REPORT: Poole Pirates v Redcar Bears (Championship)

Poole 'Wessex Marine' Pirates march on at the top of the early-season league table with a convincing 51-39 home victory against the Redcar Bears.

 For the first time since July 2023 the Pirates opened a meeting with back to back five-one heat advantages and had it not been for a piece of vintage Danny King riding in heat three, they might well have recorded a perfect three-heat start to a meeting.

Tobias Thomsen was close enough to Richard Lawson in heat one to allow the Poole number one to gift him the race win, particularly as Charles Wright was too far adrift to present any risk. Paul Starke and Darryl Ritchings were obliged to make first turn headway for a second time in heat two, as Ace Pijper fell first time of asking, just after guest Sonny Springer had lifted awkwardly leaving the tapes, doing well it has to be said to stay in contact with this machine. Lewi Kerr and Zach Cook had a bit of freedom out front in heat three until King demonstrated his liking for Wimborne Road, working his way through the traffic and sharing the heat.  If King was good in three, then Anders Rowe was superb in four as he stalked Erik Riss for virtually the whole race, timing his move to absolute perfection, his wheel crossing the finishing line just ahead of the German.  Charles Wright warmed up for the weekend's back-to-back GP rounds by passing Cook down the back straight on lap one of heat five, but Jake Mulford was denied a look-in, as Poole led 20-10.

 Plenty of jeopardy followed in heat six as Riss, on a bike borrowed from guest Joe Thompson (covering for the injured Jason Edwards) just managed to beat the two minutes, but was left standing at the tapes as the random start malfunctioned. Given a second chance to revert to his machine, all looked well until a minute before expiry of the time allowance for the re-run, so was left no option to switch machines again, this time on Wright's. But he would have needed a super Turbo to have lived with sub-sixty second pacemaker Lawson. Thomsen couldn't inflict any effective pressure on Riss, but equally was far too good for Springer, to offer any threat to another Poole heat gain. Rowe was left with no reward from his hard-chasing efforts in heat seven as he attempted, turn-on-turn, to split the Bears, led by King. Sheer determination saw Thomsen pass Mulford in the early stages of heat eight and with Ritchings tallying up the points, Poole had restored that ten point lead. Down by such a margin, Redcar turned to King for a tactical ride but Cook and Kerr upset all the plans as they conspired for a 5-1 to stretch the lead further. Lawson found a superb line, wide round the boards to show his superiority in heat ten but King and Thompson prevented any further deterioration in the score-line that read 37-23 at the two-thirds marker.

The final five heats proved not to be as productive as the Pirates would have wanted, hampered largely by Anders Rowe having to withdraw with a groin injury, but not before he played a part in ensuring heat eleven was shared, behind Wright's victory. Poole seemed to have put themselves in a strong position to challenge for the aggregate bonus point in the return fixture, next month, once Kerr and Ritchings gave Poole a sixteen point lead on the night. But unable to track Rowe in thirteen, the Pirates were heavily reliant on Lawson doing the lions' share of the work as reserve replacement Paul Starke found that King and Wright were too much for him. Sent out for back-to-back rides, Starke again failed to score, in fourteen, unlike three-time winner King who had Pijper supporting in third. Poole went for their opening pairing in heat fifteen but couldn't replicate what they had done in heat one, largely due to a couple of sluggish starts. Lawson comfortably picked off Riss but King was to deny him his paid maximum and Redcar had reduced the overall deficit to just twelve points. 

POOLE 51
Richard Lawson 2',3,3,3,2=13+1 (5)
Tobias Thomsen 3,1,3,0,0=7 (5)
Lewis Kerr 2,2,3,3=10 (4)
Zach Cook 1',1',2',2=6+3 (4)
Anders Rowe 3,1,2,RS=6 (3)
Paul Starke 3,0,1',0,0=4+1 (5)
Darryl Ritchings 2',1,1,1=5+1 (4)
.
REDCAR 39
Charles Wright 1,3,3,1'=8+1 (4)
Jake Mulford 0,0,2,0=2 (4)
Joe Thompson 0,2',1',2=5+2 (4)
Danny King 3,3,0,2,3,3=14 (6)
Erik Riss 2,2,1,2,1=8 (5)
Sonny Springer 0,0,TS,0=0 (3)
Ace Pijper 1,0,0,1=2 (4)
.
Ht 1:  T.Thomsen, R.Lawson, C.Wright, J.Mulford 5-1 5-1 [60.46]
Ht 2:  P.Starke, D.Ritchings, A.Pijper, S.Springer 5-1 10-2 [61.63]
Ht 3:  D.King, L.Kerr, Z.Cook, J.Thompson 3-3 13-5 [60.47]
Ht 4:  A.Rowe, E.Riss, D.Ritchings, A.Pijper 4-2 17-7 [60.58]
Ht 5:  C.Wright, L.Kerr, Z.Cook, J.Mulford 3-3 20-10 [60.07]
Ht 6:  R.Lawson, E.Riss, T.Thomsen, S.Springer 4-2 24-12 [59.9]
Ht 7:  D.King, J.Thompson, A.Rowe, P.Starke 1-5 25-17 [61.12]
Ht 8:  T.Thomsen, J.Mulford, D.Ritchings, A.Pijper 4-2 29-19 [60.65]
Ht 9:  L.Kerr, Z.Cook, E.Riss, D.King, S.Springer [Tac Subbed] 5-1 34-20 [60.3]
Ht 10:  R.Lawson, D.King, J.Thompson, T.Thomsen 3-3 37-23 [59.74]
Ht 11:  C.Wright, A.Rowe, P.Starke, J.Mulford 3-3 40-26 [61]
Ht 12:  L.Kerr, J.Thompson, D.Ritchings, S.Springer 4-2 44-28 [61.33]
Ht 13:  R.Lawson, E.Riss, C.Wright, P.Starke 3-3 47-31 [60.25]
Ht 14:  D.King, Z.Cook, A.Pijper, P.Starke 2-4 49-35 [61.32]
Ht 15:  D.King, R.Lawson, E.Riss, T.Thomsen 2-4 51-39 [60.79]

SGB Referee  Mick Bates 
POOLE won toss and chose gates 1&3 | REDCAR choose gates 1&3 in heat 15  
League Points: POOLE 2 REDCAR 0
 

Photo credit Liam Cockwell