Pirates: Title race too close to call says Ford

Ford’s comments come as Poole and their rivals begin to step up their preparations for the start of the campaign this month.

Following press and practice on March 27, Pirates visit Swindon in the Elite Shield the next day before hosting the return fixture on Good Friday.

Ford expects reigning champions Swindon and strong-looking King’s Lynn to lead the teams blocking Poole’s bid to reclaim the silverware.

But he stopped short of trying to call the outcome as he thinks the league will be as evenly matched as at any time in his 14 years at the Pirates helm.

Poole promoter Ford told the Daily Echo: “You would look at King’s Lynn being serious contenders.

“The make-up of the Swindon team hasn’t changed too much so you would think they will be in there again.

“Peterborough look to have strength in depth and, possibly in my eyes, they have the best reserves in the league.

“But you genuinely wouldn’t discount anybody.

“Whatever happens, every team in the league will be affected by injury or loss of form at some point in time.

“It is how you overcome those things and that can be difficult, particularly if a rider sustains an injury and is just not replaceable.

“If you look at the league now, I would say there would be no more than 20 points separating the teams at the top and the bottom, but I really don’t know who is going to be at the top and the bottom.”

Ford has retained his Australian ‘Turbo Twins’ Chris Holder, as captain, and Darcy Ward from Pirates’ 2012 line-up, with Kyle Howarth the only other survivor.

After watching Pirates lose in last year’s Grand Final, Ford has recruited Maciej Janowski, Robert Miskowiak, Dawid Stachyra and Rohan Tungate to try to go one better this time round.

He added: “We have set out our stall, picked a team we think is capable of winning and, as you do every season, you hope and pray for the wind to sail in the right direction and for the team to click.”