DETERMINED Drew Kemp said he would like to be part of Pirates’ septet once again next season – but admitted he was “not in control” of his destiny.

The three-time British under-19 champion has moved out of the reserve berths from the start of the year at Wimborne Road and held a place in the main body of an unchanged one-to-seven.

Kemp is set to line up as Poole visit Leicester in the second leg of the SGB Championship play-off final tonight (6pm), holding a 49-41 advantage from Wednesday’s first leg.

A number of riders have expressed their desire to remain at Wimborne Road for 2023.

Asked how much he would like to be at Poole again, Kemp, who totalled four paid five on Wednesday, told the Daily Echo: “Very much.

“I am not going to try to put pressure on myself. These last few meetings are important meetings to try to sort of put yourself in the shop window for next year – not just Poole but for other teams.

“I would like to be at Poole but I am not in control of that, that’s down to Matt and Danny (Ford). I am just going to go out, do my best, enjoy riding my bike which is what I do best and we will go from there.

“I’ve enjoyed every minute of riding for Poole. Poole is the team I wanted to ride for since I first started speedway.

“I started the season well. I haven’t quite finished the season as strong as I wanted to but there’s quite possibly three meetings left and it’s been good.

“I have enjoyed it a lot but if Wednesday was the last meeting at home I would have liked to have done a bit better. It is what it is, it’s a new year next year and hopefully I’ll be back to prove what I can do.”

Quizzed on whether being a Pirate made him a better rider, Kemp added: “Definitely. I have put more than a point, nearly two points on my average and I’ve never done that before. I have got to the main body of the team and stayed there.

“It has certainly made me a better rider. Now is the time to build on this year, look to next year, see what I did wrong and right and go from there.”

Should they defend their advantage at Leicester, a double would be secured for Poole having also already defended their Knockout Cup crown.

“The fact is that we have a lead, that’s the most important thing,” said Kemp after the first leg against the Lions. “It would have been nice to come away with a bigger lead but a lead is a lead.

“That’s something to build on. We could have been going there 10 down like we were originally looking at.

“Eight points is a big enough margin, I think. We went to Glasgow and we beat them, there’s no reason we can’t do the same at Leicester.”