PIRATES co-promoter Matt Ford has revealed they went for Bjarne Pedersen ahead of Greg Walasek when they put together this year's team.

But once Poole had confirmed their one-to-seven, they quickly did all they could to fix up the Pole with a loan move to an Elite League rival.

Walasek, who originally signed for the Dorset club at the tail end of the 2000 season, has been snapped up by Arena-Essex, after also having talks with Oxford.

And he will return to Wimborne Road for the first time since he crashed and broke his hip during a meeting against Wolves in August 2002 when Arena visit Pirates in the league on Wednesday, March 29.

Ford said: "Greg did come into consideration for a Poole team place this year but in the end we choose to go with Bjarne Pedersen rather than him.

"We made that move even though it was expensive because we had to purchase Bjarne from Newcastle.

"Mike Golding and I felt that Bjarne gives us that little edge over Greg. As I have said before, we feel he is on the verge of being a world class rider.

"Once that deal and the signature of Jason Lyons was done, it made sense to loan Greg out for a year.

"So we readily agreed to help him obtain a contract in the UK and tell other clubs such as Oxford and Arena-Essex that he was available.

"Greg then tied up a deal fairly quickly with Ronnie Russell at Arena."

Ford added: "Greg is still very dear in the hearts of everyone at Poole, fans and promotion alike.

"He is also someone we would like to work with again when the time is right.

"Greg came back well last year from his nasty injury at Poole in 2002 when he broke his hip, but maybe another year recuperating while riding for Arena will be to our advantage in the future.

"Interestingly, Greg will be in the opposing team in our first league match of the season when we go away to Arena on Monday, March 29, a fixture that is going out live on Sky Sports television.

"He'll then be visiting us just two days later when Arena come to Wimborne Road for the return, along with another old Poole favourite Mark Loram."

Pirates have confirmed some more of their early season challenge and Knockout Cup fixtures, but their full programme will probably not be released for at least another two weeks.

Fixtures: March 8 Press and Practice Day, March 10 Poole v Swindon, home (challenge), March 11 v Swindon, away (challenge), March 14 v Newcastle, away (challenge), Mar 17 v Oxford, home (challenge), Mar 19 v Oxford (challenge), March 24 v Peterborough, home (Knockout Cup, quarter-final).

April 2 v Peterborough, away (Knockout Cup, quarter-final), April 11 at Swindon, Elite League Best Pairs.