PIRATES COOKING UP A STORM

The Poole management firmly believe that you cannot have too many cooks, especially when it comes to quality speedway riders, as they announce the inclusion of Australian brothers Ben and Zach Cook for the 2022 campaign.

Ben will be entering his second term as a Pirate and promoter Dan Ford was pleased to offer him a recall, admitting "Ben had a great start to the season and was going well when he suffered that injury whilst guesting for Plymouth at Redcar. I believe that it took the edge off him somewhat once he returned to racing, the timing of which was not ideal for him as he moved into the main body of the team around the same time. From his rides at number four alone, he just managed to break through the four point barrier and I have no doubt that would have been much higher had he been riding at full fitness. We have had a chat with Ben and he assured us he is working on his fitness and  I am really pleased to be welcoming him back for a second season."

Throughout the double winning Pirates season they had reason to call on younger brother Zach, as a guest, initially as cover for Ben, and then, latterly, when Stefan Nielsen was injured at Birmingham at the beginning of September, and in Ford's view he proved the ideal guest. 

"Without a doubt Zach was the best guest we had, but even when he wasn't riding for us he was usually in the pits spannering for Ben and very much became an integral member of the team, and to bring him in as a full time Pirate for 2022 was very much our intention. Judging from the reaction to a question raised at the post-meeting press conference on the night when we beat Leicester in the play-off semi-finals, it was an expectation amongst supporters too, that we should offer him a place for this year. I really believe that we will see an even better Zach than his average suggests, he has always been very happy around the Poole boys and I think having the two brothers feeding off each other will also prove beneficial to our cause. Both will, once again, be lodging with Middlo and we all know that Baillie House seems to bring the best out of our Australians over the years and having Ben and Zach signed up are two good additions to the side that is taking shape nicely.