BJARNE Pedersen is still clinging on to his dream of automatically re-qualifying for next year's Grand Prix series after reaching the semi-finals in Latvia tonight.

Pirates' captain recovered from a disappointing start, when he failed to grab a point from outside gates in his opening two races, to amass seven from his final three qualifying heats.

That was enough to squeeze him into the semi-final in eighth place at Daugavpils on count back after six riders had tied on seven.

The Poole Castle Cover rider, who took full advantage of inside gates to fire in two, two and three, looked as though he had timed his night's work well at that stage.

But he was left with no choice of gate in his semi - he had to go off the outside trap after his three opponents had all selected their positions.

Pedersen tried his best to burst outside of Nicki Pedersen, Jason Crump and Andreas Jonsson on the first and second turn in that race.

Bjarne, however, was unable to go round the outside of those riders, who finished in that order, so he wasn't able to add to his seven-point tally.

It meant the Pirate, who has missed two out of the eight rounds this year through injury, cut his 15-point deficit behind the vital eighth place going into the round by one.

With three rounds to go, in Poland, Italy and Germany, time is running out for the Dane to stretch his six-year permanent stay in the GP to seven.

But if Bjarne, who has 45 points compared to eighth-placed Fredrik Lindgren's 59, can repeat his impressive performance in his last three qualifying heats tonight at Bydgoszcz, Lonigo and Gelsenkirchen, he still has a chance.

A second semi-final of the season, following his 14-point display at Cardiff where only a dreadfully poor refereeing decision cost him a probable place in the final, and a genuine chance of winning his first GP since 2004, will have boosted Bjarne's cause.

After running two lasts, he finally found the right set up for his third outing, in which he pushed Krzysztof Kasprzak all the way for first place after Hans Andersen had fallen in front of him.

Bjarne led heat 16 before Nicki swept outside him on the third and fourth corner to relegate him to second.

Then the Pirate stormed to a masterly race 18 triumph when he finished well ahead of Greg Hancock and Leigh Adams.

With Kasprzak, Scott Nicholls and Hans Andersen falling to get the points that would have moved them past Bjarne's total in the last two qualifying heats, the Dane got into the semi.

But with the inside gates always being the more favoured throughout the meeting, Bjarne's work ended when he was fourth in heat 22.

Crump won the final, despite going off gate four, when he burst past Nicki, Tomasz Gollob and Hancock down the back straight to take the lead.

Nicki only dropped one point to the Australian on the night though.

So it is Nicki first overall with 134 points, Crump is second with 118, Hancock third with 102 and Gollob fourth with 98.

The next round is at Bydgoszcz on Saturday, September 13, with Lonigo on September 27 and Gelsenkirchen on October 11 to follow.

Heat details Latvian Grand Prix at Daugavpils Qualifying: Greg Hancock (3-3-0-3-2) 11, Nicki Pedersen (2-3-3-3-0) 11, Jason Crump (3-2-3-fell exc-3) 11, Tomasz Gollob (2-2-1-3-3) 11, Andreas Jonsson (3-1-3-2-exc 2 mins) 9, Leigh Adams (3-1-2-2-1) 9, Chris Harris (1-1-2-1-3) 8, Bjarne Pedersen (0-0-2-2-3) 7, Scott Nicholls (2-3-0-fell exc-2) 7, Krzysztof Kasprzak (0-2-3-1-1) 7, Hans Andersen (1-2-fell-3-1) 7, Fredrik Lindgren (0-3-2-1-1) 7, Lukas Dryml (2-0-1-2-2) 7, Rune Holta (1-0-1-0-2) 4, Grigory Laguta (1-1-0-fell-0) 2, Niels-Kristian Iversen (0-0-1-fell exc-0) 1. Reserves: Maksims Bogdanovs (0) 0, Kjastas Puodzhuks dnr.

Referee: Krister Gardell.

Ht 1: Hancock, N Pedersen, Harris, Kasprzak.

Ht 2: Adams, Gollob, Laguta, Iversen.

Ht 3: Crump, Dryml, Holta, B Pedersen.

Ht 4: Jonsson, Nicholls, Andersen, Lindgren.

Ht 5: Nicholls, Gollob, Harris, B Pedersen.

Ht 6: Hancock, Andersen, Laguta, Holta.

Ht 7: Lindgren, Kasprzak, Adams, Dryml.

Ht 8: N Pedersen, Crump, Jonsson, Iversen.

Ht 9: Jonsson, Harris, Dryml, Laguta.

Ht 10: Crump, Lindgren, Gollob, Hancock.

Ht 11: Kasprzak, B Pedersen, Iversen, Andersen (fell excluded).

Ht 12: N Pedersen, Adams, Holta, Nicholls.

Ht 13: (re-run) Andersen, Adams, Harris, Crump (fell excluded).

Ht 14: (2nd re-run) Hancock, Dryml, Iversen (fell excluded), Nicholls (fell excluded).

Ht 15: Gollob, Jonsson, Kasprzak, Holta.

Ht 16: N Pedersen, B Pedersen, Lindgren, Laguta (fell).

Ht 17: Harris, Holta, Lindgren, Iversen.

Ht 18: B Pedersen, Hancock, Adams, Bogdanovs, Jonsson (excluded 2 minutes).

Ht 19: Crump, Nicholls, Kasprzak, Laguta.

Ht 20: Gollob, Dryml, Andersen, N Pedersen.

Semi-finals Ht 21: Gollob, Hancock, Harris, Adams.

Ht 22: N Pedersen, Crump, Jonsson, B Pedersen.

Final Ht 23: Crump, N Pedersen, Gollob, Hancock.

Overall standings: 1 N Pedersen 134, 2 Crump 118, 3 G Hancock 102, 4 Gollob 98, 5 Andersen 91, 6 Adams 89, 7 Jonsson 71, 8 Lindgren 59, 9 Holta 57, 10 Nicholls 52, 11 Harris 49, 12 Iversen 49, 13 B Pedersen 45, 14 Kasprzak 38, 15 Dryml 32.