REPORT: Berwick 44 Poole 46

The 'Wessex Marine' Pirates, for the second time this weekend, found themselves on the back foot after the first four heats of a meeting, as they opened their league campaign at Shielfield Park, Berwick.

Not only were they trailing by ten points but they were also down to six riders after Zach Cook had sustained a hip injury when stabbed by his handlebars as he struggled to navigate the final turn in heat three just as Poole were conceding their second 5-1 of the night.

The meeting opened with an unexpected concession of a 5-1 in heat one, a seemingly unlikely result given that the Pirates had the Shielfield specialist, Richard Lawson on duty, but he couldn't find a way by Danyon Hume whilst Berwick's selected guest Josh Pickering was away and gone, posting the fastest time of the season at the Northumberland venue.

A good start from Sam Hagon in heat two was converted into a Poole heat gain as Max Perry contributed what proved to be a vital point by passing Freddy Hodder in the reserves heat, but then back came the Bandits in that third heat, Jye Etheridge and Drew Kemp leaving the Poole boys in their wake. Ben Cook battled into second place behind Rory Schlein in heat four but the rider the Poole captain had passed, Bastian Borke, made a counter challenge thus extending the home side's lead to ten points.

Lawson was much more like the rider that he is renowned for up in this part of the world, but was reluctant to take the final flag, opting to allow partner Tobias Thomsen, who had made a brilliant move leaving the second turn, to have that privilege and celebrate a 5-1 advantage, just to remind everyone that you should never write off a Poole side.

After the green light came on in heat six there seemed an inordinate length of time before the tapes released which unsettled Pickering who was a bit twitchy on the line and picked up a post heat warning, but not before he had squeezed by Ben Cook for second place in a race led throughout by Hagon. The Poole reserve had to make a swift turn around in the pits as he covered Zach Cook's programmed outing and both Hagon and Tom Brennan made swift exits at the start which allowed them to put the squeeze on Schlein, the Bandit though managing to find an opening to split the Pirates thus preventing the meeting going into an even Steven's state of affairs.

Perry managed to get into second place in heat eight behind Danyon Hume and Thomsen was keeping a watchful eye on his teenage partner, but Borke recognised that the pace was slow enough for him to mount a last gap effort and he threw everything he had to get alongside both Pirates as they came off the apex of the final turn and they were three abreast coming out of the turn with the Berwick boy getting the better run to the line to turn a heat share into a 5-1 much to the delight of the home crowd.

So, having drifted back to a six point deficit, Poole were able to save a ride of Hagon's and give it to Lawson as a tactical substitute and instantly the deficit was reduced back to two as he and Cook combined for a big advantage, the

Poole captain withstanding an early race challenge from Etheridge.
Brennan and Hagon were in no mood to be separated when they paired up in heat ten and although they briefly got in each other's way it served to peg back Pickering, thus giving them the freedom to go on and edge Poole ahead by two points!

Lawson was sublime in heat eleven and his tapes to flag victory set up the first shared heat of the night, but another followed immediately when Brennan's purple patch continued with a fine heat twelve triumph, this time Hagon having left himself a little too much to do but nevertheless was gaining on the opposition lap by lap.

Defiance paid dividends for Ben Cook in heat thirteen as, under pressure from Pickering everytime they came out of a turn, the Poole skipper just kept his head down and followed Lawson home.

Remarkably, from being ahead at one stage in the meeting, Berwick then found themselves in tactical territory and that meant the full programmed heat was amended with Pickering replacing Kemp as a tactical, and Borke taking a reserve ride, whilst Thomsen covered for Zach Cook's absence and Hagon preferred to Perry. From the tapes it looked as if Hagon might prevail but Pickering this time had the better speed and gave the home side hope of forcing a super heat to keep their chances of victory alive.

He and Schlein were the obvious choices to contest it, whilst Poole turned inevitably to Lawson and Brennan. The latter snaked out the start and it didn't look too promising at the first turn as Lawson was also trailing the two Bandits, but using the knowledge he has gained of the track and being willing to stand up to the tough defending from Schlein, the Pirate number one made the telling move to split the home pair and deny the Bandits a home league win over Poole for the third time in as many seasons!
 

Berwick 44
Josh Pickering 2',2,1,1,3,3=12+1 (6)
Danyon Hume 3,0,3,0=6 (4)
Jye Etheridge 3,1,1,2=7 (4)
Drew Kemp 2',0,0,TS=2+1 (3)
Rory Schlein 3,2,1',0,1=7+1 (5)
Freddy Hodder 0,0,2,RS=2 (3)
Bastian Borke 2,2',2',1',1=8+3 (5)
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POOLE 46
Richard Lawson 1,2',3,3,3,2=14+1 (6)
Tobias Thomsen 0,3,1,0,0=4 (5)
Tom Brennan 1,3,3,3,0=10 (5)
Zach Cook F,IRR,IRR,IRR=0 (1)
Ben Cook 1,1,2',2'=6+2 (4)
Sam Hagon 3,3,1,TS,2',0,2=11+1 (6)
Max Perry 1,0,0,RS=1 (3)
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Ht 1: D.Hume, J.Pickering, R.Lawson, T.Thomsen 5-1 5-1 [65.3]
Ht 2: S.Hagon, B.Borke, M.Perry, F.Hodder 2-4 7-5 [66.5]
Ht 3: J.Etheridge, D.Kemp, T.Brennan, Z.Cook [fell] 5-1 12-6 [66.9]
Ht 4: R.Schlein, B.Borke, B.Cook, M.Perry 5-1 17-7 [66]
Ht 5: T.Thomsen, R.Lawson, J.Etheridge, D.Kemp 1-5 18-12 [67.6]
Ht 6: S.Hagon, J.Pickering, B.Cook, D.Hume 2-4 20-16 [65.8]
Ht 7: T.Brennan, R.Schlein, S.Hagon, F.Hodder 2-4 22-20 [66.5]
Ht 8: D.Hume, B.Borke, T.Thomsen, M.Perry 5-1 27-21 [68.4]
Ht 9: R.Lawson, B.Cook, J.Etheridge, D.Kemp, S.Hagon [Tac Subbed] 1-5 28-26 [66.9]
Ht 10: T.Brennan, S.Hagon, J.Pickering, D.Hume 1-5 29-31 [66.6]
Ht 11: R.Lawson, F.Hodder, R.Schlein, T.Thomsen 3-3 32-34 [66.8]
Ht 12: T.Brennan, J.Etheridge, B.Borke, S.Hagon 3-3 35-37 [66.8]
Ht 13: R.Lawson, B.Cook, J.Pickering, R.Schlein 1-5 36-42 [66.8]
Ht 14: J.Pickering, S.Hagon, B.Borke, T.Thomsen, D.Kemp 4-2 40-44 [66.9]
Ht 15: J.Pickering, R.Lawson, R.Schlein, T.Brennan 4-2 44-46 [67]

SCB Referee Graeme Hunter
Berwick won toss and deferred choice to heat 15; POOLE chose gates 2&4 |Berwick choose gates 1&3 in heat 15
League Points: Berwick 0 POOLE 2

Meeting reaction here

Photo credit Taz McDougall