RUSSIAN sensation Emil Sajfutdinov was unable to see out the season with Pirates because of his "continental commitments".

Poole Castle Cover chief Matt Ford spoke with the newly-crowned World Under-21 champion earlier this month about him coming to Wimborne Road for the final weeks of the campaign.

But Sajfutdinov, one of the most exciting young prospects in speedway, couldn't commit to the Dorset club because of a clash of dates with meetings he already had lined up on the continent.

In the end, with Pole Karol Zabik also turning down a short-term contract with Pirates, Ford went for his compatriot Adrian Gomolski, who makes his Poole debut at Peterborough tomorrow in the Craven Shield.

Gomolski has come into the Dorset club's team in place of Craig Boyce, who was dropped at the end of last week.

Ford, who saw Sajfutdinov plunder the world junior crown ahead of Poole asset Chris Holder in Poland earlier this month, said: "We had telephone conversations with Emil.

"However, on three of the five occasions we would have liked him to ride for us Emil would have had to miss those dates through continental commitments."

If he had been lured to Wimborne Road, Sajfutdinov would have been only the second Russian to have lined-up for Poole in the club's 60-year history.

The only previous Russian who has adorned the skull and crossbones race jacket was Sergey Darkin, who only rode three meetings at the start of this season before he was dropped.

Talking about Zabik, last year's world under-21 champion, Ford said: "Karol's club (Torun) are still going for the Polish ExtraLeague championship and it would have caused problems for him to have come over and ridden for us at this stage of the season.

"Both riders were very gracious in turning down our approaches and, sadly, it wasn't possible to bring them over here at this time."

Zabik is a long-time Pirates target who may well end up at Wimborne Road next year, if the 2008 team building points limit permits.

The likelihood of Sajfutdinov joining Poole on a long-term basis is mouth-watering, although there are bound to be other Elite League clubs bidding for his signature for 2008 as well.