REPORT: Oxford Cheetahs v Poole Pirates

2/08/22

Poole Pirates remain unbeaten in the SGB Championship Jubilee League Southern Group after a 45-45 draw at Oxford on Tuesday night left them on the threshold of qualifying for the final from the section.

Seeing three stricken riders at the first turn of a meeting is never a nice start but thankfully Steve Worrall, Scott Nicholls and Paul Starke were all able to get to their feet, relatively unscathed and contest a re-start, in which Worrall was sharp to get clear of any traffic. Drew Kemp though was reeled in by Nicholls but did enough to fend off Starke to give the Pirates a decent start to the meeting. Zach Cook's first ride out of the reserve berth was a victorious one, his partner Nathan Ablitt was in the mix early doors before tailing off. Heat three was a very much settled from the gate, Danny King and Ben Cook only separated by Aaron Summers as the Pirates doubled their lead, one that was immediately wiped out in the fourth as Troy Batchelor, with a warning against his name after early movement, and Dillon Ruml proved too strong for Richard Lawson.

Worrall and Kemp worked their respective ways to the front in heat five as they pulled from the gate but Summers, after three laps, drove hard and wide on the final circuit and snatched second place on the line, whilst heat six was all about two races in one. The Pirates prevailed in both, Zach Cook holding out Paul Starke at the back whilst an improved Lawson was outstmarting Nicholls and the Pirates had that four point advantage back. King was determined not to be caught in heat seven and stormed away to establish an unassailable lead leaving Ben Cook to try, unsuccessfully, to break up some solid team riding from Troy Batchelor who cleverly protected Cameron Heeps. Oxford fired in another maximum heat score in heat eight to level the meeting up again, Zach Cook probably paying the cost of too much caution at the third turn and not putting himself on the attacking wide line. 

Summers had a full minute of daylight in heat nine as two-on-the-trot Zach Cook and Lawson had little problems in seeing off the struggling Jack Thomas. A huge 5-1 from Starke and Nicholls gave Oxford the lead for the first time as King missed the gate from the outside. Ben Cook gave Nicholls plenty to contend with but was unable to split the Cheetahs, but that margin was halved when Worrall superbly blocked off every move Batchelor tried to make in heat eleven whilst Kemp was nipping away at the Aussie throughout. 

Zach Cook and King were sublime after the interval break as they claimed the scalp of Ruml and Heeps to restore the lead, by two points. A four-out-of-four statistic for Worrall ensured the Pirates would remain ahead and Lawson came very close to extending the advantage as he recovered from two slowish laps to trouble both Nicholls and Batchelor, just running shy in the end. A great winning ride from Ben Cook with Summers making increasing attacks kept Poole clinging on to a group winning advantage as the meeting headed into the final heat.

Summers and Batchelor faced off against unbeaten Worrall and the battling King and it was Summers who made the sharpest start. The two Pirates continued to hassle Batchelor turn by turn, making his life tough as King kept pushing hard on the extreme outside line whilst Worrall continually reminded Batchelor of his presence. The dual pronged attacked worked to a large extent as the board scraping King found himself perfectly positioned to make the charge off the final turn to sneak by Batchelor, deny the Cheetahs the maximum and maintain the Pirates unbeaten tag in the competition.

Heat details

OXFORD 45
S.Nicholls 2,2,2',2=8+1 (4)
P.Starke 0,0,2',3=5+1 (4)
J.Thomas 0,RS,0,NS=0 (2)
A.Summers 2,2,3,2,3=12 (5)
T.Batchelor 3,1',2,1',1=8+2 (5)
C.Heeps 2,2,0,0,NS=4 (4)
D.Ruml 1',2',0,3,1,1'=8+3 (6)
.
POOLE 45
S.Worrall 3,3,3,3,0=12 (5)
D.Kemp 1,1,0,1=3 (4)
D.King 3,3,0,2',2=10+1 (5)
B.Cook 1,0,1,3=5 (4)
R.Lawson 1,3,1',0=5+1 (4)
Z.Cook 3,1,1,2,3=10 (5)
N.Ablitt 0,0,RS,0=0 (3)
.
Ht 1:  S.Worrall, S.Nicholls, D.Kemp, P.Starke 2-4 2-4 [59.1]
Ht 2:  Z.Cook, C.Heeps, D.Ruml, N.Ablitt 3-3 5-7 [59.62]
Ht 3:  D.King, A.Summers, B.Cook, J.Thomas 2-4 7-11 [59.82]
Ht 4:  T.Batchelor, D.Ruml, R.Lawson, N.Ablitt 5-1 12-12 [58.97]
Ht 5:  S.Worrall, A.Summers, D.Kemp, D.Ruml 2-4 14-16 [60.72]
Ht 6:  R.Lawson, S.Nicholls, Z.Cook, P.Starke 2-4 16-20 [59.96]
Ht 7:  D.King, C.Heeps, T.Batchelor, B.Cook 3-3 19-23 [59.79]
Ht 8:  D.Ruml, P.Starke, Z.Cook, D.Kemp 5-1 24-24 [60.78]
Ht 9:  A.Summers, Z.Cook, R.Lawson, J.Thomas 3-3 27-27 [60]
Ht 10:  P.Starke, S.Nicholls, B.Cook, D.King 5-1 32-28 [60.78]
Ht 11:  S.Worrall, T.Batchelor, D.Kemp, C.Heeps 2-4 34-32 [60.09]
Ht 12:  Z.Cook, D.King, D.Ruml, C.Heeps, J.Thomas [NS] 1-5 35-37 [61.09]
Ht 13:  S.Worrall, S.Nicholls, T.Batchelor, R.Lawson 3-3 38-40 [60.59]
Ht 14:  B.Cook, A.Summers, D.Ruml, N.Ablitt, C.Heeps [NS] 3-3 41-43 [61]
Ht 15:  A.Summers, D.King, T.Batchelor, S.Worrall 4-2 45-45 [60.72]
REFEREE: Chris Durno
POOLE won toss and chose gates 1&3 | OXFORD choose gates 1&3 in heat 15  
League Points: OXFORD 1 POOLE 2