JOE Screen wants to give the Grand Prix one last blast by finishing high enough in tonight’s British Final at Poole (7.30pm) to grab a wild card for Cardiff.

The rejuvenated Pirates star believes that on current form |he is as good as anyone else around the Wimborne Road circuit.

So he has set his sights on a top-three podium finish which would clinch a place in the British GP at the Millennium Stadium on June 27 – if he is the highest scoring current non-GP rider.

Screen was a GP regular in 1996, 1999 – when he finished sixth overall in the World Championship – and 2000.

In all, he has appeared in 21 rounds and it would have been more if he hadn’t broken his thigh and sat out the entire 2001 series through injury.

Now, almost seven years after his last GP appearance as a wild card at the Millenium in June 2002, Screen said: “My days in the GP are over!

“It’s better for a young guy with more ambition to get that chance, but at the same time, I wouldn’t turn it down. It would be nice.

“If I get into the GP, I would like to have a good time at the Millennium.

“It would be nice to show my face again at that level and let people know I’m still around.

“I rode at Cardiff in 2002 and it was a great atmosphere, so it would be nice to go back there and have a bit of fun.

“The track back then wasn’t as good as it is now. The racing is better so it would be good to have a go.

“I will just have to get through tonight first though. Cardiff hasn’t entered my head yet. I just want to have a good British Final.”

Screen, who carried off the national crown in 1996 and 2004, added: “It would be great to win it a third time.

“I’ve finished second five times as well, but last year I wasn’t in the British Final because I had a Swedish League match.

“I thought my days of winning British Finals were over but the way I’ve been going this year I have as good a chance as the next man on current form around Poole.

“But there are some talented lads out there, so as long as I can have a good meeting and challenge for the rostrum I’ll be happy.

“If the track is pretty good, and I hope it won’t be too slick, I’m up for it.”

Screen, 36, is aiming to become only the third rider to lift the silverware while a Pirate after Malcolm Simmons (1976) and Mark Loram (1999) in the event’s 49-year history.

British final draw: 1 David Howe (Scunthorpe), 2 Lee Complin (Stoke), 3 William Lawson (Berwick), 4 Ricky Ashworth (Sheffield), 5 Edward Kennett (Coventry), 6 Jason King (Newcastle), 7 Lee Richardson (Lakeside), 8 James Wright (Belle Vue), 9 Scott Nicholls (unattached), 10 Tai Woffinden (Wolves), 11 Chris Harris (Coventry), 12 Simon Stead (Swindon), 13 Joe Screen (Poole), 14 Lewis Bridger (Eastbourne), 15 Joe Haines (Rye House/Wolves), 16 Danny King (Ipswich).