BJARNE Pedersen has absolved Nicki Pedersen of any blame over a racing incident in which the Pirate was knocked into the safety air fence in the final of the Swedish Grand Prix.

The Poole RIAS rider was sent sprawling into the balloon on the third bend by his Danish compatriot, who tried to dive under Bjarne into third place at Eskilstuna.

Nicki momentarily lost control of his bike as he powered into the corner on the inside, skittling Bjarne and his bike unceremoniously out of his way, and, despite not falling, was excluded as the prime cause of the stoppage.

Bjarne, who finished third in the re-run behind winner Jason Crump and Tony Rickardsson, also escaped injury, although his bike sustained a lot of damage in the crash on May 14.

He was quick, however, not to point the finger of blame at his Danish compatriot despite some scathing comments launched in Nicki's direction from Sky analyst and ex-Pirate Gary Havelock, who felt the former world champion had been totally out of order.

Bjarne said: "It was one of those things that happen in speedway. You have to give these races your best shot and we are all going for the big points. When it's like that, incidents will happen."

Nicki, whose back wheel came into contact with Bjarne's left arm, said: "It was a final, it is the GP and Crumpie was moving Bjarne out. I had to go for the gap because Bjarne was in the middle of nowhere."

Bjarne was happy with third place, despite getting out in front in both starts to the final, which propelled him up from 13th to sixth in the overall GP standings after two rounds out of nine.

The re-run of the final was one of the most thrilling and competitive in GP history with Bjarne leading twice, being passed and re-passing Rickardsson before Crump got in front of both of them.

Bjarne, who has 22 points, 23 behind early GP leader Rickardsson, said: "It was good out there and up against Tony and Jason, you know you are not going to be given an easy race.

"But I tried my best and at least third place is a better result than only four points in Wroclaw two weeks ago.

"I still haven't put my finger on precisely what the problem was there, but I am not going to dwell on that.

"Instead I intend to build on this result."

Bjarne's Poole team-mate Antonio Lindback finished third in the first semi-final, picking up eight points to take his tally to 24 and slipping from fourth to fifth overall.

Ryan Sullivan, the third Pirate in action, was suffering from an upset stomach and struggled to get three points, which took his tally to 10 as he slipped from ninth to 12th overall.

Results, Friday, Elite League Knockout Cup: Peterborough 56 Eastbourne 37.

Fixtures, May 16, Elite League: Eastbourne v Ipswich.

Elite League Knockout Cup: Belle Vue v Oxford.