BUCCANEERS new boy James Brundle revealed he almost turned down the club’s approach for him after hitting double figures on his debut.

The former Eastbourne rider won four races on his way to an impressive 13 paid 14 tally in Bournemouth Castle Cover’s 50-40 home cup win over King’s Lynn last night.

Then the 23-year-old, whose side lost the two-legged National League Knockout Cup, quarter-final, encounter 92-89 on aggregate, said: “I did turn down Bournemouth’s approach to start with.

“I have other commitments with Troy Batchelor, who I help out full time as his mechanic in England.

“So I didn’t know what to say first of all, but when Garry May rang back and said ‘we’re desperate, we need you to ride’, I just couldn’t turn it down.”

Brundle, brought in to replace Chris Mills, who has moved up into the Premier League, added: “I had a good time tonight. I really enjoyed myself.

“It’s probably the best thing I have done coming here to Bournemouth.

“I had a fun day, we had a really good team bonding session and I really enjoyed my day. I’m really pleased I signed for them.

“I might not be in the league I want, but it’s good enough for me now. And I definitely want to be top of the National League averages by the end of the season.

“I need to put myself in the shop window for next year. That is my goal for this season.

“Garry and Neil Vatcher have been good enough to give me this opportunity to prove myself and move on to the next step next year and rekindle my career.”

This season, Brundle had guested for Swindon at Ipswich, appeared at Eastbourne in a past versus present riders challenge and ridden four times for King’s Lynn in the third tier before his Bournemouth bow last night.

He said: “I’ve done Elite League and National League, which is crazy. And the league I want (Premier), I can’t get.

“But I’m really happy to be at Bournemouth, and Garry said we’ll sort out any fixtures clashes with my work with Troy.”

Brundle’s appearance last night was his first for about a month, but despite top scoring for his side, he couldn’t team up with Daniel Halsey, who got 10 paid 12, to grab the 5-1 in heat 15 that would have sent Buccaneers into the semis.

Bournemouth led Brundle’s former side 47-37 going into that race, but trailed 89-86 on aggregate after losing the first leg 52-39 in Norfolk.

But Jake Anderson, guesting for Stars, outgated both Buccaneers to take the chequered flag in the last-heat decider and secure King’s Lynn’s success.

Brundle said: “We got the short end of the stick with the gates in heat 15.

“Maybe I should have gone off two, but I thought I would give Danny the best gate and leave myself on the outside off four.

“But it didn’t work out to plan. We did try our hardest. We got the 3-3, but that’s all we could manage.

“We all wanted it bad, which everyone could see because there were a few little spills (one for Kyle Howarth and two for Aaron Baseby).

“At the end of the day, we couldn’t make up the deficit the team conceded at King’s Lynn.”

Talking about his own display, Brundle added: “It was okay.

“It’s nice to get out the starts quickly and it’s also nice to do it from the back a little bit, which I did a couple of times. It was just a shame about heat 15.

“There is still a lot I can improve on. I don’t feel I was as quick as I can be. There is a lot still to come from me.”

Explaining why his bike bellowed smoke on his heat six victory lap, Brundle said: “My rocker cover on the engine came loose and was dripping oil onto the exhaust.

“That’s why we had a smoking situation.

“I didn’t know until Danny told me and I looked down. I just tightened the rocker up and carried on with that bike.

“I didn’t want to swap bikes at that stage, especially as I hadn’t tested the second bike anyway.”

Buccaneers 50: 1 James Brundle (3-3-3-3-1*) 13+1, 2 Daniel Halsey (2*-2*-3-1-2) 10+2, 3 Karl Mason (0-0-2-3) 5, 4 Kyle Howarth (3-2-fell exc-2) 7, 5 Mark Baseby (3-1-2-2*) 8+1, 6 John Resch (1*-0-1*) 2+2, 7 Aaron Baseby (2-fell exc-2*-fell exc-1) 5+1. Team managers: Garry May and Neil Vatcher.

King’s Lynn 40: 1 (guest) Jake Anderson (1-3-3-fell-3) 10, 2 Scott Campos (0-1-0-1) 2, 3 Carl McDade (2-3-0-ret) 5, 4 Adam Lowe (1*-2*-2-3-0) 8+2, 5 Darren Mallett (1*-1-3-1) 6+1, 6 Lewis Kerr (0-0-1) 1, 7 Jake Knight (3-2-1-2-0) 8. Team manager: Dale Allitt.

Referee: Daniel Holt.

Ht 1: Brundle, Halsey, Anderson, Canpos, 61.56 (5-1).

Ht 2: Knight, A Baseby, Resch, Kerr, 61.88 (8-4).

Ht 3: Howarth, McDade, Lowe, Mason, 62.31 (11-7).

Ht 4: (re-run) M Baseby, Knight, Mallett, A Baseby (fell excluded), 62.57 (14-10).

Ht 5: Anderson, Howarth, Campos, Mason, 62.65 (16-14).

Ht 6: Brundle, Halsey, Mallett, Kerr, 62.60 (21-15).

Ht 7: McDade, Lowe, M Baseby, Resch, 62.80 (22-20).

Ht 8: Halsey, A Baseby, Knight, Campos, 63.36 (27-21).

Ht 9: (re-run) Mallett, Mason, Kerr, Howarth (fell excluded), 63.01 (29-25).

Ht 10: Brundle, Lowe, Halsey, McDade, 62.87 (33-27).

Ht 11: (re-run) Anderson, M Baseby, Campos, A Baseby (fell excluded), 63.23 (35-31).

Ht 12: Mason, Knight, A Baseby, McDade (retired), 63.34 (39-33).

Ht 13: Brundle, M Baseby, Mallett, Anderson (fell), 63.13 (44-34).

Ht 14: Lowe, Howarth, Resch, Knight, 63.04 (47-37).

Ht 15: Anderson, Halsey, Brundle, Lowe, 63.15 (50-40).