BJARNE Pedersen has vowed to put Pirates' title chase in front of any personal glory ahead of the Elite League Riders' Championship at Birmingham tonight (7.30pm).

The Dane, who has led Poole Castle Cover to the top of the table this year, lines up at Perry Barr in the individual event alongside team-mate Chris Holder.

Pedersen, who carried off the ELRC at Poole in 2004, is among the favourites to lift the trophy on a neutral track that only Holder of the other riders has ridden before.

But Pirates' skipper said: "At the moment it's been so busy. I've had a meeting almost every day, so the most important thing for me is the league in England.

"All the rest really is second.

"Of course I will go to Birmingham and try to do a good meeting, but I've never been there before and it's not easy to prepare yourself with an engine in those circumstances.

"During the last month I've had so many meetings, normally every day I'm racing.

"I can feel it at the moment, so I'm trying to eat at the right time to get energy into the body.

"I feel that I've been struggling the last two weeks and know it's me because the bike is working well.

"It's hard when you're travelling from country to country but I felt different against Belle Vue and hopefully I can keep going from there."

Pedersen, whose main rivals tonight include Jason Crump, Leigh Adams, Hans Andersen, Chris Harris, Andreas Jonsson, Scott Nicholls and Holder, praised the use of a neutral track for domestic speedway's top individual event of the year.

The Dane, who finished fifth in last season's final at King's Lynn, another neutral track, said: "It is very exciting going to Birmingham.

"I think the crowd will love to see Elite League riders on a Premier League track.

"We might all struggle a bit with our bikes first of all but I think we'll find the set-ups quickly and I have just heard good things about Birmingham."

Pedersen, who finished fifth alongside Holder in Pirates' colours in the Elite League Pairs at Blunsdon on Sunday, added: "We knew that Swindon would be hard to beat because the event was there and they got to the final.

"You always get an advantage when you are racing at home in one of these competitions so it's the right time to stage this championship on a Premier League track."

Holder got a 15-point maximum for Isle of Wight at Birmingham last season but doesn't feel it will have any bearing on his performance tonight.

He said: "It's a really good track, but the opposition are outstanding world class riders, so I don't think it will be that much advantage to me that I've already ridden there.

"They all know what to do, the likes of Crumpie, Leigh, Scott, Bjarne, etc, so I'll just try to find the same set-up I had last time and hopefully I will go well."

Line-up: 1 Chris Holder, 2 Jason Crump, 3 Fredrik Lindgren, 4 Leigh Adams, 5 Rory Schlein, 6 Lee Richardson, 7 Piotr Swiderski, 8 Chris Harris, 9 Charlie Gjedde, 10 Scott Nicholls, 11 Adam Shields, 12 Bjarne Pedersen, 13 Mads Korneliussen, 14 Andreas Jonsson, 15 Hans Andersen, 16 Niels-Kristian Iversen.