RICHIE Worrall revealed his personal role in Pirates' remarkable track upgrade and admitted it had convinced him to extend his stay at Wimborne Road.

Signed on a month-long deal in May, Worrall had been recruited to fill in ahead of Chris Holder’s planned return to the Poole septet.

However, Holder was unable to resolve undisclosed personal issues, leaving boss Matt Ford with a team spot to fill.

Worrall had initially been reluctant to commit due to concerns over the racing surface, which had been unrideable when Leicester arrived at the end of last month.

And with track man Glyn Taylor released from his duties, Glasgow racer Worrall urged Ford to utilise the expertise of former Tigers promoter and team boss Stewart Dickson.

The Glaswegian was one of a number of experts brought in to work on the circuit ahead of Poole’s clash with King’s Lynn last week, which not only produced a 58-32 home win but also some tremendous racing.

Merseysider Worrall, who had held talks with Leicester prior to committing to Pirates, said of Dickson: "I got him here.

"He knows the sport so well and I have a huge level of respect for him.

"We speak often. He rung me up and said he would love to sort the (Poole) track out, so I said 'let me have a chat with Matt'.

"I had already spoken to another club about a move because I wasn't sure how secure my spot was at Poole.

"Matt wanted me to stay but couldn't offer me anything permanent at that time.

"I ended up saying 'I'll stay but you get Stewart to do the track' because I don't want to be driving all the way to Poole to ride round a cr**** track.

"King's Lynn was his first meeting and look how good it was, and it's only going to get better.

"Stewart knows his stuff and that's why I'm still here, because he's doing the track. I know how good he is and he has turned it round for us.”

Worrall is due to race when Pirates make the trip to Somerset in the SGB Premiership, seeking back-to-back wins for the first time this season (7.30pm).

Discussing further his beliefs of preparing a good racing surface, the 26-year-old added: "What I don't understand is that some clubs spend their money on flying foreigners in, putting them up and paying them signing-on fees and whatnot, but they don't spend any money on the track.

"The track is the show. Fourteen riders come to race and a thousand fans come to watch. They don't come for a hotdog, they come to watch the racing, so you have to make the track as good as you can.

"If it costs £400 or £500 a meeting to get someone really good in to do it, it's worth it.

"Look at the King's Lynn meeting – it makes great racing.”