Report: Birmingham Brummies v Poole Pirates

25/05/22

Former Pirate Stefan Nielsen demonstrated that he has recovered well from the injury that he sustained at Perry Barr last season as he stormed to victory in a re-started heat number one, after Claus Vissing had ridden through the tapes at the first attempt.
 

It was arguably the fastest that Vissing went all night as he anticipated the start, the home number one a huge disappointment, failing to score from his four rides, but lone warrior Nielsen served the Brummies well. He registered the fastest time of the season (59.53), at that stage, around the well prepared Perry Barr circuit and gave Poole skipper Danny King no opportunity.
That opening shared heat set the scene very much so for the first half of the meeting, as six of the seven heats finished all level. Steve Worrall bettered that quick time of Nielsen, when he sped home in heat three in a time of 58.59 seconds. With Ashley Morris appearing to suffer clutch problems it was a cruise for Ben Cook to take third place to break the deadlock, which had been retained after heat two also needed two attempts, James Pearson going down heavily in the first turn as he arrived there together with Nathan Ablitt. All four riders were welcomed back to the re-run and Birmingham's guest Joe Thompson managed to get the better of the hotly pursuing Drew Kemp whilst Ablitt scored a valuable third place.
Richard Lawson maintained his rich vein of form, passing another Birmingham guest, Tom Brennan, in heat four, Ablitt again trying really hard and giving Thompson plenty to think about. Heat five produced an entertaining scrap for third place with Morris all over Zach Cook, the home man just sliding off at turn three on the final circuit due to the concerted efforts he had deployed to try and break up another shared heat as Justin Sedgmen led the way. 
Stefan Nielsen again struck  against his former side as he put in a special ride to pass Lawson, but the Birmingham fans were frustrated as Vissing packed up, Kemp getting a comfortable third place.
Brennan was swiftly away in heat seven and uncatchable but Ben Cook and Steve Worrall were solid enough for the sixth drawn heat of the night.
Nielsen was looking positively strong again in heat eight and was rounding Kemp on the fourth turn when his chain snapped, forcing him into the fence where he was joined by Thompson who was laying his machine down. It was a disqualification for Nielsen and Poole took full advantage with Zach Cook and Kemp making it a tapes to flag 5-1 in the rerun. The Pirate pair of Lawson and Kemp gated on a 5-1 in heat nine but both Morris and Sedgmen were able to squeeze the Poole reserve back to last place. But Kemp wasn't prepared to stay there for long and had soon re-taken Sedgmen to help Poole extend their lead by a further two points, Lawson untroubled out front. Steve Worrall produced a great back straight move to power by Nielsen in heat ten but the good work from Ben Cook from the tapes looked to be undone as Vissing and Nielsen relegated him to the back. The Aussie though responded perfectly and swept by both to take Poole into the break twelve points to the good.
Birmingham sent out Sedgmen as a tactical substitute in heat eleven but King chose this heat to record his first race win of the night , thus the move had little effect. Worrall attempted his back straight move again in heat twelve  but couldn't quite execute it this time  but he had the speed to get by Sedgmen half a lap later. Kemp then lined things up Worrall-fashion for the next two laps but just failed to get by Sedgmen but nevertheless it was another two points added to the leading margin for the Pirates. 
Still Birmingham refused to lay down and Brennan delivered the ride of the night in heat thirteen as he squeezed his way, at speed and lifting, through the narrowest of gaps down the back straight to sweep by both King and Lawson, but again there was no support from Vissing , thus Poole retained their fourteen point advantage. The travelling band of Poole fans, armed with the NID (Never In Doubt) banner had every reason to cheer when Ablitt determinedly picked up another race point as he worked his passage by Pearson whilst Ben Cook led proceedings. That was enough to guarantee four league points but with King and Lawson finishing the home side off with a heat fifteen maximum, Poole ended the match with a twenty point victory, the largest away victory of the league this season.
 

BIRMINGHAM  35
C.Vissing XE,R,0,0=0 (4)
S.Nielsen 3,3,XD,1=7 (4)
J.Sedgmen 2,3,0,2,2,0=9 (6)
A.Morris R,F,2,2=4 (4)
T.Brennan 2,3,1',3,1=10+1 (5)
J.Thompson 3,1',RS,1,TS,0,RS=5+1 (4)
J.Pearson 0,0,RS,0,RS,RS,0=0 (4)
.
POOLE 55
D.King 2,2,3,2,3=12 (5)
Z.Cook 1',1',3,0=5+2 (4)
S.Worrall 3,1',3,3=10+1 (4)
B.Cook 1,2,2',3=8+1 (4)
R.Lawson 3,2,3,1',2'=11+2 (5)
D.Kemp 2,1',2',1,1=7+2 (5)
N.Ablitt  1',0,RS,1=2+1 (3)
.
Ht 1:  S.Nielsen, D.King, Z.Cook, J.Pearson, C.Vissing [tapes exc] 3-3 3-3 [59.63]
Ht 2:  J.Thompson, D.Kemp, N.Ablitt , J.Pearson 3-3 6-6 [60.34]
Ht 3:  S.Worrall, J.Sedgmen, B.Cook, A.Morris [rtd] 2-4 8-10 [58.59]
Ht 4:  R.Lawson, T.Brennan, J.Thompson, N.Ablitt  3-3 11-13 [58.69]
Ht 5:  J.Sedgmen, D.King, Z.Cook, A.Morris [fell] 3-3 14-16 [58.84]
Ht 6:  S.Nielsen, R.Lawson, D.Kemp, C.Vissing [rtd] 3-3 17-19 [59.31]
Ht 7:  T.Brennan, B.Cook, S.Worrall, J.Pearson 3-3 20-22 [59.1]
Ht 8:  Z.Cook, D.Kemp, J.Thompson, S.Nielsen[exc] 1-5 21-27 [59.72]
Ht 9:  R.Lawson, A.Morris, D.Kemp, J.Sedgmen 2-4 23-31 [59.28]
Ht 10:  S.Worrall, B.Cook, S.Nielsen, C.Vissing 1-5 24-36 [59.97]
Ht 11:  D.King, J.Sedgmen, T.Brennan, Z.Cook, J.Thompson [Tac Subbed] 3-3 27-39 [59.12]
Ht 12:  S.Worrall, J.Sedgmen, D.Kemp, J.Thompson 2-4 29-43 [59.9]
Ht 13:  T.Brennan, D.King, R.Lawson, C.Vissing 3-3 32-46 [60.25]
Ht 14:  B.Cook, A.Morris, N.Ablitt , J.Pearson 2-4 34-50 [59.9]
Ht 15:  D.King, R.Lawson, T.Brennan, J.Sedgmen 1-5 35-55 [60]
REFEREE:  Paul Carrington 
BIRMINGHAM  won toss and chose gates 1&3 | POOLE choose gates  in heat 15  
League Points: BIRMINGHAM  0 POOLE 4