REACTION: PIRATES TAKE SOME KNOCKS BUT GO SEVEN UP IN FINAL

Poole suffered the knocks but still came away from North Yorkshire with a seven point advantage from the first leg of their Knockout Cup final against the Redcar Bears.

An elated Dan Ford said, "That was an outstanding performance. We came here with the intention to win the meeting and the lads did well to deliver on that goal. We took a few knocks on the way and whilst we know the cup hasn't been won yet, we have put ourselves in a strong position for it to remain in our trophy cabinet for another season. It looks good there, I must say,"

Awkward falls for skipper Danny King, Steve Worrall (twice) and Drew Kemp blotted this Pirates performance that had the 2019 cup winners reeling from the very outset as Ben Cook set a blistering race time of 53.8 seconds to set up an opening 5-1 with  King. 

The Pirates never surrendered that advantage, the closest the Bears came to it was when they clawed a 5-1 back in heat seven against Steve Worrall and Drew Kemp to edge to within two points of the Pirates. But that signalled 'Cookie-time' for Gary Havelock as he paired up Ben and Zach in heat eight and was rewarded with the perfect outcome, a 5-1 to re-establish a six point lead.

Kemp locked up whilst leading heat ten, right in the line of the pursuing Worrall and Erik Riss, all able thankfully to walk away from the incident. Worrall, enduring a torrid night by his impeccable standards was on the deck again in heat twelve when he attempted a big sweep round the first turn, having made his best gate of the evening. 
Then, with the Pirates assured of having some form of advantage to defend on Wednesday, King hit the front and then the deck in heat 15, needing several moments and comforting words from the medical team before he was able to make the long trek back to the pits, but was able to see his racing partner Ben Cook complete a fine night's work as the sole Pirate in the re-run, and win the heat, that featured just he and Lewis Kerr as finishers after Riss fell in the re-start.

REDCAR 41 - Charles Wright 14 (3,3,3,3,2) ,Erik Riss 9 (1,3,3,2,F) ,Kyle Newman 7+2 (3,2',0,1,1') ,Lewis Kerr 6+1 (2,3,0,1') ,Jordan Jenkins 2 (XD,0,0,2) ,Kasper Andersen 2 (R,0,1,1) ,Jason Edwards 1 (0,0,RS,1) 
POOLE 48 - Ben Cook 13+1 (3,2,3,2',3) ,Zach Cook 11+3 (2,1',2',1',2,3) ,Danny King 9+2 (2',1',3,3,FD) ,Richard Lawson 7 (3,2,2,0) ,Steve Worrall 5 (2,1,2,FD) ,Nathan Ablitt 2+1 (1',1,RS,0) ,Drew Kemp 1+1 (1',0,FD,RS)