PIRATES skipper Bjarne Pedersen's Grand Prix future is severely under threat after another inconsistent round in Sweden on Saturday night.

There is no doubt the Dane is one of the fastest gaters in world speedway, one of the sport's most professional riders and one of the smartest.

But it takes brains and brawn to become world champion and Pedersen will need to start flexing his muscles if he is to secure his GP status for 2009.

Even gentleman Leigh Adams showed his clout in Scandinavia, bulldozing past runner-up Hans Andersen to take a thrilling final ahead of Nicki Pedersen and Jason Crump.

With his battling third place, world number one Nicki proved just why he has enjoyed such a lengthy stay on top of the World Championship standings.

Going into his final two rides, the Dane had just four points from his opening races and knew he needed to star against Bjarne in heat 13.

Despite the Pirate getting the drop off gate two, Nicki cut back superbly and shot up his inside on the second bend, before passing Andreas Jonsson for the win.

This pretty much summed up Bjarne's night - a night where he constantly struggled to take charge in the opening corners.

He was hung out to dry during his first ride in heat three.

Despite making a decent start off trap four, he was left high and handsome on turn one as Greg Hancock went on to beat wild card Peter Ljung and Chris Harris took third.

Pedersen then claimed second in heat eight behind a rejuvenated Lukas Dryml and held off a decent challenge from Scott Nicholls. But after being out-trapped by Hans Andersen in heat 10, Pedersen was then dive-bombed by a superb move from Jason Crump on turn two.

This was before Leigh Adams forced the Ryde-born man out on the fourth bend to leave him pointless again.

The Dane produced a much improved final outing, though, in heat 19.

Pedersen was forced wide by Fredrik Lindgren, which allowed Krzysztof Kasprzak and Niels-Kristian Iversen to dive through.

But the Pirate did not panic and produced one of the moves of the meeting on bend four.

He scorched round Kasprzak and Iversen, before making a hard cutback to shoot under Lindgren for a lead, which he never relinquished.

One more performance like this earlier in the meeting would have been enough to put him in the semis.

As it is, his six-point haul has left him 13th in the World Championship and a massive 15 points off the top eight spot he needs to secure his GP place.

The time has come for one of world speedway's nice guys to take a leaf out of Nicki Pedersen's playbook and get tough.

Few would question that he has the speed and talent to do it.

However, unless he shows some serious brawn in the final four GPs, he will be using his brain to figure out a way back into the series for 2010.