GP's Cost Pedersen
Created on Monday, 06 February 2012 13:51
Bjarne Pedersen believes that his place in the Grand Prix series reduced his chance of returning to Eastbourne.
Pedersen joined the Eagles at the start of the 2011 season after being left out of parent club Poole's team plans, during his time at Arlington he played a key part in the club reaching the Elite League play-offs against the Pirates and also a semi-final finish in the Knockout Cup.
The World Cup winning Dane has qualified for this years Grand Prix series, it will be the first time since 2008 that he will be a GP regular.
With Eastbourne riding on Saturday nights, the likelihood of Pedersen remaining at Arlington reduced despite his performances last year. The 33-year-old will take part in the 12 rounds of the GP series this year as well as the qualification process for 2013.
Pedersen has now joined Midlands outfit Birmingham on a two-year-deal and he revealed that he didn't expect to move on from Eastbourne so quickly.
“To be fair, I didn’t expect that I’d need to move again. I felt I had done an okay job for Eastbourne, but I think the Grand Prix thing counted against me in the end." Pedersen told SpeedwayGP.com
“When I last spoke to Eastbourne, they could not say anything and were 50/50 about next year. Graham (Drury) called me a couple of days later and he was ready to talk about the future. So I ended up moving on again.”
He added: “Of course they are looking to keep running on Saturdays and I’m involved in the Grand Prix and all the qualification meetings. I can understand that their Saturdays are really important for them.
“But when I look back, I have to say I really enjoyed my season at Eastbourne. It was a fantastic club to race for.”