PIRATES star Bjarne Pedersen has his fingers crossed he will be selected for Denmark in their opening World Cup meeting at Poole later this year.

The 23-year-old Ryrde-born rider has been an inspiration for Meridian Lifts Pirates in home matches in the Sky Sports Elite League since he stepped up from the Premier in March.

And it is his impressive form around Wimborne Road that Pedersen believes should earn him a call up into his country's national side for their clash against Sweden, Finland and Hungary on Monday, August 5.

Pedersen, who lines up for Poole at home to Peterborough in an Elite League A clash tonight (7.30pm), said: "I hope I am in the Danish team that team manager Jacob Olsen will pick.

"I'm nearly 100 per cent sure I will be because the World Cup meeting is on my home track here at Poole.

"But you can never be certain of these things, although I am fairly confident of being in the team.

"I really enjoyed riding in the World Cup for Denmark last year because it was my first time riding in really big meetings.

"It is good the first time you are in a big meeting because of the experience you pick up. And I want to be in more meetings like that."

Pedersen, one of only a handful of then Premier League riders to line up in the weeklong international Speedway festival in Poland last July, helped Denmark finish fourth overall in the final.

He also notched up nine points from five rides as the Danes knocked Great Britain out of the semi-final in Wroclaw.

Pedersen rides at number two for Pirates tonight when they aim to climb off the foot of the league table.

They will leap above Belle Vue into eighth place if they beat Peterborough by more than five points to pick up the bonus after the Panthers won the first leg at the East of England Showground 47-43 in March.

Poole, well behind with their fixtures, still have a top five play-off title place in their sights, even though they are six points adrift of fifth-placed Ipswich at the moment,

However, it is imperative Pirates begin a tough run of seven meetings in 15 days with a morale-boosting victory to underpin their chances of participating in the end-of-season chase for overall glory.

Previewing tonight's clash against the Panthers, Poole team manager Neil Middleditch said: "We really have to wake-up and start winning, otherwise our season will be over before it has begun. I know we have matches in hand over the teams above us, but it's no good thinking we can catch them if we don't get the right results."

Magnus Zetterstrom continues for Pirates tonight, even though Grzegorz Walasek, the Pole he was brought in to directly replace, is now fit again following injury.

Panthers, who have injury problems of their own, use David Howe, of Wolves, as a guest for the injured Piotr Protasiewicz, while Bo Brhel lines up as a short-term replacement for the injured Hans Clausen.

Ex-Pirate Craig Watson, who now rides for Premier outfit Newport, could be Peterbor-ough's trump card at reserve. Speedway's strange rules means he is allowed to ride as a guest because both of Panthers' Premier League double-up reserves are unavailable.

Simon Stead is injured with four broken toes and Chris Harris is sidelined, despite the fact he doesn't have a meeting for his Premier club Trelawny tonight. Pirates have problems with their line up at Peterborough on Friday when they take part in a league B fixture.

Pedersen and Hans Andersen, who are un-available, are replaced by guests Ryan Fisher (Coventry) and Toni Svab (Eastbourne), respectively, while Poole will use rider replacement for the absent Tony Rickardsson.