REACTION: COOPER CO-OPERATES IN HIS FIRST FIVE--ONE AND REPEATS IT

The Poole 'Wessex Marine' Pirates have positioned themselves in a strong position to qualify for the knockout stages of the BSN Series having taken maximum points from their opening two fixtures.

The Easter double over the Plymouth Gladiators was particularly pleasing as the win in Devon came without Poole ever trailing, in stark contrast to their home win in which they took ten heats to establish a lead.

As he did at Wimborne Road, Kyle Newman (paid nine) contributed soundly whilst Lewis Kerr produced a solid return as he took on the number five race jacket. But two paid wins from sixteen year old Cooper Rushen was the crowning point of the team's performance and it might well have been Rushen who took the Pirates over the line, had he not be disqualified metres from the flag in heat fourteen.

He had battled tirelessly to overhaul Tom Spencer for third place, but as he went by he made contact with the Plymouth reserve who went down. The race was awarded as a 4-2 for the Gladiators, sufficient for the Poole bonus, but sending the meeting into a last heat decider.

Focusing on his two successes - the first with William Cairns in heat two and then partnering Kyle Newman home in heat eight - Rushen said "100% I feel great about getting those paid wins. It has been a good night for me and a good night for the team overall. Everyone has done their job, so we can't complain. We came here tonight and we wanted that aggregate point and we have done more than that. We've got the win today and yeah that  bettered the plan. It was a bit frustrating for me in that last one. We needed to clinch it and I think that probably it was down to a little bit of diving in there, but what can you do? Hey if you leave someone room you've got to go for it, right? But that's speedway."

Poole number one Richard Lawson, still carrying an injury and soreness from his Good Friday heat one spectacular crash eventually sealed the deal for Poole in heat fifteen with Lewi Kerr weighing in with a solid third place against the Gladiators top two of Scott Nicholls (second) and Danny King.

PLYMOUTH 42 -Ben Barker 11 (3,3,2,3) ,Scott Nicholls 10+2 (1',3,1',3,2) ,Danny King 9 (2,3,1,2,1,0) ,Joe Thompson 5+1 (1,0,1',3) ,Simon Lambert 3+1 (0,2',1,0) ,Daniel Klima 3 (1,2,RS,0,TS,0,RS) ,Tom Spencer 1 (0,RS,0,RS,RS,1)

POOLE 48 -Richard Lawson 12+1 (3,1',3,2,3) ,Lewis Kerr 8 (3,1,3,0,1) ,Kyle Newman  7+2 (2,2,2',1') ,Fraser Bowes 6+1 (0,1',3,2) ,Jason Edwards 6 (1,2,3,0) ,William Cairns 5 (3,0,0,2) ,Cooper Rushen 4+2 (2',0,2',XD)

Photo Credit: Liam Cockwell