POOLE'S Bjarne Pedersen dusted himself off from an Elite League Riders' Championship final crash to blaze to victory and take the coveted title ahead of team-mate Ryan Sullivan.

Pedersen and Sullivan, along with fellow finalists Hans Andersen and Rory Schlein squeezed into the opening bend in the first run of the decider as all four riders vied for a crucial advantage.

Pirate Pedersen came off worst, slipping into the air fence after touching bikes with crowd villain Andersen, causing the match referee Phil Grif-fin to call all four back for a re-run.

But unruffled by his accident, the Dane raced out the gate and produced a fearless cut-back inside Sullivan on the top bend to nose in front and stretch away to a hugely popular victory in front of his home crowd.

And a beaming Pedersen, ever the modest rider, was thanking a little bit of good fortune for his late piece of silverware.

He said: "It feels unbelievable but you need a little bit of luck and I got that. Hans and me were touching before the first corner but fortunately, it wasn't too bad. Ryan got out in front and I was going for third but I went straight into the fence. I was lucky but I guess you need to be lucky to win in speedway.

"After the first run, I knew Ryan wanted to get to that first corner and that was the bonus in the re-run, I knew Ryan would go wide and so I cut in and did the business that way.

"A couple of races in I thought I could get in the semi and do some good there and then when you get into the final, anything can happen.

"Full credit to my sponsor, my mechanic and everybody involved with me, thank you to them."