POOLE 53 COVENTRY 37

An industrious performance from the Ready Power Pirates earned them the bragging rights over their closest rivals Coventry  in a high fuelled speedway affair as Poole moved three points clear at the top of the Elite league.

The Pirates ended the sequence of away wins between the league's top two sides - the previous three encounters this season all having finished in victories for the visiting team- with a comprehensive 53-37 league win which even Davey Watt, who was unbeaten after three rides admitted "somewhat flattered the Pirates as the racing was much tougher than the 16 point margin suggested".

Indeed the Bees may reflect on this being a night when they had more than their share of misfortune but the Pirates went about the task asked of them by promoter Matt Ford which the large crowd, starved of Wimborne Road action for a fortnight , had plenty to enthuse over.

Trailing by just four points and looking to have a strong combination in Hans Andersen and Chris Harris the Bees suffered a big slice of misfortune as Andersen failed to negotiate the first turn of heat 6 and collected his partner in the process. Harris, somewhat of a Wimborne Road big heat hero came out to win the re-run over North and Gomolski.

The Pirates, who had opened with an Aussie duo 5-1 from Holder and Watt had been pegged back by a fast trapping James Sarjeant and Jason Garritty pairing in the reserves race, although that sharpness from the tapes was to provide a major piece of drama as in his second outing Sarjeant,  again made early movement at the tapes.

This time the heat was called back and as start marshal Rob Wadham appeared to try and relay the instructions from the referee about remaining stationary at the tapes, Sarjeant saw the red mist and had a verbal set to with the starting official.

It was a moment that failed to endear the Bees' reserve to the Poole faithful although with his night eventually ending  with a nasty heat 12 fall after clipping Kyle Newman's rear wheel the jeers were to subside.

A mid-meeting string of shared heats, with  Poole in the main filling the minor places the meeting was very much in the balance past the halfway stage, but an excellent ride by a determined Janowski to overcome the efforts of Hans Andersen who was doing his best to keep out the attack from behind, supported North's fine win and Poole had made a major breakthrough. That was the second 5-1 combination from that particular duo for it had been an excellent ride by North in the third heat of the night that gave Poole their second breakthrough.

But after the interval there was no way back for the hard pressing Bees with  Chris Holder winning two of the final three heats, although he admitted  "I got lucky there in the last one.  I made a mistake and Bomber took advantage but somehow, with poor Chris breaking down, I got away with it.  I must admit though I did feel good all night until I made that error and it was a good night for the lads. We put some points on the board early, kept our heads and went from there."

Poole 53
C. Holder 3,2,3,3,3=14
D. Watt 2',3,3,0=8+1
D. North 2',2,3,2,2'=11+2
K. Gomolski 1',1',2,1'=5+3
M. Janowski 3,1',2',1=7+2
P. Starke 0,0,0,1=1
K. Newman 1,2,1',3=7+1
COVENTRY 37
H. Andersen 0,FD,1,0=1
S. Robson 1,2,Dq,0=3
J. Kylmakorpi R,3,2,0=5
D. King 3,0,2,3,1=9
C. Harris 1,3,1',2,R=7+1
J. Garrity 2',1',3,1',2=9+3
J. Sarjeant 3,0,F=3

Ht 1 C. Holder D. Watt S. Robson H. Andersen 5-1 (5-1) (59.44)
Ht 2 J. Sarjeant J. Garrity K. Newman P. Starke 1-5 (6-6) (61.16)
Ht 3 M. Janowski D. North C. Harris J. Kylmakorpi (Rtd) 5-1 (11-7) (59.97)
Ht 4 D. King K. Newman K. Gomolski J. Sarjeant 3-3 (14-10) (60.32)
Ht 5 D. Watt S. Robson J. Garrity P. Starke 3-3 (17-13) (60.16)
Ht 6 C. Harris D. North K. Gomolski H. Andersen (Fell d/q) 3-3 (20-16) (59.88)
Ht 7 J. Kylmakorpi C. Holder M. Janowski D. King 3-3 (23-19) (60.47)
Ht 8 J. Garrity K. Gomolski K. Newman S. Robson(D/Q) 3-3 (26-22) (60.41)
Ht 9 D. Watt D. King J. Garrity P. Starke 3-3 (29-25) (60.34)
Ht 10 D. North M. Janowski H. Andersen S. Robson 5-1 (34-26) (60.62)
Ht 11 C. Holder J. Kylmakorpi C. Harris D. Watt 3-3 (37-29) (59.59)
Ht 12 K. Newman J. Garrity P. Starke J. Sarjeant (Fell) 4-2 (41-31) (AWD)
Ht 13 C. Holder C. Harris M. Janowski H. Andersen 4-2 (45-33) (59.87)
Ht 14 D. King D. North K. Gomolski J. Kylmakorpi 3-3 (48-36) (60.62)
Ht 15 C. Holder D. North D. King C. Harris (Rtd) 5-1 (53-37) (61)

Referee Michael Breckon
Gates: Poole  won the toss and chose 1&3. Coventry take 1&3 in heat 15
Elite League points: Poole 3 Coventry 0

For more pictures from the meeting visit our gallery here