Poole Pirates v Leicester Lions (KOC)

29/09/21

Poole overcame an eight point first leg deficit and a tough Leicester side to secure a place in the SGB Championship Knockout Cup final and keep their hopes of a double winning season alive.

Steve Worrall, who moves into the number one position for the month of October, signed off his tenureship of the number three race jacket with his third maximum of the season as the Pirates had to work hard to break free of the stranglehold the Lions held on much of the meeting. 

Twice the Lions checked the Pirates back as the home side sought to trim the first leg deficit and Poole fans could have been forgiven if, at times, they thought that this was not to be their night. The ultra-reliable big Wimborne Road scorer, skipper Danny King, had a testing start to his evening, blasting through the tapes in his first ride to face a 15 metre handicap in the re-run, a distance that even he couldn't quite manage to make up when confronted with former Pirate Hans Andersen and reserve Zaine Kennedy. Then a mistake in his second ride left King posting another third place to his score-card when he drifted far too wide in heat seven and again the visitors wiped out the efforts of trying to claw back the first leg deficit.

But the turning point for Poole came in heat eight, when, from nowhere, Ben Basso made his way through from the back picking off Zaine Kennedy and then Kyle Howarth and making it look all so easy. His ride only served to share the heat, keep the second leg scores level and leave Leicester still nursing their eight point first leg gain. However, back in the pits it stoked up the Pirates, inspired them and re-ignited the fire in their bellies. 

Ben Cook rode a sensible inside line to hit the front early on in heat nine, his partner Steve Worrall, already with two stylish wins to his name, choosing to take the longer but faster route leaving Hans Andersen a little bewildered as he couldn't improve on his third place. Whilst Lions' skipper Kyle Howarth held out challenges from Rory Schlein in heat ten, Basso battled intensely with Ryan Douglas, the Australian falling as he seemed to clip the Dane as they came out of the final turn. 

King and guest Zach Cook both gated well in heat eleven and quickly pulled clear of Morris, who in the first leg had hit the Pirates with a maximum, to record a 5-1 that levelled the aggregate scores to make it a tense final four heats. Steve Worrall was well clear in heat twelve when, on the third lap, Douglas in second lost control on the pits turn and went down hard, trapping himself in the fence. Zach Cook, given the ride at the expense of fellow reserve Danyon Hume on the strength of his previous outing with King, slipped into second place and once it was clear that Douglas could not clear the circuit the red lights came on and the race awarded as a Poole 5-1. 

A four point lead now overall, with just three heats remaining.

King was sharp in heat thirteen and there was audible relief when Rory Schlein worked a way by Morris to make it a Poole 5-1 and suddenly the Pirates were in command as the Lions needed two 1-5 heat scores to force a golden heat conclusion to the tie. In their way were a couple of Cookies, and brothers Ben and Zach, content to allow Howarth to pick up his third win on the night, settled down after a busy first lap to book that cup final slot. 

With mission accomplished it came down to a personal battle for Steve Worrall in heat fifteen to secure his maximum and whilst Rory Schlein led for most of the heat the Aussie moved aside, just as he will do with the number one race jacket from Friday, to allow Worrall to take the victory. 

A great performance from the Pirates, winning by twenty points on the night and twelve on aggregate.
 

POOLE 55
Rory Schlein 2,3,2,2',2' =11+2
Benjamin Basso 1',1,3,1' =6+2
Steve Worrall 3,3,3,3,3 =15
Ben Cook 0,1,2',2 =5+1
Danny King 1,1,3,3 =8
Zach Cook 3,0,2',2',1' =8+3
Danyon Hume 2',0,0 =2+1
.
LEICESTER 35
Nick Morris 3,2,1,1,1 =8
Rider Replacement
Ryan Douglas 2,2',F,XD =4+1
Kyle Howarth 1',3,2,3,3,0 =12+1
Hans Andersen 3,2,1,R =6
Joe Thompson 0,0,0,1 =1
Zaine Kennedy 0,1,2',0,1',0,R =4+2
.
Ht.1 N.Morris,R.Schlein,B.Basso,Z.Kennedy,3-3 3-3 (60.44)
Ht.2 Z.Cook,D.Hume,Z.Kennedy,J.Thompson,5-1 8-4 (61.34)
Ht.3 S.Worrall,R.Douglas,K.Howarth,B.Cook,3-3 11-7 (60.62)
Ht.4 H.Andersen,Z.Kennedy,D.King,D.Hume,1-5 12-12 (61.35)
Ht.5 S.Worrall,N.Morris,B.Cook,J.Thompson,4-2 16-14 (60.04)
Ht.6 R.Schlein,H.Andersen,B.Basso,Z.Kennedy,4-2 20-16 (60.16)
Ht.7 K.Howarth,R.Douglas,D.King,Z.Cook,1-5 21-21 (61)
Ht.8 B.Basso,K.Howarth,Z.Kennedy,D.Hume,3-3 24-24 (61.4)
Ht.9 S.Worrall,B.Cook,H.Andersen,J.Thompson,5-1 29-25 (61.28)
Ht.10 K.Howarth,R.Schlein,B.Basso,R.Douglas (fell),3-3 32-28 (60.63)
Ht.11 D.King,Z.Cook,N.Morris,Z.Kennedy,5-1 37-29 (61.62)
Ht.12 S.Worrall,Z.Cook,J.Thompson,R.Douglas (Disqualified),5-1 42-30 (awd)
Ht.13 D.King,R.Schlein,N.Morris,H.Andersen (rtd),5-1 47-31 (60.63)
Ht.14 K.Howarth,B.Cook,Z.Cook,Z.Kennedy (rtd),3-3 50-34 (61.9)
Ht.15 S.Worrall,R.Schlein,N.Morris,K.Howarth,5-1 55-35 (61.47)
SCB Referee Paul Carrington
POOLE win toss and defer to heat 15. LEICESTER  take gates 1&3 in heat 1 POOLE take gates 1&3 in heat 15
Rider of the Night: Steve Worrall