Poole Pirates v Redcar Bears

The Pirates moved back into second place with an emphatic victory in front of a good size and patient Wimborne Road crowd, after an unforecasted shower tried its best to ruin the club’s Summer Spectacular.

An untimely heavy downpour just after the turnstiles had been unlocked meant that racing was delayed for the best part of an hour, but once the track was given the green light, Steve Worrall wasted little time in cruising to a race win, although partner Drew Kemp was left stranded a fair distance behind. In heat two Ablitt was certainly suffering from a lack of power and was another distant backmarker, unfortunately for him and the Pirates it was too distant when Kyle Newman, on his Redcar debut, spun out on the final turn, when in second place behind Zach Cook. Newman had time to pick himself up and complete the last twenty metres to the flag to share the heat.  Ben Cook and Danny King went either side of Jason Edwards on the second turn of heat three to break the deadlock, then Richard Lawson completed the clean sweep of first Poole winners from the first four heats as he was always in control, unlike Lewis Kerr who had to respond quickly to recover from a last lap mistake. 

Skipper King picked up a warning for moving too early in heat five; in the re-run both he and Ben Cook made it look easy from a standing start as they recorded their second 5-1 of the meeting. Heat six was marred by a horror crash as Worrall, slow out of the start, clipped the rear end of Kerr at the first turn and went hurtling into the air-barrier, bring team-mate Kemp down in the process. The red light as cause of the stoppage ruled Worrall out of the re-run whilst his  damaged shoulder  was to prohibit him from taking any further part in the meeting. Kemp gated well in the re-run but he couldn't restrain Kerr and the heat looked set for a 2-4 outcome, but then Jenkins spun out on the fourth turn  and although he was keen to remount, as there was a point begging, he couldn't get the bike to fire and so pulled up onto the infield.

Lawson and Zach Cook then extended the Pirates lead  (26-15) with a 5-1 from heat seven, but the Bears clawed two points back when Charles Wright (taking Erik Riss' rider replacement outing) was able to exploit just half an error from leader Zach Cook on the final turn of heat eight, with Jenkins filling third place, in what was to prove to be his last action as he struggled with the effects of that sixth heat crash. The use of the tactical substitute by the Bears brought together the Pairs Champions, Wright and Kerr, but Ben Cook was in no mood to hang around and see how the second turn panned out as King was executing a perfect move to get ahead both of the riders that beat him on Friday, as Cook and King were clearly the best pair on this evening, celebrating their third maximum heat score when paired together. 

Covering for Worrall's enforced heat ten absence, Lawson sprung out the traps quickly, as too did the enigma of Kemp and Poole went seventeen points clear (38-21). Taking two on the bounce, Lawson again stamped his authority on heat eleven but Zach Cook was unable to assist him this time, unlike Ablitt in heat twelve who had no challenge from the fallen Edwards and added to King's passing effort as the skipper moved by Newman on the second lap. 

With King doing a double shift, covering Worrall's final programmed ride, the Pirates had two unbeaten riders paired up for heat thirteen and whilst Lawson made an exquisite move to slide through a tight first turn gap, neither Pirate had the answer to Kerr's second turn move that allowed him to pull clear. 

Newman became the third different Bear to win a race, only the fourth time the visitors took the flag first as he defeated the hard pressing Cook brothers, thus ending Ben Cook's unbeaten evening, but that didn’t deter Ben from the final heat as he led home Kerr, with Kemp backing up in third, to seal the 55-34 victory.

POOLE 55
Steve Worrall,3,FD,NS,NS=3 (2)
Drew Kemp,0,2,0,2',1=5+1 (5)
Danny King,3,2',2',3,2=12+2 (5)
Ben Cook,2',3,3,1',3=12+2 (5)
Richard Lawson,3,2',3,3,1'=12+2 (5)
Zach Cook,3,3,2,0,2=10 (5)
Nathan Ablitt,0,0,RS,1=1 (3)
.
REDCAR 34
Charles Wright,2,1,3,1,1',0=8+1 (6)
Rider Replacement
Jason Edwards,1',1,0,1,0,0=3+1 (6)
Kasper Andersen,0,1,0,0=1 (4)
Lewis Kerr,2,3,0,2,3,2=12 (6)
Kyle Newman,1',0,RS,TS,2,3=6+1 (4)
Jordan Jenkins,2,1',F,1,NS=4+1 (4)
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Ht 1:  S.Worrall, C.Wright, J.Edwards, D.Kemp 3-3 3-3 [60.38]
Ht 2:  Z.Cook, J.Jenkins, K.Newman, N.Ablitt 3-3 6-6 [61.43]
Ht 3:  D.King, B.Cook, J.Edwards, K.Andersen 5-1 11-7 [61.41]
Ht 4:  R.Lawson, L.Kerr, J.Jenkins, N.Ablitt 3-3 14-10 [60.97]
Ht 5:  B.Cook, D.King, C.Wright, K.Newman 5-1 19-11 [60.94]
Ht 6:  L.Kerr, D.Kemp, J.Jenkins [fell], S.Worrall [fell exc] 2-3 21-14 [61.19]
Ht 7:  Z.Cook, R.Lawson, K.Andersen, J.Edwards 5-1 26-15 [62.19]
Ht 8:  C.Wright, Z.Cook, J.Jenkins, D.Kemp 2-4 28-19 [61.22]
Ht 9:  B.Cook, D.King, C.Wright, L.Kerr, K.Newman [Tac Subbed] 5-1 33-20 [60.75]
Ht 10:  R.Lawson, D.Kemp, J.Edwards, K.Andersen, S.Worrall [NS] 5-1 38-21 [62.31]
Ht 11:  R.Lawson, L.Kerr, C.Wright, Z.Cook 3-3 41-24 [60.66]
Ht 12:  D.King, K.Newman, N.Ablitt, J.Edwards 4-2 45-26 [61.53]
Ht 13:  L.Kerr, D.King, R.Lawson, C.Wright, S.Worrall [NS] 3-3 48-29 [61.47]
Ht 14:  K.Newman, Z.Cook, B.Cook, K.Andersen, J.Jenkins [NS] 3-3 51-32 [63.06]
Ht 15:  B.Cook, L.Kerr, D.Kemp, J.Edwards 4-2 55-34 [61.54]
REFEREE: Chris Gay 
POOLE won toss and chose gates 1&3 | REDCAR choose gates 1&3 in heat 15  
League Points: POOLE 3 REDCAR 0
Photography by Anthony Burchell