PIRATES co-promoter Danny Ford admitted track conditions at Wimborne Road on Monday had been “sub-par” but insisted: “We will do everything we can to improve.”

Pirates secured a 51-39 SGB Premiership victory over Swindon on home shale. The meeting lasted two-and-a-half hours with various interruptions due to falls, track grading and watering.

Swindon star Troy Batchelor labelled the surface “dangerous” and “unacceptable” following the contest, in which he totalled 10 paid 11 from five rides.

Batchelor told the Swindon Advertiser: “Poole was dangerous to be honest.

“Anybody that was here, or anybody with eyes, saw what happened. When you’ve got crashes in every race, track grades happening more often than not and world champions crashing, what more is there to say.

“It’s unacceptable. No one wants a broken leg or to crash, that shouldn’t be happening.”

Pirates had previously suffered with track problems against the Robins this season. Their Good Friday defeat against Alun Rossiter’s side saw Wimborne Road turn into a dustbowl.

Asked about the conditions ahead of tomorrow's Premiership fixture at home to Peterborough (7.30pm), Ford told the Daily Echo: “Obviously the track was not ideal on Monday.

“I really don’t want to make excuses but the early starts have really hurt us this year in terms of getting the track preparation correct.

“It was an improvement from the last one (against Swindon) but we are well aware it was still sub-par.

“We were lucky our boys coped with the conditions better than Swindon this time and were still able to get a positive result.

“I do sympathise with the riders and the fans having to put up with that, all we can do now is learn from our mistakes. On Thursday nights the track has generally been a lot better.

“We did try to make improvements and they didn’t quite have the effect we were hoping for.”

Quizzed on whether he felt the track had become dangerous, Ford replied: “The boys did have concerns and a few of ours did mention to me post meeting that they were not happy with the track.

“We will try our best to put a much better track out on Thursday.

“This is my first year coming into this role and having riders and fans disappointed with track conditions, both from an entertainment point of view but more importantly safety issues, is not how I want it to be remembered.

“We will do everything we can to improve this for the rest of the season.”

Pirates remain without Brady Kurtz for the battle against the Panthers as he continues to recover from a shoulder injury.

Nicolai Klindt and Nikolaj Busk Jakobsen will also be unavailable due to competing in the final of the Danish Championship.

Adam Ellis and Paul Starke are set to step in as guests with Poole also using rider replacement.