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PIRATES star Davey Watt has admitted it was "too good an opportunity to turn down" after electing to miss one of their meetings so he could ride in a Grand Prix qualifier.

But Watt, who has impressed for Poole Castle Cover this year, stressed it was "a shame" he could not line up for them at Eastbourne because he didn't want to leave his club in the lurch.

Watt took a lot of stick on the Internet from some fans of the Dorset club for putting his individual ambitions ahead of his Poole duties.

Other supporters, however, were more understanding realising it is almost every rider's dream to qualify for the GP and have a chance of winning the World Championship.

In the end, it worked well for Watt and Pirates.

He scored a 15-point maximum in a GP event in Germany on Monday to reach the semi-finals, while six-man Poole beat Eastbourne 48-41 to go second in the Elite League.

Watt, now just 10 rides away from a place in next year's GP series, said: "I had always wanted to do the GP qualifiers but not got back to Aussie to start the qualifying process.

"Then at the end of last week I had a phone call from Craig Boyce (Australia's team manager) out of the blue and he said what are you doing on the 12th?' and I thought he meant June 12.

"However, he meant May 12 and I was a bit shocked. But I jumped at the chance even though the Abensberg meeting was only a few days away and I'd never been to the place, or raced in Germany before for that matter.

"I would never have turned it down. It was just unfortunate it was on a day Poole were going to Eastbourne.

"It's a track I love riding and I was looking forward to going back there and scoring a bunch of points for Pirates."

Watt's meeting in Abensberg finished before Poole's started, so he was travelling back to his Dorset home while Pirates did battle at Arlington.

The Australian said: "I was on the phone all night to my fiancée Fiona because she was watching the meeting on Sky and telling me all the results.

"It was a fantastic win for the team. It was just a shame I couldn't get back there to be with them. It was just a great day for me. I had qualified for the semi-finals and we had won away.

"That's two away wins on the trot without us having won away before this year. It was just a fabulous few hours for me in the end."

Watt will line up in one of the GP semi-finals at Motala, Sweden, or at Terenzano, Italy, on July 5, the day after Pirates visit Coventry in the league.

There are three GP qualifying places up for grabs for next year's series and they will be decided in the final at Zielona Gora, Poland, on September 14.

7:00am Thursday 15th May 2008

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