Bjarne: Jonas is just a child

7:00am Wednesday 6th August 2008

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BJARNE Pedersen has labelled Jonas Davidsson a child who needs to grow up after the Swede claimed Pirates' captain was a "really dirty" rider on Polish TV.

Davidsson, who lines up for Lakeside at Poole tonight in an Elite League top-of-the-table clash, felt Pedersen unfairly impeded him on the second bend at Gdansk on Sunday.

But Poole Castle Cover's skipper has made it clear he felt he had done nothing wrong when he squeezed between Bydgoszcz duo Andreas Jonsson and Davidsson to join Magnus Zetterstrom on a match-winning Gdansk 5-1.

Davidsson, who, ironically, lines up alongside Jonsson again for Hammers against Pirates pair Pedersen and Zetterstrom tonight (7.30pm), believes he was illegally forced out towards the fence by the Dane.

The incident can be watched by logging on to itv24.com.pl/ and viewing the Lotos-Polonia' TV coverage posted on that Internet website.

It appears Pedersen's manoeuvre to get past Davidsson was purely a racing incident with the Dane riding hard but doing nothing out of the ordinary.

However, speaking in English to a Polish TV interviewer on the itv24.com website, Davidsson said: "I think I had a good start in heat 15 but Bjarne was really dirty and took me out to the fence.

"It was not so good but that is the way it is and next time I'll put him in the fence and see what happens."

Asked if he had any comment on Davidsson's version of the incident, Pedersen, speaking exclusively to the Echo last night, said: "He (Davidsson) is still a kid and he is not growing up, and that is the problem."

Poole's top rider, who said he had not seen the TV footage on the website, added: "I saw him (Jonas) in the airport this morning and he didn't say anything (to me about it).

"I don't want to waste any energy on this. I will just race against him and the other Lakeside riders as normal.

"I'll treat the meeting the same as every other one, like I always do."

Zetterstrom won the last heat at Gdansk, with Jonsson passing Pedersen on the last lap to grab second while Davidsson trailed in fourth.

Pedersen and Davidsson will meet in heat three tonight if the Poole man wears the number three race jacket as expected, and the Swede has number four on his back.

Pirates: (probable) 1 Chris Holder, 2 Magnus Zetterstrom, 3 Bjarne Pedersen, 4 Adam Skornicki, 5 Davey Watt or rider replacement, 6 Freddie Eriksson, 7 Daniel Davidsson.

Lakeside: (probable) 1 Andreas Jonsson (or guest or rider replacement), 2 Leigh Lanham, 3 Adam Shields, 4 Jonas Davidsson, 5 Joonas Kylmakorpi, 6 Ricky Kling, 7 Lubos Tomicek.