LUCKY Paul Starke admitted he had feared being "run over" before Swindon rider Lewis Rose took evasive action to avoid a horrifying smash with his reserve rival.

Starke suffered a final-bend fall in heat two of Pirates' 50-42 loss at Blunsdon on Monday with backmarker Rose swiftly swerving to avoid a nasty collision.

After he had clipped Starke on the right thigh with his steel shoe, Rose clattered awkwardly into the side fence and subsequently fell to the deck, ending his meeting at the Abbey.

The 25-year-old was later diagnosed with bruising and tissue damage to his right shoulder, as well as a wrist problem for which an X-ray will be required.

Starke escaped with just a dead leg and was quick to thank Rose for his actions on the track.

The Poole ace told the Daily Echo: "I've seen the replays and Lewis did really well to miss me so I'm really grateful to him for that. He got hurt as a result and I wish him a speedy recovery.

"I caught Charles Wright's back wheel and it sent my front wheel up and there was nothing I could do about it after that. Lewis did an amazing job of missing me.

"When I was on the track, I was waiting for someone to run me over. I don't know how Lewis managed to miss me but he did."

Starke is hopeful that he will be fit to return to action for Pirates' trip to Wolverhampton on Monday, with Somerset's clash with Glasgow on Friday his first target.

He continued: "I've got a bit of bruising and muscle damage. My muscles feel like they have exploded but it could have been a lot worse.

"I struggled for the rest of the meeting because I couldn't put any pressure on the foot rest but I knew I might have to go out in heat 12 to get some points. It was looking like I was never going to get round.

"I'm going to rest up and see how it feels for Somerset on Friday. I think it's going to be alright.

"On Wednesday, I will be able to tell how much progress I'm making and whether I can put much more weight on it.

"I'm hoping to be back for Friday but we'll see how it goes."

Poole's Polish ace Kacper Gomolski received treatment for a hand injury during Monday's clash and despite falling in the re-run of the same heat, escaped lasting damage.

On the overall result, Starke added: "It went wrong from heat one with Chris (Holder) blowing an engine. Then in heat two there was a crash and it went downhill from there.

"We did well to pull it back a little bit but we lost it again at the end. We had some bad luck but I'm sure the boys will move on for the next meeting."