Bjarne's day of destiny (From Thisisdorset)

Bjarne's day of destiny

7:00am Saturday 11th October 2008 in

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BJARNE Pedersen believes he can pull off ‘Mission Impossible’ and still finish in the Grand Prix top eight in Germany tonight.

Pirates’ star, currently seven points adrift of an automatic re-qualification place, has been rejuvenated since he finished second at Lonigo two weeks ago.

Before that meeting, the Dane revealed he would pull out of next year’s World Championship series whatever overall position he finished in.

But, after producing his best GP performance since 2005 in Italy, Pedersen would have time to reconsider that decision if he could leap into the top eight at Gelsen-kirchen tonight (6pm).

Poole Castle Cover’s captain, who made his GP debut in 2002, said: “I feel it is possible to pull back those seven points on a one-off track.

“I know you can easily pull that back on a one-day circuit.

“You need to have a good meeting and the riders in front of you must not have the best night.

“So I’ll go for it and see if I can finish in the top eight.

“At the moment, I feel fast on the bike. I’m having a good time and everything is going well.

“I’m looking to go to Germany and finish the season off with a very good result.

“I don’t feel there is any pressure on my shoulders. I just want to enjoy myself.”

Pedersen, who jumped from 13th to 10th following his scintillating display in Lonigo where he was runner-up to Hans Andersen, added: “That was an amazing result for me.

“It’s just what you need sometimes, to get into a final, to get something back for all your hard work in the GP.

“It was just a great moment. It’s given me a lot of confidence and a lot of fresh energy.”

Tonight’s German GP winner will join Rune Holta, Tomasz Gollob and Jason Crump in the Super Prix, a one-off race for a share of $200,000 – the most lucrative prize pot in speedway history.

Pedersen previously said he felt he’d been denied his chance of lining up in that showdown when controversially excluded from the British GP semi-final, a meeting Crump won to secure his place in the line up.

Asked how much he wanted to be a part of the Super Prix, the Dane said: “It would be fantastic to win a prize like that, but it would be a bonus.

“At the moment, I’m not thinking about the money. I’m thinking about getting to the final.

“You need to win the GP before you enter the other race.

“The perfect meeting for me would just be to get into the first final.”

Pedersen added: “I think it’s a good thing (the GP organisers have put this amount of prize money up) because it’s exciting for the fans as well as the riders.

“It’s just one race with big money on it.

“That’s what we want in this sport and hopefully they can increase the other GP prize money as well.”

It’s a big weekend for the Pirate, who also lines up for Gdansk in a Polish ExtraLeague play-off against Rzeszow tomorrow and for Poole at home to Lakeside in the Elite League title climax on Monday.

Pedersen said: “They’re three very important meetings, but I feel very confident going into them.

“I had a good meeting in Germany last year, I’m normally good around Gdansk and I feel confident around Poole.

“Hopefully I’ll finish on top in all of them, but they are three tough meetings.”

GP Standings (after 10 of 11 rounds): 1 N Pedersen 161 pts, 2 J Crump 145, 3 G Hancock 129, 4 T Gollob 127, 5 H Andersen 123, 6 L Adams 110, 7 A Jonsson 88, 8 R Holta 73, 9 S Nicholls 70, 10 B Pedersen 66, 11 F Lindgren 64. 12 C Harris 54, 13 N-K Iversen 59, 14 K Kaspzak 52, 15 L Dryml 39.