PREVIEWING: PIRATES V ACES

Volvo Cars Poole Pirates boss Matt Ford believes dynamic Dane Frederik Jakobsen could be the missing link to finally ignite his side’s season.

Jakobsen replaced struggling Pole Mateusz Szczepaniak in the Pirates one-to-seven last week and makes his Wimborne Road competitive debut in tomorrow night’s SGB Premiership clash against Belle Vue.

The 20-year-old impressed for Denmark during the Speedway of Nations and racked up an 11-point haul in last week’s opening round of the World Under-21 Championship in Daugavpils.

Ford, who had originally planned to draft in Jakobsen for the 2019 season, said: “Of course Frederik is something of an unknown quantity on these shores, having only raced a small number of times on British tracks.

“But he is without question the hottest young asset in Danish speedway and I believe he will really give us something extra at reserve for the remainder of this season.
“He looked superb around the Poole shale during our press and practice session and I know the supporters were intrigued then to know more about him - now they can see him for real and I’m sure they will see what I saw when I first saw him race several years ago.
“It’s been a difficult season for us and not at all what I had hoped for during our 70th anniversary year, but there is plenty of time left for us to make an impression on the league table. Some of the riders have not performed as I would have hoped and that’s why I have made changes, but also we have had some rotten luck.
“Stefan Nielsen was just starting to show what he is capable of when he was seriously injured and that was a huge blow for us, but the septet as it stands now looks very solid on paper and I feel confident our form will turn around for the better.”

As well as the clash against the Aces, the second semi-final of the Poole Speedway schools football tournament takes place before tapes-up tomorrow night.
Broadstone take on Longfleet at 6.45pm for the right to face Heatherlands, who won last week’s first semi-final against Talbot Primary, in the final next Wednesday.

Ford added: “The tournament has been a great success and I’d urge supporters to arrive early and cheer on the players.”

Somerset's Nico Covatti guests for Nicolai Klindt tomorrow, with the Dane having racing commitments in his homeland. The Aces, meanwhile, will use rider replacement for the injured Jason Garrity, while guest Scott Nicholls has been drafted in for Rohan Tungate who, like Klindt, is racing in Denmark. 

Pirates: 1 Brady Kurtz, 2 Josh Gracjzonek, 3 Kacper Woryna, 4 Richie Worrall, 5 Linus Sundstrom, 6 Frederik Jakobsen, 7 Nico Covatti (guest). Team manager: Neil Middleditch.
Belle Vue: 1 Craig Cook, 2 Rider Replacement for Jason Garrity, 3 Dan Bewley, 4 Scott Nicholls (guest), 5 Max Fricke, 6 Jye Etheridge, 7 Damian Drozdz. Team manager: Mark Lemon.