It Happened This Week in 2017

For the first time in their history Poole came away from the National Speedway Stadium, Manchester on June 9th, 2017 without having been beaten by their hosts, after clinging on for a 46-46 draw against the Belle Vue Aces.
 

Despite trailing by 10-points at one stage of the meeting, the Pirates were actually in the driving seat with two heats remaining as guest Troy Batchelor (deputising for the Poole's number one at the time Gregorz Zengota) and skipper Hans Andersen had worked a 4-2 advantage over Max Fricke and Craig Cook in heat 13 to lead by two.

That margin was retained when Brady Kurtz collected his second win of the meeting in heat 14 with victory over Justin Sedgmen and young Brit Dan Bewley, as for the first time on the night the second Poole guest, Josh Bates, failed to score. So with the heat shared the Pirates went into the final race facing triple race winner Kenneth Bjerre and the ever-threatening Fricke.

Fighting the Poole corner were Aussies Kurtz and Batchelor both keen to try and avoid a repeat of the events five days earlier at Leicester in which again they had been leading going into the final heat only to concede a 5-1 that allowed the Lions to snatch the draw.
As thing's turned out this was another potential victory that slipped through the Pirates' grasp but

it took two good overtakes by the Aces' pairing to deny Poole a victory parade, Dane Bjerre managing to find his way by the hard working guest Batchelor for the lead, a move which was swiftly followed by Fricke working the lines to overcome Kurtz, two sweet moves that levelled the match at 46 a-piece.

This was Poole's fourth visit to the NSS which the Belle Vue club began using in 2016. Poole's first visit on August 29th 2016 saw them slip to a 49-41 defeat and just a couple of weeks later a last heat 5-1 from Rohan Tungate (guesting for Hans Andersen) and Chris Holder earned them a consolation league point.  Drawn against the Aces in the 2017 Knockout Cup the Pirates were scuppered 57-33 in April 2017.

BELLE VUE 46

M. Fricke 2,3,1,2,1=9

S. Worrall 0,1,3,0=4

K. Bjerre 3,3,0,3,3=12

J. Sedgmen 2',0,2,2=6+1

C. Cook 3,3,1,0=7

D. Bewley 3,1,0,0,1'=5+1

J. Smith 1,2',0=3+1

POOLE 46

T. Batchelor 3,1',3,3,2=12+1

J. Holder 1,2,1',2'=6+2

K. Newman F,0,2',1'=3+2

B. Kurtz 1,4,3,3,0=11

H. Andersen 1,2,3,1=7

J. Bates 2,2,1,2,0=7

J. Shanes 0,0,0=0

Ht 1 T. Batchelor M. Fricke J. Holder S. Worrall 2-4 (2-4) (60.91)

Ht 2 D. Bewley J. Bates J. Smith J. Shanes 4-2 (6-6) (60.28)

Ht 3 K. Bjerre J. Sedgmen B. Kurtz K. Newman (Fell) 5-1 (11-7) (60.4)

Ht 4 C. Cook J. Smith H. Andersen J. Shanes 5-1 (16-8) (61.94)

Ht 5 K. Bjerre J. Holder T. Batchelor J. Sedgmen 3-3 (19-11) (60.18)

Ht 6 M. Fricke H. Andersen S. Worrall J. Shanes 4-2 (23-13) (60.42)

Ht 7 C. Cook B. Kurtz (TR) D. Bewley K. Newman 4-4 (27-17) (60.72)

Ht 8 S. Worrall J. Bates J. Holder J. Smith 3-3 (30-20) (61.12)

Ht 9 H. Andersen J. Sedgmen J. Bates K. Bjerre 2-4 (32-24) (61.44)

Ht 10 B. Kurtz K. Newman M. Fricke S. Worrall 1-5 (33-29) (61.62)

Ht 11 T. Batchelor J. Holder C. Cook D. Bewley 1-5 (34-34) (62.19)

Ht 12 K. Bjerre J. Bates K. Newman D. Bewley 3-3 (37-37) (62.09)

Ht 13 T. Batchelor M. Fricke H. Andersen C. Cook 2-4 (39-41) (61.6)

Ht 14 B. Kurtz J. Sedgmen D. Bewley J. Bates 3-3 (42-44) (62.28)

Ht 15 K. Bjerre T. Batchelor M. Fricke B. Kurtz 4-2 (46-46) (61.91)