TONY Rickardsson has only to sign on the dotted line and he will definitely be Pirates' number one next season.

The top Swede and four-time World champion has already stressed he wants to line up for Poole in 2002.

And with it almost certain only one Grand Prix rider will represent each Sky Sports Elite League club next year, co-promoter Matt Ford confirmed on Friday Rickardsson is the one who will lead Pirates.

It means there will be no place for Krzysztof Cegielski, who is in the GP next year, to return to Wimborne Road for a second term.

His fellow Pole Grzegorz Walasek could yet return, but that will depend on whether he decides to accept his nomination to ride in the GP.

It might also mean Gary Havelock could have a fifth successive season with Poole as he has not qualified for next year's GP.

Ford said: "Tony is undoubtedly the most professional man in our sport and someone who everyone in Speedway looks up to.

"He has my thanks for the way he conducted himself over the course of the season and I am very happy to be working with him again in 2002 as well.

"We've just learnt it is definitely only one GP rider per team and I can say he will definitely be back in Poole in 2002.

"All he has to do is sign the contract. It is hoped he will come across to England from Sweden in December to speak to one or two people and we will sign the deal then."

The British Speedway Promot-ers' Association will rubber stamp the introduction of the new rule to restrict each top flight track to just one GP rider next year at their annual conference later this month.

Ford said: "The decision was made by the Elite League promoters for the benefit of the future of British speedway.

"Whether or not it suits Poole's individual needs is not an issue. We must look after the future betterment of the sport in our country.

"The idea is continuity for clubs who ride on Fridays and Saturdays because they would like to keep staging meetings on a weekly basis.

"It is also clearly visible that for clubs such as Oxford, who now have three GP riders, it would be impossible for them to ride on a Friday on GP weeks with a competitive team.

"We as a club will stick by the decision made by the BSPA.

"Then as an organisation we will review the result during the 2002 season to see if it was to the betterment of British speedway and then make a further decision on what to do after that.

"As a club, it also means we can now get on and work on our team line up for next year and make sure are as competitive as we were in 2001."

The one GP rider rule is being introduced in a bid to combat the problem of increased unavailability of GP riders in British racing.