THE roar of growling engines screamed out across central Poole, the unique smell of burning methanol wafted around the stadium and streams of dirt spun out from behind the flashes of blue.

Yep, the treble winners are back and it's Speedway time again.

Tomorrow night sees the newly-christened Poole RIAS Pirates open their Elite League season against Swindon Robins at Wimborne Road.

And as the official pre-amble to Pirates' defence of their league title, the team were presented to the media and sponsors at yesterday's press and practice day.

The astonishing success achieved by Neil Middleditch's men last year has clearly had far reaching implications.

Over 300 attendees crammed into the Poole Stadium restaurant area to greet riders, old and new, as well as team boss Middleditch and co-promoters Matt Ford and Mike Golding. TV crews from Meridian, BBC, Sky Sports and Transworld Sport were attracted by the pull of last year's treble heroes, as were local radio and national speedway bible Speedway Star.

New team sponsors RIAS were well represented and will be very much a visible backer it seems, as they voiced their commitment and satisfaction at the opportunity of the link up with Pirates.

Charismatic announcer Clive Fisher rattled through the Poole crew to hear their opinions and aspirations for the forthcoming campaign.

Although the variety of tongues and accents provided a small obstacle- well, when you have a cosmopolitan mixture of Danes, Aussies, Swedes and Brazilians, it was almost to be expected- each member of the squad expressed their pleasure at riding for the all-conquering Poole team this season.

There was a distinctly laid-back, yet steely focus, about all seven of the line-up, from newly-installed captain Magnus 'Zorro' Zetterstrom to the exciting young talent of Brazilian wonderkid Antonio Lindback.

But while all accepted the media glare for an hour or so, anyone could see that on press and practice day, the boys in blue were itching to get the press done and get on with the practice part.

And when given half a chance, they revved up their machines and were out round the Wimborne Road track like kids escaping from school for the summer holidays.

Five times world champion Tony Rickardsson showed off his usual class while Aussies Jason Lyons and Davey Watt tinkered and toyed with their bikes in the pits before unleashing them in blinding bursts round the bends.

As the in-demand Ford insisted: "The feeling for speedway around this town is immense. We're going to need a bigger stadium soon."

Hold onto your crash helmets, it could be another thriller of a season.