PREVIEW: EDINBURGH v POOLE and GRAND FINAL DATES

Fifteen days ago the Wessex Marine Pirates were  facing a series of 'must-win' meetings in order to be in a position to defend their league title, but on Friday they have the luxury of travelling to Edinburgh knowing their place in the Grand Final is already secure.

Despite having 'done the hard yards' the Pirates however will still be looking for their twelfth consecutive victory, a stretch that dates back to July 30th. Reserve Kyle Newman is relishing the chance to shine again for the Pirates having been unbeaten himself on his last visit to the Armadale circuit, posting four paid victories at the beginning of the month. 

After Newman endured a cacophony of results in Wednesday's play-off securing victory for the Pirates, local lad Newman admitted "I had a bit of everything tonight. I nearly looped it out coming out the bend, a bike problem, touched the tapes a win and a paid win. It was one of those nights. I felt pretty quick on the bike, I would have liked a few more points but the main thing was getting the team win and getting into the final, So, yes I would love it if I could  go to Edinburgh on Friday and have a night like I did last time there, at least that would help pay for the trip! But the main thing is to go there get a bit of bike time , stay clear of any issues and prepare for the finals that we have reached." and just get prepared for that final."

Friday's meeting will bring the curtain down on Edinburgh's season whilst the Pirates will still have four further fixtures to resolve, once their opponents in both the Grand Final and Knockout cup final have yet to be determined.  For the former it will be either Glasgow or Oxford whilst Scunthorpe and Redcar still have their cup semi final to be completed. 

Whilst the opposition for the Grand Final won't be decided until Tuesday, Poole have confirmed that they will be staging the second leg as their home fixture and that will take place on Wednesday 11th October (7.30pm). Should Glasgow qualify then Poole will travel to Ashfield on Friday 6th October whilst, if Oxford make it through then the Cheetahs will stage their home meeting on Sunday 8th October with a 6.15pm start.

Ahead of those Grand Final dates however, Poole will be unchanged from Wednesday night whilst hosts Edinburgh will be waiting on the fitness of their proposed guest Justin Sedgmen who was forced to withdraw from the Redcar side on Wednesday after an opening ride crash. 

Teams
Edinburgh - 1 Guest or Rider Replacement 2 Lasse Fredriksen 3 Kye Thomson 4 Michele 'Paco' Castagna 5 Josh Pickering (Capt) 6 Dayle Wood 7 Bastian Borke - Team manager Alex Harkess 
Poole - 1 Richard Lawson 2 Rider Replacement 3 Ben Cook 4 Zach Cook 5 Steve Worrall (Capt) 6 Kyle Newman 7 Joe Thompson - Team manager Gary Havelock