BJARNE PEDERSEN (Danish) - In his 8th successive season with only his second British club, skipper Bjarne Pedersen has been a regular and pivotal name on the Pirates team-sheet since joining the club back in 2002. A member of the highly successful Danish International side and a former world individual number 6 the softly spoken Pedersen prefers to do his talking on track. A firm favourite with the Poole faithful Pedersen is poised to move into the top 5 all time Poole points scorers.

HANS ANDERSEN (Danish) - Hans made a winter decision to ruled himself out of the start of the British season but had a change of heart and was looking for a permanent return when the struggling Pirates had a vacancy. It provided an opportunity for Andersen to return to the club where his British career first began, having been discovered by the Poole promotion way back in 2001 when he rode for two seasons. He made a major impact as a reserve in his debut year but was released in 2003 - a decision that Poole promoter Matt Ford has gone on record as claiming was one of his 'biggest mistakes'. Andersen linked up with Peterborough, had a two year spell with Ipswich (2004-5) before going back to the Showground in 2006 where he remained as a regular campaigner until forced to take a stance over the lack of payments in 2008. It was a stance that saw him 'banned' for withholding his services but he eventually moved to Coventry in the latter part of the 2008 campaign.

CHRIS HOLDER (Australian) One of the most impressive Elite league debutants in the sport's history Chris quickly made a mockery of his assessed 5.05 calculated match average and put over three points on that figure. His all-action style makes him one of the most exciting riders to watch. As well as winning the league title with the Pirates in 2008 he also helped Lejonen to the Swedish title and his Polish club Torun to their respective championship success.The only major disappointment that Chris suffered in 2008, which he began by winning both the Australian senior and junior national titles, was his runner-up finish to Emil Saifutdinov in the World U21 championship (for the second successive year), a competition that he is now aged-barred from. Chris failed to qualify for the GP circuits in 2009 but admitted that he is not quite ready for that stage yet in his career. although many felt he deserved a wild card entry.

JOE SCREEN (British) Former Grand Prix rider, ex-world U21 champion and two times British champion Joe Screen will find himself back on the 'south coast' this season having spent most of his 20 year racing career riding for Northern clubs. He began with Belle Vue Aces back in 1989 before moving on to Bradford the year after winning that world U21 title. After a four year stint as a popular 'Duke', it was back to Belle Vue in 1998 and then onto Hull in 1999. It was after one year as a Viking that Joe came South, joining forces with our seaside rivals Eastbourne for a four term spell. The lure of the Aces in 2003 was too great and he went back to Belle Vue. A veteran of nearly 7300 points Joe will add a wealth of experience to the Castle Cover Pirates

LEON MADSEN (Danish) 20 year old Brovst rider was signed by the Pirates at the beginning of August having been on Matt Ford's radar for some time.

BEN WILSON (British) The 23 year old Sheffield born rider won the British U21 championship in 2006 a year when he rode for both his home-town club and Elite league side Wolverhampton. His career began in 2001 the majority of which has been ridden with Sheffield but in 2008 he linked up with Belle Vue to gain even more experience. Ben joined Redcar this season and was signed up as the Pirates' senior doubling-up rider when the Poole side restructured at the end of May.

JASON DOYLE (Australian) A Poole asset since he first came to these shores, Jason began his British racing career with the Isle of Wight back in 2005, the same year as he first pulled on a Poole race jacket. He remained with the Islanders in 2006 but again rode a couple of fixtures for the Pirates, In 2007 he stepped up full time into the Elite league with Poole in 2007 but his campaign was thwarted by an Easter foot injury that ruled him out for several weeks. In the 29 matches he rode though he actually averaged over 5 points (including bonuses) but finished the season with an official average of 4.76.Jason couldn't be fitted into the Poole side in 2008 but was quickly snapped up on a loan deal by former Poole promoer Mike Golding to ride for Somerset. As their number one he led the Rebels to KO cup success, finishing the season with a 9.77 average. A track spill at Newport in the Prince of Wales Trophy on March 15th saw Jason aggravate his shoulder injury and he has returned to Australia for an operation on his rotator cuff. He was been replaced in the side by Lukasz Jankowski

KYLE LEGAULT (Canadian) Ontario born Kyle Legault will step into the Elite league in 2009 with the Castle Cover Pirates after having completed a successful British speedway apprenticeship with Sheffield (2005-6), Mildenhall (2007) and Birmingham (2008). A triple Canadian champion Kyle endured a nightmare 2008 campaign with the Brummies, breaking his thigh in the early part of the season and then suffering another frightening crash at Sheffield where he sustained a broken jaw. He returned home to Canada to embark on a full recovery and fitness programme and his pedigree is such that he could rapidly settle in to the rigours of Elite league racing.

PAUL FRY (British) 44 year old Paul has gained considerable experience in his two decades of racing and linked up with the Castle Cover Pirates mid-season as part of their re-declared doubling-up partnership with Ben Wilson.
Born in Hereford Paul began his racing career in 1984 with Newcastle and has ridden for a host of clubs since.

STEVE BOXALL (British)

OTHER RIDERS TO HAVE APPEARED ON CONTRACT FOR THE PIRATES IN 2009 BUT SINCE RELEASED

DANIEL DAVIDSSON

KAROL BARAN

ALES DRYML

PAUL HURRY

CARL STONEHEWER

TOMASZ PISZCZ

LUKASZ JANKOWSKI