IT IS STAYING PUT!

Neil Middleditch celebrated trophy number 32 by acknowledging the all round completeness of this 2025 Poole team and in particular the brilliance of double maximum man Richard Lawson, as Poole retained the MaxiCab Knockout Cup, the trophy they have won four out of the last five seasons.

"It is quite impressive, isn't it to have thirty two trophies and a couple more to shoot at this season. It's amazing to be fair but this was a great result by the lads. They came here to do a job and they did the job and some . It's always nice to win trophies and I think you have got to feel a bit for Redcar. They've come close a couple of times now and Gavin (Parr, the Bears' team manager) has the same sort of passion for his club as I have for Poole, but at the end of the day I'm here to do a job and we got the job done. We could have won it just a little earlier than we did to be fair. Toby (Tobias Thomsen) had that exclusion when on a 5-1 with Will (Cairns) in heat eight. I spoke to the referee about it and he said he  watched the replay and whilst he didn't actually make contact with Ace (Pijper) he did block his line. That's racing in my book but referee's can see things differently and that's fair enough I guess. But let me say, Toby deserves a mention because he was far better than his three points suggest. He rode way way better than that and I said to him, if you get points for enthusiasm he would have deserved a maximum."

"But, talking of maximums, what a phenonemon Richard Lawson is. Unbeaten in this cup final and quite simply a points machine. He is just unbelievable. I've worked with some great riders in my time and, ok, I know we are in a lower league now, but he is phenomenal on the track and I have total respect for him."

Lawson scored a full house with Zach Cook weighing in with paid fourteen and Lewi Kerr bagging paid eight as Poole delivered what the management had asked of them by going out to win the meeting, hit the Bears hard and suppress any chance of the Teesside club mounting a comeback. The victory was tempered somewhat by Anders Rowe being taken ill during the meeting with a bout of food poisoning, which saw him pull out of his final ride. The effort he had invested prior to that withdrawal for three hard-earned second places was therefore even more remarkable under the circumstances.

Scorers:

REDCAR 39 -Ace Pijper 9+1 (3,3,2,0,1') ,Charles Wright 8 (X0,3,2,2,1) ,Leon Flint 7 (0,2,3,2) ,Danny King 6+1 (XE,3,2,1') ,Jake Mulford 5+2 (2,1,1',1',0) ,Jason Edwards 3 (1,0,0,2) ,Ben Trigger 1 (0,1,0,0,RS)

POOLE 51 -Richard Lawson 15 (3,3,3,3,3) ,Zach Cook 12+2 (3,1',3,3,2') ,Lewis Kerr 7+1 (2',2,R,3) ,Anders Rowe 6 (2,2,2,RS) ,William Cairns 4+1 (1',0,3,0,0) ,Paul Starke 4+1 (2,0,1',1) ,Tobias Thomsen 3 (1,1,X0,1)

Meeting Details

Photo Credit: Colin Poole