REPORT: Poole Pirates v Scunthorpe Scorpions

20/07/22

Poole kicked off their penultimate league meeting with their first maximum heat advantage since April 27th, and only their third such heat score from the opening race of a meeting this season, as they continued to stake a claim for an automatic play-off semi-final berth.

Moving into second place in the table the Pirates made light work of seeing off the threat of Scunthorpe, even though the visitors had one of the in-form riders in the league, Ryan Douglas, storming to four race wins.
Ironically though, it was Douglas that 'handed' Poole that heat one maximum score as he messed up trying to squeeze through a non-existent inside gap on turn three of lap three, which he thought Drew Kemp had left. As he tried to pull out of the move he made contact with Kemp and headed off into the air-fence, causing a race stoppage and an awarded result.
A quick get-away by Ben Cook supported a cheer-heralding move into third place from Nathan Ablitt to get by and hold off Zaine Kennedy in heat two saw Poole build on that lead with a 4-2 before skipper Danny King and Zach Cook blasted home another maximum heat score to give the Pirates an early ten point cushion.
Ablitt lifted as he left the tapes in heat four and lost ground as he worked to get the bike back under control and that cost him the chance to add to his first ride point, but Richard Lawson had the victory sewn up. Ryan Douglas then broke the sequence of Poole race winners, not once, but twice with wins from heats five and six, both occasions though the Pirates were content with filling the other two scoring positions.
James Wright made a smart gate from the outside to launch heat seven but Lawson produced a great ride to make a passing move on lap three and it looked as though the Pirates would resume the heat gains, but Ben Cook's bike packed up on the run to the line which allowed Scorpions guest Jason Edwards in to share the spoils.
Ablitt was clean away in heat eight but wasn't able to hold back Simon Lambert who went in pursuit of Drew Kemp. Ablitt was doing well to stave off Kennedy but his opposite number had the better run to the line to snatch third amidst confusion as the wrong flag came out. The referee clocked the positions nevertheless and Poole still held there ten point lead.
Both King and Zach Cook made good strong gates in heat nine but Douglas was able to split them, although credit going to Zach for keeping the pressure on even though he had been passed. Steve Worrall enjoyed a convincing heat ten victory but one-time second Kemp lost position to Edwards and then looked vulnerable throughout, although in the end he was able hold for the heat gain.
It was back to shared heats in arguably the race of the night (heat eleven) as Ben Cook and Douglas endured a cat-and-mouse battle which the experienced Douglas managed to prevail in, Lawson picking up the third place.
Ablitt was in the right position to punish Edwards for a first lap heat twelve error, as King romped away. Roynon also got into trouble but Ablitt couldn't quite make the dream move, but nevertheless his point ensured the Pirates would be tasting victory for the third successive meeting.
Douglas collected his fourth victory of the meeting, leading home Worrall and Lawson in heat thirteen. Another shared heat followed as a superb sweep by Zach Cook round pit turn saw him take the lead from both Scorpions. By the end of the race there was nothing but frustration for his brother Ben who was clearly annoyed that he couldn't follow suit as his parent looked on.
Poole completed the scalp of the Scorpions with King and Worrall combining to beat Douglas in the final heat and extend the margin of victory to twenty points.

POOLE 55
S.Worrall 3,2,3,2,2'=12+1 (5)
D.Kemp 2',1',3,1=7+2 (4)
D.King 3,2,3,3,3=14 (5)
Z.Cook 2',1',1,3=7+2 (4)
R.Lawson 3,3,1',1'=8+2 (4)
B.Cook 3,0,2,0=5 (4)
N.Ablitt 1,0,0,1=2 (4)
.
SCUNTHORPE 35
R.Douglas FD,3,3,2,3,3,1=15 (7)
S.Lambert 1,2,0,2,0=5 (5)
J.Edwards 0,1',2,0=3+1 (4)
J.Wright 1,2,0,0,2,0=5 (6)
R.Replacement
A.Roynon 2,0,0,2=4 (4)
Z.Kennedy 0,1',1',1'=3+3 (4)
.
Ht 1: S.Worrall, D.Kemp, S.Lambert, R.Douglas [fell exc] 5-1 5-1 [awd]
Ht 2: B.Cook, A.Roynon, N.Ablitt, Z.Kennedy 4-2 9-3 [60.63]
Ht 3: D.King, Z.Cook, J.Wright, J.Edwards 5-1 14-4 [60.37]
Ht 4: R.Lawson, S.Lambert, Z.Kennedy, N.Ablitt 3-3 17-7 [60.66]
Ht 5: R.Douglas, D.King, Z.Cook, S.Lambert 3-3 20-10 [59.69]
Ht 6: R.Douglas, S.Worrall, D.Kemp, A.Roynon, R.Replacement [Tac Subbed] 3-3 23-13 [59.88]
Ht 7: R.Lawson, J.Wright, J.Edwards, B.Cook 3-3 26-16 [60.63]
Ht 8: D.Kemp, S.Lambert, Z.Kennedy, N.Ablitt 3-3 29-19 [6110]
Ht 9: D.King, R.Douglas, Z.Cook, A.Roynon 4-2 33-21 [60.25]
Ht 10: S.Worrall, J.Edwards, D.Kemp, J.Wright 4-2 37-23 [60.91]
Ht 11: R.Douglas, B.Cook, R.Lawson, S.Lambert 3-3 40-26 [60.68]
Ht 12: D.King, A.Roynon, N.Ablitt, J.Edwards 4-2 44-28 [61.57]
Ht 13: R.Douglas, S.Worrall, R.Lawson, J.Wright 3-3 47-31 [60.59]
Ht 14: Z.Cook, J.Wright, Z.Kennedy, B.Cook 3-3 50-34 [60.96]
Ht 15: D.King, S.Worrall, R.Douglas, J.Wright 5-1 55-35 [60.44]
REFEREE: Chris Durno
SCUNTHORPE won toss and chose gates 1&3 | POOLE choose gates 2&4 in heat 15
League Points: POOLE 3 SCUNTHORPE 0