chief Matt Ford's plea for the title to be "won on the track and not by the rulebook".

He said: "I absolutely agree with Matt. If we can get our full team out, what's left of it, then we will.

"If we can't we would use the facilities that are available to us.

"My feeling, at this moment, is every rider that will race for us on October 6 and 13 will be our own riders."

Speaking last night, Cook added: "Lubos won't take any part in the play-offs. We're looking to bring in a rider today or tomorrow.

"We've asked Lubos to ride but he just produces medical certificates to say he can't ride.

"To be fair to him, he ended up fainting in an airport with nervousness about flying, but we have renamed our team today to take him out of our line-up.

"Once we get clarification from the BSPA that our team is accepted we'll announce what we're doing.

"Hopefully it'll be the right move."

On Davidsson, Cook said: "Jonas will practice in Sweden this week and ride over the weekend (probably for Bydgoszcz in Poland).

"I fully expect him to be in our line-up. The only way he won't be is if he picks up an injury, which is no different to a Poole rider or any other rider.

"At the moment, he's in our line-up.

"I haven't got a crystal ball though so I don't know whether Jonas is going to practice this week and feel confident enough to get back on a bike on Sunday.

"He's going to ride somewhere on Sunday for his own piece of mind. That's an issue for the rider.

"I think he's extremely brave in wanting to come back from serious injury before the end of the season, but that's been lost on Swindon.

"We never hid the fact he wasn't going to ride against Swindon. The only thing we're guilty of is being honest.

"We told Swindon he wouldn't be in the meeting.

"No one would convince me any other way that I should have taken a chance with Jonas in the semi-final.

"He was at our track and lent a bike to Tomasz Jedrzejak. That shows the commitment that boy has for this club.

"Now we're in the final, it's only right we use him if he's fit."

7:00am Thursday 2nd October 2008

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