THROWBACK THURSDAY: REMEMBER ZORRO'S BIG NIGHT?

With the new season now less than five weeks away, undoubtedly everyone is looking forward to the Neil Middleditch Testimonial meeting on 25th March, a prelude to a brand new era for the Pirates as they return to second tier racing for the first time in 30 years.

But with the word Testimonial in our mind, our Thursday Throwback this week returns us to the year 2005 when on 30th March fans gathered to hail homage to a true showman, Magnus  'Zorro' Zetterstrom.

Under a four team tournament format, each side carried the name of a sponsor - Travis Perkins Bulldogs, featured the late Lee Richardson and our present day skipper Danny King; Farsons Transport Vikings had the man himself, Magnus, team up with another favourite Poole Swede Antonio Lindback; DJN Kangaroos were all of Aussie status Leigh Adams and Craig Boyce leading the way; Poole Bay Freight Euros featuring Bjarne Pedersen and another rider who sadly is no longer with us Matej Ferjan.

After 20 heats of four team scoring it was the Kangaroos who topped the charts with 40 points, four clear of the Euros (36) with Vikings 31 and Bulldogs 18.

To conclude a night of top quality entertainment the top two scorers from each sides then went into individual action for the 'Zorro Championship'.

Chris Neath (Bulldogs), Lindback (Vikings), Ryan Sullivan (Kangaroos) and Piotr Protasiewicz (Euros) contested the first semi-final and Sullivan continued his unbeaten showing with a victory over Lindback as the first two finalists were revealed.
David Howe (Bulldogs), Freddie Lindgren (Vikings), Adams (Kangaroos) and Pedersen (Euros) were in semi two and again the strength of the Aussies shone through as Adams matched Sullivan's night of straight wins whilst Pedersen registered his third second place (he had also won twice) to secure a place in that big final.

Zetterstrom, who joined Poole back in 1996, was spending the 2005 season on loan at Somerset  - the first of a three season spell - had scored 995 points as  Pirate at the time of his Testimonial but managed just 7 points for the Vikings on his special night. 'Zorro' was to ride for Poole again in 2008 when, over 31 matches, he added a further 248 points to his Pirate career statistics.