MATEUSZ Szczepaniak is hoping to quickly leave behind his reserve role at Pirates when the season gets up and running.

The Polish flier will start the SGB Premiership campaign at number six, a coup for Poole given he finished seventh in last season's Speedway European Championship and came within a meeting of qualifying for the Grand Prix series.

Szczepaniak joined Poole midway through the 2011 season but sustained knee ligament damage on his debut against Birmingham at Wimborne Road, ruling him out for the rest of the year.

He raced for King's Lynn and Coventry in subsequent seasons, being axed by the Bees after just five matches. However, the 31-year-old is now widely viewed as a much-improved rider, with Pirates boss Matt Ford among his fans.

Szczepaniak told the Daily Echo: "I hope this time it will be better and I will have more luck than at Poole a few years ago.

"At reserve I may get more races and that will be good for me. Averages will change and, hopefully, I will get some good scores and go into the top five.

"Poole have been champions many times and we want to win everything."

Szczepaniak will also race for Rybnik in Poland's second tier, where another of Poole's new recruits, Kacper Woryna, will also ply his trade.