PIRATES TOP TABLE AND BELIEVE THERE IS MORE TO COME

The 'Wessex Marine' Pirates achieved their season-long goal of finishing top of the regular SGB Cab Direct Championship, ahead of the four-team, title-deciding play-offs, following an emphatic 59-31 victory over Devon neighbours Plymouth.

Led by skipper Zach Cook, battling his way to his third Wimborne Road maximum in the space of the last five home meetings, the Pirates were ruthless in the charge to get the job done.

Just two last places, four maximum heat advantages and only one heat deficit were the Pirates' statistics from the meeting, which provided plenty of entertainment for the large crowd that were in attendance.

But although the data is there to show the magnitude of Poole's victory, both Will Cairns and Richard Lawson were critical of their own personal performances.

Lawson scored 8 points, including two emphatic race wins, but claimed:

"The 'Rocket' might not be firing on all cylinders, but yeah, we are trying. I felt decent tonight but made a couple of mistakes. I hesitated in heat one and lost out there, then messed up in heat thirteen, but if I look for the positives, then I did feel a bit better on the bike and I just want to thank everyone here for sticking with me, and we are going to win the title. We like the fact that we have sent Plymouth off with their tails between their legs, but more importantly, we have set the tone for the rest of the matches, which are the real big ones. In the main, I think we are all firing — well, I have just said I'm not — but as a team we are. I think we are looking good and, you know, I said in a previous interview, when we get all seven going together, I think we are pretty deadly, and that is a good place to be in with the play-offs coming up. Middlo touched on it on the track walk tonight. I think he said we had eight last-heat deciders on our away trips, and they might not have come out our way, but that shows, in a play-off situation, we are right in the mix on the away tracks and we are smashing it at home."

Cairns commented:

"It was nice to get a heat one win and obviously had a paid one in heat six, but then I don't really know what happened in heat eight. I should be winning those and I let it slide."

Reflecting on his maximum, Captain Cook, who twice masterminded some excellent stalking to time his passing to perfection, said:

"I was happy with that. It can be hard to pass here sometimes, so yeah, to get in twice in the same way is good. I didn't think it was going to happen in heat fifteen. I thought he (Troy Batchelor) would have wrecked me, but luckily he didn't and I got past there and, yeah, obviously it feels good to get a full house. But these performances don't really matter; it is what we do in the play-offs and the finals. No one remembers these things, so that is your aim: keep the ball rolling, keep the momentum going into the big meetings and we'll see if we can collect those trophies."

Scorers:
POOLE 59 -Zach Cook 15 (3,3,3,3,3) ,Lewis Kerr 8+1 (3,2',0,3) ,Kyle Newman 8 (3,1,3,1) ,Richard Lawson 8 (1,3,3,1,0) ,Cooper Rushen 7+1 (1,3,1,2') ,William Cairns 7+1 (3,2',1,1) ,Slater Lightcap 6+1 (2',0,1,3)
PLYMOUTH 31 -Troy Batchelor 12 (2,1,3,2,2,2) ,Ben Barker 8+1 (2,2,2,1,1') ,Danny King 5+1 (2,1,2',0) ,Daniel Klima 3+1 (0,1',0,2) ,Joe Thompson 2 (0,0,2,0) ,Anze Grmek 1 (1,0,RS,0,TS,0) ,Ben Whalley 0 (0,RS,0,RS,0)

Full heat details and report

Photo credit: Tony Hartmann