Powerful Pirates beat Bears
A mid-meeting surge from Poole was enough for the reigning league champions to secure a 52-38 win over the Redcar “Agilia” Bears. Steve Worrall top scored for Poole with 12+1 whilst Danny King hit 12 for Redcar. The Bears badly missed their number 1, Charles Wright with rider replacement only returning 5 and with Wright in the side, one assumes the Bears would have ran the Pirates closer.
Heat 1 saw the “Agilia” Bears boss, Gavin Parr bring in Erik Riss as the rider replacement and the decision paid huge dividends as ‘The Business’ flew from the tapes for the win, and with Danyon Hume in a comfortable 2nd, Redcar had the dream start at Wimborne Road. Poole got their first heat winner on the board in heat 2 as Anders Rowe took the win, but with Connor Coles holding off Joe Thompson for 3rd, the Bears remained 4 ahead in the early stages.
Heat 3 saw the Pirates hit their first heat advantage as Ben Cook passed Riss on lap 2 for the win with Redcar’s Riss doing well to hold off Zach Cook to prevent Poole levelling the meeting. The Bears stand-in skipper, Danny King opened his account with a heat 4 win, but with Redcar’s guest, Connor Coles unable to make any impression on Joe Thompson, Redcar remained in a narrow 2 point lead on the south coast.
Poole hit their first maximum heat advantage of the night in heat 5 as Ben Cook passed Hume on lap 1 whilst Zach Cook then joined his brother at the front on lap 4 to give the Pirates the 5-1 and the lead. Poole struck their second successive 5-1 with Richard Lawson winning whilst Kyle Newman held off Danny King in the early stages. Disappointingly, King then fell with the referee awarding the race in favour of the Pirates.
Further trouble for the Bears followed in heat 7 despite Redcar gating on a 3-3. Worrall gated and won comfortably but Rowe passed Bailey before profiting from an Erik Riss bike problem to take 2nd to ensure the reigning league champions took full control. Poole struck yet another 5-1 in heat 8 as messrs Newman and Rowe combined to comfortably see off Hume and Edwards to send the hosts into a 14 point lead.
Heat 9 saw Riss come in on a tactical substitute with King and Riss gating on a 5-1 but Riss was passed by Ben Cook at the end of lap 1 whilst Zach Cook passed Riss on the run to the line to prevent a Bears heat advantage. Heat 10 saw Redcar gate on a 4-2 but Newman came to grief on lap 2 with the former Bear excluded. Heat 10’s re-run saw Lawson gate and win despite educated pressure from Bailey to keep the Pirates in a 14 point lead.
Heat 11 was won by Steve Worrall but Danyon Hume impressively passed Anders Rowe to ensure a shared race at Wimborne Road. After the interval, Redcar hit back with a much needed 5-1 as, after a tight start, Ben Cook broke down on the backstraight of lap 1 with Redcar not letting the opportunity pass them by as Bailey (who looked to be threatening before Cook’s engine failure) won and with Edwards in second, Redcar reduced the arrears to 10.
Heat 13 saw Parr bring in Danyon Hume as the rider replacement and with King leading and Hume in 3rd, Redcar looked set for a heat advantage. However, Hume hit the air fence on the final bend after colliding with Steve Worrall but with the referee calling in favour of Poole, we had a shared race.
Heat 14 saw Poole secure the 3 points with a shared race but Riss did win after a good gate, but with Coles at the rear, Redcar did not cut into Poole’s lead. Poole wrapped up proceedings with a heat 15 5-1 as Lawson and Worrall combined to give Poole a 52-38 win after 15 heats of excellent speedway.
Poole Pirates = 52 (97)
1. Richard Lawson = 10+1
2. Kyle Newman = 6+1
3. Ben Cook = 8
4. Zach Cook = 6+2
5. Steve Worrall = 12+1
6. Anders Rowe = 8+3
7. Joe Thompson (G) = 2+1
Redcar Bears = 38 (83)
1. Charles Wright R/R = 5
2. Danyon Hume = 5+2
3. Connor Bailey = 6
4. Erik Riss = 9+1
5. Danny King = 12
6. Jason Edwards = 6+1
7. Connor Coles (G) = 1+1
