PIRATES new boy Adrian Gomolski is in for a "baptism of fire" according to Wimborne Road supremo Matt Ford.

The 20-year-old Pole, who has never ridden in Britain before, lines up for his new club at Peterborough in the Craven Shield tonight (7.30pm).

Gomolski then rides for the Dorset outfit at Lakeside in the shield tomorrow and at Eastbourne on Saturday in the Elite League.

It would be tough to make a big impression in those meetings for any newcomer to speedway on these shores, but it is doubly so for Gomoloski, who has grown up on the big continental tracks.

Poole chief Ford said: "It will be a baptism of fire for Adrian because he starts with three away meetings on tracks he has never seen before.

"Peterborough is big and he will be used to tracks like that, but the other two are tight, so it is a big ask for him.

"But we will get a better view of how he can adjust to other British tracks by pitching him in like this.

"All I'd ask our fans to consider is this: When Hans Andersen first rode for us at Eastbourne in 2001 he really struggled and so did Bjarne Pedersen when he originally joined us in 2002.

"We don't expect big things of Adrian in these meetings, but we will be watching him to see how he rides those tracks because we hold the belief that in time new riders can adjust and do well on both the bigger and smaller circuits over here."

Gomolski, a non-riding reserve for Poland as they won the World Under-21 Team Cup final in Germany on Sunday, is relatively unknown in Britain.

However, he rides regularly for Polish League Division One club Gniezno, Team Dalakraft in Sweden's Allsvenskan League and Neuenknick in Germany's Bundesliga Division Two.

Ford said: "Adrian is known to us. He certainly has the ability to do something in the sport.

"He is only 20 and has a very good future in the sport as long as he uses it wisely.

"He's been Gniezno's top rider this season when he has come up against the likes of Bjarne and Peter Karlsson in Poland.

"Adrian's very keen to come to Britain and wants our supporters to know he is very much looking forward to riding for Poole."

Gomolski, who celebrated his 20th birthday on July 29, has been drafted into Pirates' team in place of veteran Craig Boyce.

The Australian, meanwhile, is remaining tight-lipped on losing his Poole berth, having politely declined to talk to the Echo.

Pirates, who use Davey Watt and another guest for unavailable Jason Crump and Pedersen, take a commanding lead into the second leg of tonight's first round group match at Peterborough after scoring 52 against Reading (29) and Lakeside (27) at Wimborne Road.

Panthers and Racers are the opposition tonight, when Crump and Pedersen have to line up in the re-arranged staging of the Swedish League play-off between Elit Vetlanda and Vastervik after the original match was rained-off on Tuesday.

Tonight's teams, Peterborough: 1 H Andersen, 2 P Swiderski, 3 N-K Iversen, 4 D King, 5 K Bjerre, 6 C Hefenbrock.

Reading: 7 J Kolodziej, 8 P Hougaard, 9 M Lemon, 10 Z Simota, 11 J Davidsson, 12 K Buczkowski.

Pirates: 13 Guest tbc (for B Pedersen), 14 A Gomolski, 15 D Watt, 16 J Doyle, 17 E Kennett, 18 T Batchelor.