DAN HEADING FOR NUMBER TEN

New signing Dan Gilkes will be making his tenth team appearance at Wimborne Road when the tapes go up on Good Friday (6.30pm).

Dan’s debut came on June 30th 2021 when riding for Kent, where he scored just two points. In his next two appearances he again recorded two points apiece, before doubling that return on both his fourth and fifth visits. Those fixtures after the Kent meeting were all for Plymouth and spanned three different competitions: the league, the KO Cup and the BSN Series.

Riding for Redcar in June 2024, he collected another two‑point haul, but Dan has grown in confidence during his last three outings at Wimborne Road. All were for Oxford—two technically as a guest, when he produced a paid seven followed by a four‑point score—and then a straight five for the Cheetahs on the night his 2025 season came to an abrupt end.

Dan suffered knee ligament damage on May 7th 2025, but he has been patient and worked hard to be fit for this season, determined to put that misfortune behind him as he looks to make his name as a Poole star.

He has already shown his commitment to the club by helping with school visits—an initiative that Poole promoter Dan Ford was keen to use to raise the Pirates’ profile among younger supporters. “Schoolkids are the future,” said Ford, “and by getting out and about with the riders we are hoping to reap the benefits by seeing more and more youngsters on the terraces. It has been an area that we have focused on this winter, and Dan, together with Will (Cairns) and Cooper (Rushen), have been getting the message out with the help of Lee and Beth Tyers.”

Gilkes will join his new team‑mates—Richard Lawson, Zach Cook, Lewi Kerr, William Cairns, Fraser Bowes and Cooper Rushen—at the Press and Practice Day on April 1st, just forty‑eight hours before making his debut against his former club Plymouth.