LEICESTER 52 PIRATES 38

The Pirates' Bank Holiday blues extended into their evening contest at Leicester where they came away pointless making it a fruitless day for the Pirates.

copyright Steve Dixon

Not only did they lose their second place position in the Elite league table they also lost the services of skipper Hans Andersen with a hand injury which looks set to rule him out of the remainder of the season which will include his opportunity to go for a Grand Prix berth next Saturday via the GP challenge route.

Andersen was the innocent victim of a spectacular crash when, in heat 6, Pirates' guest Max Fricke, standing in for the ill Chris Holder, hit a rut on the first turn, high-sided and flew right into the unsuspecting Andersen.

Forced into the IRR option to cover the injured Dane the Pirates found the Lions' tough to break down and in fact were never able to take the lead in this meeting. Andersen's first stand-in, Krzysztof Buczkowski endured a torrid time back on his former track suffering three falls, two of which resulted in disqualifications.

But the other ex-Lion Pirate, Bjarne Pedersen, fared somewhat better and certainly deserved his Rider of the Night nomination as he took a full seven ride quota returning a paid 17 score. Unfortunately with inconsistent performances again from Adam Ellis, Brady Kurtz and a lesser extent Kyle Newman the Pirates failed to have a sufficient heavyweight arsenal to be able to dent the Pride of the Lions and in conceding back to back  5-1 defeats to see out the meeting with, they couldn't even secure a consolation point from the day's activities, making it a Bank Holiday they wont wish to remember in a hurry.

The Pirates face Belle Vue at Wimborne Road on Thursday of this week (September 1st) with Krzsztof Kasprzak booked as a guest to cover for the injured Andersen.

Leicester 52
Rider. Replacement =0
A. Summers 2',0,2,0=4+1
N. Klindt 1',3,2',2',2',3=13+4
P. Starke 2,1,0,3=6
S. Wozniak 3,2,3,3,2,2'=15+1
L. Lindgren Dq,3,1',1',3=8+2
J. Auty 1,1',2,2,FD=6+1
POOLE 38
M. Fricke 1,Dq,1,1=3
A. Ellis 0,2,1,0=3
K. Buczkowski 3,2,FD,FD,1=6
B. Kurtz 3,1,F,3,0,0=7
H. Andersen 0=0
B. Pedersen 2',1',3,3,1',3,1=14+3
K. Newman 3,0,2=5

Ht 1 S. Wozniak A. Summers M. Fricke A. Ellis 5-1 (5-1) (62.38)
Ht 2 K. Newman B. Pedersen J. Auty L. Lindgren(D/Q) 1-5 (6-6) (62.56)
Ht 3 K. Buczkowski S. Wozniak N. Klindt H. Andersen 3-3 (9-9) (62.18)
Ht 4 B. Kurtz P. Starke J. Auty K. Newman 3-3 (12-12) (61.93)
Ht 5 L. Lindgren A. Ellis B. Pedersen A. Summers 3-3 (15-15) (62.75)
Ht 6 N. Klindt K. Buczkowski P. Starke M. Fricke(D/Q) 4-2 (19-17) (61.75)
Ht 7 S. Wozniak N. Klindt B. Kurtz K. Buczkowski (Fell d/q) 5-1 (24-18) (62)
Ht 8 B. Pedersen J. Auty A. Ellis P. Starke 2-4 (26-22) (62.44)
Ht 9 B. Pedersen A. Summers L. Lindgren B. Kurtz (Fell) 3-3 (29-25) (62.56)
Ht 10 S. Wozniak N. Klindt M. Fricke A. Ellis 5-1 (34-26) (63.01)
Ht 11 B. Kurtz J. Auty L. Lindgren K. Buczkowski (Fell d/q) 3-3 (37-29) (awd)
Ht 12 L. Lindgren K. Newman B. Pedersen J. Auty (Fell d/q) 3-3 (40-32) (awd)
Ht 13 B. Pedersen S. Wozniak M. Fricke A. Summers 2-4 (42-36) (62.43)
Ht 14 P. Starke N. Klindt K. Buczkowski B. Kurtz 5-1 (47-37) (62.09)
Ht 15 N. Klindt S. Wozniak B. Pedersen B. Kurtz 5-1 (52-38) (62.19)

Referee Dave Robinson
Gates: Poole. win toss and take 1&3, Leicester took 2&4 in heat 15
Leicester 3 league points POOLE 0 league points