REPORT: Poole Pirates v Redcar Bears - BSN Semi Final 1st Leg

The first leg BSN Semi final clash finished in victory for the Wessex Marine Pirates with a dramatic 48-42 finish, the Pirates only going ahead in heat fourteen

Inspired by two former British Champions, Danny King and Charles Wright, the Redcar Bears had the Wessex Marine Pirates on the ropes for the vast majority of the meeting but a late recovery from the home side ensured the Dorset side will go into the second leg with a points total to defend.
The ex-D's, King and Danyon Hume gave the Bears the perfect start, King setting out his stall by delivering a big distance win in heat one, the nearest rider to him being parter Hume as Poole fell behind.

It was margin that that the Bears preciously held on to, Jason Edwards making a good start in heat two and able to shrug off a brief challenge coming off the second turn from Adam Roynon and then being even more resilient against the niggling Kyle Newman. Charles Wright had all the pace in heat three and behind him Ben Cook made a bit of a mess of his chosen route at the second turn and then had to dig deep to overcome Connor Bailey who had slipped into third place. Ben showed no mercy as he neatly moved Baily out on the first turn the next time around. Richard Lawson put in a fine first lap challenge on King before the latter once again stretched his legs in style. An error from Roynon cost him dearly and Redcar's Jake Mulford took third place and in the process extended his side's lead to six points.

The Cook boys were out the traps on a 5-1 in heat five but Wright found a good turn of speed and Zach couldn't hold him out, although Ben stood fast to become the first Poole race winner. In heat six Worrall and Newman were level-pegging as they gated leaving King plenty of work to do, and whilst he was able to reel in Newman he had to give second best this time around to the Pirates' current skipper. Lawson was away fast and disappeared into a different postcode but the Bears were content to have Wright nursing Bailey home for a heat share, although in truth they never came under threat from the struggling Roynon. Ben Cook was away fast in heat eight but Hume had the better line to cruise round Newman to restrict Poole to a 4-2, although that was enough to level the meeting.

King then came under pressure from Ben Cook in heat nine, but the pressure fizzled out and King went on to collect his third win from four outings. It was Wright writing the headlines in heat ten as he went wider each circuit and then switched lines to make an inside pass on leader Worrall to maintain the parity of scores. Lawson was quick to establish pole position in heat eleven but Newman couldn't quite make his move off turn two work to perfection and had to concede points to Hume and Jason Edwards. A blown motor for Ben Cook meant he had to switch to his brother's machine and he managed to save the day for the Pirates with an on-the-line pass on Edwards to share the spoils in heat twelve, a race won again by Wright.

No quarter was being given in heat thirteen when Lawson, King and Worrall all entered turn three shoulder to shoulder and there just wasn't enough room for all three to come out the other side, Worrall the victim as he ran out of track room and took a fall. His bike bounced away from him and landed remarkably on the top of the air-fence where it became stuck. After a delay whilst the airbag section was replaced the Bears put themselves seemingly in the driving seat as King escaped from Lawson in the re-run to give the visitors a two point lead with two heats remaining of this first leg. But a superb choice of lines for Zach Cook in heat fourteen set himself up to charge ahead of the Bears pairing and join Newman on the Pirates first maximum heat score of the night, one sufficient too, to give Poole the lead for the first time. Sensationally, on his back-up machine, Worrall showed no ill-effects from that heat thirteen fall and he and Lawson produced a rousing 5-1 over those ex-British Champions, giving the Pirates a six point lead to take to the ECCO Arena.

Heat Details

Poole 48
Steve Worrall 1,3,2,FD,2'=8+1 (5)
Rider Replacement
Ben Cook 1',3,3,2,1'=10+2 (5)
Zach Cook 0,2,1,1',3=7+1 (5)
Richard Lawson 2,3,3,2,3=13 (5)
Kyle Newman 2,1,RS,1,1',0,2,2'=9+2 (7)
Adam Roynon 1',0,0,RS,RS=1+1 (3)
Sam Hagon =0 ()
Redcar 42
Rider Replacement
Danyon Hume 2',0,2,2,1=7+1 (5)
Charles Wright 3,2,1',3,3,0=12+1 (6)
Connor Bailey 0,2,0,0=2 (4)
Danny King 3,3,2,3,3,1=15 (6)
Jason Edwards 3,0,0,RS,1',0,1=5+1 (6)
Jake Mulford 0,1,RS,0,RS=1 (3)
Alex Spooner =0 ()
Ht 1:  D.King, D.Hume, S.Worrall, Z.Cook 1-5 1-5 [59.1]
Ht 2:  J.Edwards, K.Newman, A.Roynon, J.Mulford 3-3 4-8 [61.22]
Ht 3:  C.Wright, Z.Cook, B.Cook, C.Bailey 3-3 7-11 [59.97]
Ht 4:  D.King, R.Lawson, J.Mulford, A.Roynon 2-4 9-15 [59.72]
Ht 5:  B.Cook, C.Wright, Z.Cook, D.Hume 4-2 13-17 [59/.63]
Ht 6:  S.Worrall, D.King, K.Newman, J.Edwards 4-2 17-19 [60.25]
Ht 7:  R.Lawson, C.Bailey, C.Wright, A.Roynon 3-3 20-22 [59.97]
Ht 8:  B.Cook, D.Hume, K.Newman, J.Edwards 4-2 24-24 [59.6]
Ht 9:  D.King, B.Cook, Z.Cook, J.Mulford 3-3 27-27 [59.94]
Ht 10:  C.Wright, S.Worrall, K.Newman, C.Bailey 3-3 30-30 [60.5]
Ht 11:  R.Lawson, D.Hume, J.Edwards, K.Newman 3-3 33-33 [61.03]
Ht 12:  C.Wright, K.Newman, B.Cook, J.Edwards 3-3 36-36 [60.53]
Ht 13:  D.King, R.Lawson, D.Hume, S.Worrall [fell exc] 2-4 38-40 [60.06]
Ht 14:  Z.Cook, K.Newman, J.Edwards, C.Bailey 5-1 43-41 [60]
Ht 15:  R.Lawson, S.Worrall, D.King, C.Wright 5-1 48-42 [60.34]

REFEREE:  Mr Matthew Wear 
Redcar won toss and chose gates 1&3 | Poole choose gates 1&3 in heat 15  
 

Photographs courtesy and copyright Anthony Burchell and Tony Hartmann