REACTION: PIRATES TOP THE TABLE WITH BIG TWO UNBEATEN

Poole 'Wessex Marine' Pirates recorded their 26th consecutive unbeaten Wimborne Road performance, a sequence that began in May 2025, to move to the top spot in the SGB Cab Direct Championship table, with a 52-38 victory over Edinburgh Monarchs, who were joint top of the table at the start of the evening.

Poole's success was celebrated with two unbeaten riders - Zach Cook going through the card for the second successive meeting at Wimborne Road, and Richard Lawson, who was happy to support his teammate in four heats and winning one race outright, but it also came at a cost with Kyle Newman medically signed out of the meeting with an injury.

Captain Cook was a happy man admitting,

"Everything's been working well these last couple of weeks and I've been making some good starts and that makes life a whole lot easier and yeah, it's fun when you are out front. Edinburgh pushed us from the start tonight and then they threw a tac sub in and that worked so yeah, they will be happy to have pushed as hard as they did. Our main agenda was to be able to have a good lead for when we go up there next week, or whenever it is, and everyone done their job tonight. It's a shame that Kyle finished the meeting a bit sore, but the top five did a job and when we do that it takes the pressure off the reserves and we can look back at this as a good result against one of the top clubs."

One of the top five that Cook was referring to was William Cairns, who played his part in the victory with a paid eight return including being the pacemaker in two of the 5-1s that Lawson backed up. But the youngster was frustrated with his final outcome.

"For some reason I'm annoyed with paid eight and that might not make sense but I am not going to say what I am thinking as it might sound like I am having a go at the track staff and I don't want to do that. So yeah, we got the win and it was a decent night. We are the mighty Pirates but we know it will be tough when we go up there but what did we win by? Fourteen? No worries then, it'll be alright."

Newman's injury was sustained in his first ride when he couldn't avoid running into the stricken Jordy Loftus at the first turn in heat two, a fall that ruled Loftus out for the rest of the meeting, whilst Newman battled on through the pain barrier, only to be reassessed at the end of the night. That injury is likely to rule him out on Saturday night when the Pirates return to action with a visit to Berwick.

POOLE 52 -Zach Cook 15 (3,3,3,3,3) ,Richard Lawson 11+4 (2',2',3,2',2') ,Lewis Kerr 8+1 (3,2',1,2) ,William Cairns 7+1 (3,3,1',0) ,Kyle Newman 4 (2,0,2,0) ,Cooper Rushen 4 (0,3,FD,1) ,Sam Hagon 3+2 (1',F,2',0,RS)
EDINBURGH 38 -Mitchell Cluff 14 (3,2,0,3,TS,0,3,3) ,Michele Castagna 7+3 (2,1',1',2',1) ,Dan Thompson 7 (1,1,3,1,1,0) ,Justin Sedgmen 6+1 (1',2,2,1) ,Kye Thomson 4+2 (1',1,2',FD) ,Jordy Loftus 0 (FD, withdrawn) ,Jonatan Grahn 0 (0,0,0,RS)

Photo credit Tony Hartmann

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