POOLE Pirates rider Josh Grajczonek is set to miss at least three weeks following surgery on facial injuries sustained while guesting for Birmingham last night.

The Australian confirmed via social media that he had suffered a fractured eye socket, broken nose and cracked tooth in a sixth-heat smash with Coventry’s Ryan Fisher at the Brandon Stadium.

On the back of that diagnosis, the 24-year-old is due to go under the knife today with Pirates boss Neil Middleditch closely monitoring the situation with promoter Matt Ford.

“It was very unfortunate for Josh, we have seen a picture of his face and you could see he was pretty poorly,” said Middleditch.

“We should know more after the operation and his recovery time depends on how much swelling there is, but we think he will be out for about three weeks.

“Until we know more, we can’t make any decisions on what we will do. We should have a better idea after the weekend.”

It was a crushing blow for Poole's rapidly-improving rider, who was set to take part in the quarter-final of the Speedway Grand Prix qualifiers at Berwick in a week's time.

Middleditch confirmed that Kyle Howarth, who made a controversial switch to Coventry after he became a Workington asset during the closed season, would guest in Grajczonek’s place against Wolverhampton on Wednesday.