REACTION: PIRATES UPBEAT DESPITE LOSING UNBEATEN TAG

Seeking to maintain their unbeaten league record this season the Poole 'Wessex Marine ' Pirates put an early squueze on the Plymouth Gladiators and had it not been for one or more slices of misfortune the defending champions might well have kept that record in tact.

Despite the defeat middle order pairing of Lewis Kerr  (10 from 5) and Cooper Rushen (4+2 from 4) both insisted on remaining positively upbeat. Kerr, who featured in the last heat decider said:

"Overall I was happy my performance it was just in that last one I didn’t manage to score points, but on the first bend, me and Danny (King) hit each other which sent me to the back and it's very difficult to pass around here. So we would have loved to have got the 5-1 but there we go. It was always going to be very tough without Zach and stuff but we ran them close and we've still got to have them at home so we beat them there and hopefully we should get the bonus point. Well, that's the plan!" 

The ever-smiling Rushen  summed the night up by claiming: 

"I really enjoyed it tonight to be honest. I've struggled a lot here in the youth days. It was, you know, one of those tracks that haunted me. But I've really enjoyed riding it today. I struggled a lot out of the starts and around here that is key. But I had some great battles on track and it was just a shame to miss out at the end. I think we were riding one of the stronger teams in the league at the minute, so you know to get 43 points against them isn't too bad. It would have been nice to get the draw or the win . But we are doing well at the minute so we will keep working away at things."

Guest Luke Harrison looked a more than adequate replacement for Zach Cook inspite of his much lower average, and won his opening ride, lowering Danny King's colours in heat four. Harrison was again heading for the front when he reared ugly across turn two in heat six, narrowly missing Scott Nicholls, Joe Thompson and team mate Dayle Wood, earning him a disqualification. Opportunities to add to his tally went awry in heat nine when his bike gave out at the start line. Likewise, Kyle Newman was tricked into early movement in a crucial heat fourteen when Ben Barker flinched at the tapes. Those three episodes proved costly as the Pirates went down by four points on the night, but there is so much positivity in the Poole side, who remain third in the table, just a point behind the top two of Scunthorpe and Edinburgh - the next two clubs to visit Wimborne Road on the 12th and 5th August respectively.

Scorers

PLYMOUTH  47 -Danny King 12+1 (2,3,3,3,1') ,Scott Nicholls 10+1 (2,2',3,1,2) ,Ben Barker 9+1 (1',2,3,3) ,Joe Thompson 6 (0,3,3,0) ,Daniel Klima 5+2 (2,1',2',0) ,Anze Grmek 5 (3,0,RS,0,RS,1,1) ,Ben Whalley 0 (0,RS,0,RS,0,RS)

POOLE 43 -Richard Lawson 11 (1,3,2,2,3) ,Lewis Kerr 10 (3,2,2,3,0) ,Kyle Newman 6+2 (2,1,1',2',XE) ,William Cairns  6+1 (3,0,2,1') ,Cooper Rushen 4+2 (0,1',1',2) ,Dayle Woods 3+1 (1',1,1,RS,0) ,Luke Harrison 3 (3,FD,R,0)