BJARNE Pedersen has claimed that referee Tony Steele was "a bit scared" to exclude Tomasz Gollob after they had a heat 14 run-in in the Polish Grand Prix.

The Pirates rider was chasing Gollob and Ryan Sullivan hard to try and get into second place at Bydgoszcz - the enigmatic Pole's hometown - on Saturday.

But just as Pedersen was in the middle of trying to scorch outside and past Gollob on the first bend of the second lap, the Pole moved wide, the Poole RIAS rider had nowhere to go and fell.

Gollob, who had drifted wide of his line because Sullivan had changed direction in front of him, didn't actually touch Pedersen in front of a partisan 25,000 crowd in the Polonia Stadium.

However, that didn't stop the normally mild mannered Dane, who was excluded as the prime cause of the stoppage by Steele, from saying: "I don't know (about the exclusion). It is really tough.

"Everyone is out there and going out to do their best and going for that win.

"So I feel I had nowhere to go as Gollob was going very tight into the corner and drifting out towards me, and where I was I had no way to go."

Pedersen, referring to a first bend incident in heat 25 - the final - later in the meeting, added: "It's a little bit different when you are sitting on the bike.

"But I am absolutely sure it (the incident Pedersen and Gollob were involved in) looked like the time when there was (Rune) Holta and Gollob going down in the final.

"It was all four back then and I feel sure Tony Steele was a bit scared that he was in Poland and he would have had to deal with punishing Gollob.

"I think that says it all."

Pedersen, who slipped out of the GP after finishing last in his next outing in heat 17, only picked up five points.

He is still clinging, however, on to the eighth and last automatic qualifying place for next year's series - but only by one point ahead of Hans Andersen and Jarek Hampel. Pedersen said: "I only had three heats tonight and one I get excluded in.

"I never got going in the meeting, and after that crash, which bent my best bike, we had a big change to do.

"But I am really looking forward to the final round in Norway on October 2 now.

"I've managed to hold onto eighth place even though things didn't go for me tonight. Hopefully it will be different next time."

Gollob went on to win the meeting, his fourth Polish GP success and his third in a row.

Jason Crump moved a step closer to the overall title by finishing second with Tony Rickardsson, his only rival for the crown, third and the Norwegian Holta fourth.

GRAND PRIX STATS

POLISH GRAND PRIX AT BYDGOSZCZ

Pre-main event

Ht 1: Kasprzak, Holta, Sullivan, L Dryml (non-starter).

Ht 2: Max, Loram, Protasiewicz, Chrzanowski.

Ht 3: Richardson, Nicholls, Laukkanen, Jensen.

Ht 4: Gollob, Hampel, A Dryml, Brhel.

Ht 5: Sullivan, Laukkanen, Chrzanowski (eliminated), Brhel (eliminated).

Ht 6: Protasiewicz, A Dryml, Jensen (eliminated), L Dryml (non-starter, eliminated).

Ht 7: Hampel, Richardson, Kasprzak, Loram.

Ht 8: Gollob, Holta, Nicholls, Max.

Ht 9: Rickardsson, Jonsson, B Pedersen, N Pedersen.

Ht 10: Andersen, Crump, Adams, Hancock.

Ht 11: A Dryml, Sullivan, Max (eliminated), Kasprzak (eliminated).

Ht 12: Nicholls, Protasiewicz, Loram (eliminated), Laukkanen (eliminated).

Main event

Ht 13: Rickardsson, Hampel, Hancock, Protasiewicz.

Ht 14: (re-run) Crump, Gollob, Sullivan, B Pedersen (fell excluded).

Ht 15: Adams, Jonsson, Richardson, Nicholls.

Ht 16: N Pedersen, Holta, A Dryml, Andersen.

Ht 17: Richardson, Andersen, Hancock (eliminated), B Pedersen (eliminated).

Ht 18: Protasiewicz, Nicholls, Sullivan (eliminated), A Dryml (eliminated).

Ht 19: Holta, Rickardsson, Gollob, Adams (retired).

Ht 20: Crump, N Pedersen, Hampel, Jonsson.

Ht 21: Gollob, Nicholls, Jonsson (eliminated), Richardson (eliminated).

Ht 22: Hampel, Adams, Andersen (eliminated), Protasiewicz (eliminated).

Semi-finals

Ht 23: Gollob, Holta, Adams (eliminated), N Pedersen (eliminated).

Ht 24: Crump, Rickardsson, Hampel (eliminated), Nicholls (eliminated).

Final

Ht 25: (re-run) Gollob, Crump, Rickardsson, Holta.

Referee: Tony Steele.

Overall GP standings (after eight rounds out of nine): J Crump 147, T Rickardsson 130, G Hancock 117, L Adams 115, N Pedersen 100, T Gollob 95, A Jonsson 84, B Pedersen 75, (top eight automatically qualify for next year's series) H Andersen 74, J Hampel 74, L Richardson 71, S Nicholls 60, R Sullivan 57, R Holta 49, P Protasiewicz 48, M Max 41, M Loram 36, J B Jensen 32, B Brhel 31, L Dryml 22, K Laukkanen 21, A Dryml 19, G Walasek 13, N-K Iversen 13, K Bjerre 13, M Zagar 8, D Norris 8, P Karlsson 7, R Dobrucki 5, F Lindgren 4, C Louis 4, W Jagus 4, K Kasprzak 3, P Ljung 2, R Barth 2, A Svab 2, A Lindback 2, T Chrzanowski 2, S Stead 1, I Santej 1.

Story so far: May 1, Swedish GP, Stockholm, 1 Adams, 2 Crump, 3 Rickardsson, 4 Gollob. May 15, Czech GP, Prague, 1 Crump, 2 Hampel, 3 Rickardsson, 4 Sullivan. May 29, European GP, Wroclaw, Poland: 1 B Pedersen, 2 Hampel, 3 Rickardsson, 4 Protasiewicz. Jun 12, British GP, Cardiff: 1 Hancock, 2 Adams, 3 Richardson, 4 Crump. Jun 26, Danish GP, Copenhagen, 1 Crump, 2 Jonsson, 3 Hancock, 4 N Pedersen. Aug 21, Scandinavian GP, Gothenburg, 1 Ander-sen, 2 Crump, 3 Rickardsson, 4 Hancock. Sep 11, Slovenian GP, Krsko: 1 Rickardsson, 2 Hancock, 3 Andersen, 4 Jonsson.

Remaining round: Oct 2, Norwegian GP, Hamar.