PIRATES skipper Josh Grajczonek revealed how two broken fingers led to him adjusting his setup during the early part of the campaign.

The Aussie charger, who scored 10 paid 12 in Pirates’ last-gasp 46-44 victory over Ipswich on Thursday, confirmed he had sustained the injury when riding in Poland.

But he opted not to tell boss Matt Ford about the problem and battled on through the opening weeks of the season.

Explaining how the injury came about, the 29-year-old said: “My first meeting of the year out in Poland, a guy picked up and landed on me going into a bend. I broke my pinky and the one in from it.

“I had to run a lighter clutch for weeks, just because I couldn’t pull the clutch in.

“I didn’t tell Matt because I didn’t want to upset him and I was trying to keep it to myself because once you get your helmet on, you’re all right.

“I have been battling with clutches and burning out clutches for fun. It’s not good, it’s expensive – at Somerset the other week I know I got a good score but I burned out two clutches in the process.

“I have actually got the heavier spring back in now and it seems to be going all right but I was definitely battling for a while.”

Grajczonek teamed up with star guest Scott Nicholls to land a sublime 5-1 in heat 15 and turn on its head the meeting against the Witches at Wimborne Road.

But the Townsville-born star insisted he would prefer Pirates to be stamping authority on their own patch.

“We would be way more comfortable smashing them 55-35 here every week! It was a bit nip and tuck going into the last race.

“To finish off with a win after being there or thereabouts all meeting – and being two points down going into heat 15 – it was good for us.

“We are all battling away and we all want to do well. We don’t come here to ride poorly, we want to put on a show.

“Matt doesn’t put a team together to just make up the numbers. We are all getting going now, we missed Brady (Kurtz) but Scotty came in and did a good job for us and I think we will be sweet.”