GRAND Prix star Hans Andersen has agreed to rejoin Pirates seven years after originally leaving the club.

The dynamic Dane has been brought in as the struggling Elite League outfit’s new number one in a bid to resurrect their fading title hopes.

Andersen, who comes in on loan from Peterborough until the end of the season, will spearhead a powerful top five also featuring Chris Holder, Bjarne Pedersen, Joe Screen and Daniel Davidsson.

He will be joined at Poole Castle Cover by two other new faces, Ben Wilson and Paul Fry, who replace doubling-up riders Carl Stonehewer and Tomasz Piszcz.

Pirates chief Matt Ford, who has spent weeks chasing Andersen’s signature and beaten off rivals Coventry and Belle Vue to finally get him, said: “We have offered terms to Hans and are very pleased he has agreed to join Poole.

“All we are waiting on is confirmation from the governing body that this has been sanctioned.

“After my conversations with BSPA management committee members, including chairman Peter Toogood and vice-chairman Chris Van Straaten, I’m delighted that we envisage no problems in Hans joining us.

“He’ll make his debut at home to Eastbourne on June 3.”

Ford, who introduced the 28-year-old to British speedway at Poole in 2001, added: “I’m happy to welcome Hans back on board.

“I’ve always said I would love to work with him again – that he is the one rider I made a bit of a mistake to let go of in the first place at the end of 2002.

“But we have remained friends and I’m delighted he’s coming back on loan for the remainder of this season.

“I’d also like to thank Mick Bratley at Peterborough for his assistance in enabling this deal to go through.”

Pirates, with almost half of their regular league programme already completed, languish second bottom, eight points adrift of a top-six title play-off place.

Ford said: “We’ve given ourselves a very hard task to even get back into the championship race, but everything is not lost.

“I hope our fans greet this news with enthusiasm and raise the roof in our grandstand when he makes his first appearance back at Poole on June 3.

“He gets a two-and-a-half per cent addition to his 2008 average of 9.16 which means we can bring him in on 9.39, and he will take over our number one race jacket.

“Unfortunately, we are having to let Ales Dryml go which is very sad.

“But we did only agree a 28-day deal with Ales in the first place.

“Both Ben and Paul have been in great form this year for Redcar and Newport, respectively, in the Premier League.

“Ben will take the senior doubling up role.”