BJARNE Pedersen is on the verge of claiming a coveted place in Poole’s all-time top five league and cup points scorers list.

But the quietly spoken Dane has revealed it could all have been so different if he had been released at the end of 2003 after admitting he’d found it particularly tough during his second season at Wimborne Road.

Pedersen joined Pirates from Premier League Newcastle in 2002 and immediately impressed as he worked his way up to becoming the second heat leader behind Tony Rickardsson.

However, the second year is almost always tougher than your first in the Elite League, mainly because other riders have had time to work out your strengths and weaknesses.

Expected to build on his debut-campaign closing average of 6.89, Pedersen’s dropped to 6.10 as he disappointingly failed to hold onto heat leader status despite Poole’s fantastic treble-winning feat.

Consequently, the Dane feared the worst, particularly as Pirates chief Matt Ford had let go of such a class act as Hans Andersen 12 months earlier and a spectacular young gun like Antonio Lindback had just joined the club in July, 2003.

Looking back on his top-flight career with Poole, Pedersen said: “I can’t believe 2009 will be my eighth successive season with the Pirates. Absolutely not, it’s unbelievable.“I’ve had seven great years at Poole and the time has flown by.

“It’s a funny thing. Now some of the younger Danish boys are calling me to ask me for advice about England because they are just starting here when it wasn’t so long ago that it was me.

“It’s a hard and funny feeling, the fact that you have done so many years and don’t have that many left.

“But last year and the year before, I’ve been feeling I’ve been so lucky because the first few years in the Elite League were so hard.

“In my second season I was struggling, but Matt kept me. If he hadn’t, I could easily have been with four or five different British clubs since then.

“Fortunately, Matt showed faith in me and I performed much better in 2004. Thankfully, ever since then everything has always gone well for me.

“Now I feel great that I have only been with one club in the Premier League, Newcastle, and one in the Elite, Poole. It’s been perfect.

“Of course, it’s always hard to keep your place in the team. Hans was at Poole in 2002 as well as me and there were a lot of other good riders in the team that year and in 2003.“When you are younger you just want to go out and race, no matter where it is, how far away it is from where you live.

“However, now that I’m getting older, my family life and settling down makes it even more important for me to stay at Poole.”

Pedersen, who turned 30 last year, is now firmly established at Wimborne Road, so much so it was two-times world champion Jason Crump who was shown the exit door at the end of 2007, not the Dane.

He’s amassed a mammoth 10 major trophies during his time with Pirates, and has been captain for three years.

As Pedersen is quick to point out, he’s not resting on his laurels. There is still unfinished business.

He said: “The most important thing is to win silverware for the club and the fans.

“If you win things it keeps everyone happy. It makes the fans happy.

“But three years ago I told Matt I didn’t want to leave Poole until I beat Craig Boyce’s club record points scoring record. So that’s my individual goal .“Boycey got 4,498 and I’m on 2,825½. I’m still 1,672½ behind so I’ll still need three more years to beat it.

“It’ll be hard to beat Boycey, but the day I do that I’ll feel I will have done my job for Poole.

“If you say you’ll score 500 points a season. That means I need three more years, maybe four.

“Of course, a lot of things have to click together to do that. But if that happens one day I really will feel I’ll have finished off my job for Poole.”