PIRATES WIN IN TEES VALLEY "SENSATIONAL" ACCORDING TO HAVELOCK

Sensational" was how Northern team manager Gary Havelock described his 'Wessex Marine' Pirates after they secured a 51-39 victory at Redcar on Friday night.

Having faced the news earlier in the day that influential reserve Cooper Rushen had been forced to stand down from the meeting with a wrist injury — the consequence of his Heat 14 fall at Oxford on Wednesday — and already operating with rider replacement for Fraser Bowes, 'Havvy' admitted:

"All the boys did well tonight and I am proud of each of them. I would have been happy with a 46-44, but to hit fifty... well, that was just sensational. Obviously, and justifiably, Will (Cairns) and Lewi (Kerr) will be making the headlines, but the contributions of the rest of the lads should not be overlooked. Kyle (Newman) was making some great starts and featured in a couple of key 5-1s, and even our stand-in, Harry Sadler, had a very impressive ride and was really unlucky not to get a point for it. Rich and Zach both would have liked more points personally, but they picked up crucial ones that allowed us to keep the pressure on Redcar. I have to admit though, for a sixteen-year-old, Will is something else. In all honesty, I have not seen a great deal of him live, but he really impressed me tonight."

Cairns was a busy lad, taking a full quota of seven rides and scoring paid 16, and even claiming the scalp of Nicolai Klindt. After maxing out at Poole in the corresponding fixture, Klindt made it seven straight race wins (and 11 in total) when he won Heat 1, but he was then limited to just two points in total from his other three outings.

Looking back at his night's work, Will said:

"I was kind of happy with the score but I felt I could and should have got more. I had a phone call from Matt (Ford) this morning and he told me what was expected of me given that Cooper was out and, yeah, I went out there and got stuck in. It's a good win for the team and I think we are all happy with that."

Kerr (paid 17) just missed out on a maximum, dropping his only point to Jake Allen in Heat 15.

"I did ask myself whether I should step back from the last one when asked to go in it and be happy with my paid max, but then I thought it was a chance to go out and try and earn an extra few quid," he said. "But you know, I have had maximums before so I'm not really bothered I lost this one. The important thing is the team won and we are off to a good start in the league."

Scorers

REDCAR 39 -Jake Allen 13+1 (3,1',3,1,2,3) ,Jody Scott 6+1 (1',1,3,1,0) ,Jake Mulford 6+1 (2',3,1,0) ,Jason Edwards 5 (1,1,3,0) ,Nicolai Klindt 5 (3,1,1,0) ,Ace Pijper 4 (2,2,0,0,TS) ,Jordan Jenkins 0 (0,0,0)

Poole 51 -William Cairns 15+1 (1,3,2,2,1',3,3) ,Lewis Kerr 14+3 (3,2',3,3,2',1') ,Richard Lawson 9+1 (0,3,1',3,2) ,Kyle Newman 7+2 (2',0,2',2,1) ,Zach Cook 6+1 (2,0,2,2') ,Harry Sadler 0 (X0,0,0,RS)