FORMER Belle Vue rider Matej Ferjan returns to his old stamping ground tonight (September 15) buoyed by his fastest winning ride at Wimborne Road for Pirates.

The Poole RIAS rider joined the Dorset club from the Aces for an undisclosed fee earlier this season and rides against Belle Vue in the Elite League tonight.

Pirates' clash against the Aces is the second part of a double header that will follow the home side's league meeting against Ipswich.

It is the first time Poole have taken part in an away double header since they lost 52-38 at Reading in the BSPA Cup Final second leg on October 26, 1992, when the Racers won the trophy 92-88 on aggregate.

Ferjan travels north after beating World champion-elect Jason Crump in a time of 58.85 seconds, his fastest four laps around the Wimborne Road circuit, during Pirates' 54-40 win last week.

Ferjan said: "That was pleasing. That was quite good.

"If someone else pushes you from behind, it is really hard. But if you concentrate on your racing, you are faster."

Better late than never would appear to be Ferjan's motto after he came within one point of scorching to his first maximum in British speedway against the Aces.

Ferjan's brilliant display 14 point display almost didn't happen, though, if you believed what Pirates co-promoter Matt Ford said just after 6pm before the scheduled 7.30pm start to the meeting.

At that stage, the Slovenian still hadn't arrived at Poole Stadium and there were plenty of worried faces in the Pirates end of the pits, including Ford's.

He had pencilled in Ferjan as a non-arrival and stressed that the league leaders were looking at using rider replacement for the Slovenian.

Ferjan, who eventually arrived at Poole Stadium at about 6.45pm with his bikes, said: "I just wanted to prepare everything for the meeting in my workshop rather than do late adjustments in the pits.

"It is better to work in my workshop near Neil Middleditch's house in Sturminster Marshall, then I can arrive at the track, relax and do my job.

"I am always quite late getting to the stadium, but I must admit that it is the latest I have ever arrived for a meeting here."

Ferjan added: "I raced on the same engine in Sweden the previous night and got 11, so I wanted to use it again.

"You just need to make a good set up for your engine that works for you and on the track."

Poole will be at full strength tonight after they had originally planned to go to Belle Vue without Ryan Sullivan and Antonio Lindback, who had pre-booked flights to Poland, where they race tomorrow.

Bjarne Pedersen, who would have missed the Elite League Riders' Championship at Poole on Sunday because of flu, is fit again.

Belle Vue, who thrashed Swindon 60-30 at home on Monday, still have an outside chance of making the play-offs.

But they will need to beat Ipswich, Poole by more than 14 points and Coventry away tomorrow to secure a top five place before the cut-off date, which is believed to be after tomorrow's fixtures.

Belle Vue: (probable) 1 Joe Screen, 2 Rory Schlein, 3 Kenneth Bjerre, 4 Rider replacement for Tomasz Jedrzejak, 5 Jason Crump, 6 Ronnie Correy, 7 Andre Compton.

Pirates: 1 Bjarne Pedersen, 2 Magnus Zetterstrom, 3 Matej Ferjan, 4 Antonio Lindback, 5 Ryan Sullivan, 6 Daniel Davidsson, 7 Krzysztof Kasprzak.

Results, Monday, Elite League: Belle Vue 60 Swindon 30, Coventry 42 Oxford 48, Wolves 57 Peterborough 36.

Fixtures, tonight, Elite League: Belle Vue v Ipswich followed by Belle Vue v Pirates, Peterborough v Oxford (at Arena-Essex).

Tomorrow, Elite League: Swindon v Arena-Essex, Ipswich v Peterborough, Coventry v Belle Vue.

Elite League Knockout Cup update: First round, Wolves 88 Swindon 99, Coventry 42 Belle Vue 54 (second leg to be raced).

Quarter-finals: Pirates 104 Peterborough 81, Ipswich 99 Eastbourne 88, Oxford 93 Arena-Essex 94, Coventry or Belle Vue v Swindon.

Semi-finals: Pirates v Coventry, Belle Vue or Swindon, Ipswich v Arena-Essex (first leg at Ipswich on September 23).