Report Steve Worrall Testimonial

14/06/23

2021 World Champion Artem Laguta delivered a wheel-perfect four ride appearance on his debut at Wimborne Road, providing the bedrock for the Poole 'Link Fabrications' Select side's narrow 47-43 victory over the Belle Vue 'ATPI' Aces Select

Laguta featured in two Poole 5-1 heat advantages, including a heat thirteen, along with Richard Lawson, when the scores were level, but Charles Wright and Norick Blodorn returned parity in scores with a heat fourteen response.

Perhaps a little surprisingly, team manager Neil Middleditch dispensed with his trump card Laguta in the nominated riders heat, opting instead for the Testimonial man to partner Lawson and it proved an inspired move as the two regular Pirates stormed clear of Chris Harris, who throughout the meeting had shown plenty of attacking moves that he is so renowned for. The Poole pair had the heat well under control when Tom Brennan fell on the third turn of the third lap, resulting in the race being awarded as the match winning 5-1 in Poole's favour.

Aside from Laguta's unbeaten performance, Steve Worrall celebrated his big night by dropping just a single point, to Harris in heat nine and was just grateful that he was scoring more freely "I really want to thank all the riders who turned out for me this evening to make this event possible and it was good to be on the bike and scoring points again. Hopefully I have now found some form and it is important for me to take that into Friday's meeting at Redcar".

5-1's were traded in the first three heats with Laguta and Ben Cook giving the Pirates the early advantage only for Blodorn to roar off into the distance in heat two , well clear of team-mate, Poole loanee for the night, Kyle Newman, who came under early pressure from Zach Cook, before the Australian pulled up on the final lap. Worrall won heat three at a canter and missed seeing the delight of Danny King moving from fourth to second, stunning Charles Wright in the process. With Zach Cook still working on his equipment, Anders Rowe took his place in heat four and he gated well along with Richard Lawson but Chris Harris showed his true colours, charging through on the 'town centre bend', helped a little by Lawson momentarily locking up. Once ahead, Harris wasted no time in establishing a commanding lead and ending the 5-1 sequences.

Worrall collected another easy, and big margin, win in heat five but King couldn't keep pace with Brennan but had nothing else to beat as Zagar pulled up on the first turn. Laguta was clinical again in heat six, a battle though developed between Harris and Ben Cook, the current Poole man trying hard to fight back after the popular ex-Pirate had nipped under him. A much improved ride, compared to his first outing struggle, came from Rory Schlein, who looked as though he would need to team ride with Wright to keep Lawson at bay in heat seven, but after two laps he just set about extending his lead. Heat eight saw a rare 5-1 inflicted on the Cooks, but Brennan and Blodorn achieved it with ease to level the scores at 24-24.

Newman ran his heat nine move under King too wide on turn four allowing King back into third place whilst Harris gate-crashed Worrall's party by some lengths. Laguta was again in the next postcode as he made it three from three with a heat ten victory. Ben Cook gated alongside him but subsequently was passed by both Schlein then Wright. Zagar came to the party in heat eleven and with Brennan backing up, the Aces broke into a four point lead, the first time they had got their noses in front. Blodorn had to show quick reactions to steady himself in heat twelve, to avoid running into Worrall around the pit turn and Zach Cook, seeing an opportunity, seized on it immediately and made a wide swooping move to set up a Pirates' 5-1.

Laguta, silky smooth off the line had Lawson alongside him in heat thirteen and they both fought off the interests of Zagar to edge Poole back ahead but then came that heat fourteen response from the Aces to set up a dramatic ending to the main meeting.

Worrall also had a unique close to the action with a Super Final, which featured four nominated riders who had to run from the tapes to the pit gate, mount their machines and then race over four laps to the flag. Taking a short cut across the centre green, Matej Zagar was first to be under power and went on to beat Danny King, from Brennan and Worrall.

Poole Select 47
Artem Laguta 3,3,3,3=12 (4)
Ben Cook 2',1,1,0=4+1 (4)
Steve Worrall 3,3,2,3,2'=13+1 (5)
Danny King 2',1,1',0=4+2 (4)
Richard Lawson 2,1,0,2',3=8+1 (5)
Anders Rowe 1,1',RS,1,1=4+1 (4)
Zach Cook R,RS,0,0,2'=2+1 (4)
.
Belle Vue Select 43
Matej Zagar 0,R,3,1=4 (4)
Tom Brennan 1,2,3,2',F=8+1 (5)
Rory Schlein 0,3,2,RS=5 (3)
Charles Wright 1,2',1',3=7+2 (4)
Chris Harris 3,2,3,0,1=9 (5)
Kyle Newman 2',0,0,0=2+1 (4)
Norick Blodorn 3,0,2',1,2'=8+2 (5)
.
Ht 1: A.Laguta, B.Cook, T.Brennan, M.Zagar 5-1 5-1 [59.12]
Ht 2: N.Blodorn, K.Newman, A.Rowe, Z.Cook [rtd] 1-5 6-6 [60.14]
Ht 3: S.Worrall, D.King, C.Wright, R.Schlein 5-1 11-7 [59.63]
Ht 4: C.Harris, R.Lawson, A.Rowe, N.Blodorn 3-3 14-10 [59.81]
Ht 5: S.Worrall, T.Brennan, D.King, M.Zagar [rtd] 4-2 18-12 [59.47]
Ht 6: A.Laguta, C.Harris, B.Cook, K.Newman 4-2 22-14 [59.78]
Ht 7: R.Schlein, C.Wright, R.Lawson, Z.Cook 1-5 23-19 [59.87]
Ht 8: T.Brennan, N.Blodorn, B.Cook, Z.Cook 1-5 24-24 [60.31]
Ht 9: C.Harris, S.Worrall, D.King, K.Newman 3-3 27-27 [60]
Ht 10: A.Laguta, R.Schlein, C.Wright, B.Cook 3-3 30-30 [60]
Ht 11: M.Zagar, T.Brennan, A.Rowe, R.Lawson 1-5 31-35 [61.29]
Ht 12: S.Worrall, Z.Cook, N.Blodorn, K.Newman 5-1 36-36 [61.12]
Ht 13: A.Laguta, R.Lawson, M.Zagar, C.Harris 5-1 41-37 [59.63]
Ht 14: C.Wright, N.Blodorn, A.Rowe, D.King 1-5 42-42 [60.41]
Ht 15: R.Lawson, S.Worrall, C.Harris, T.Brennan [fell] 5-1 47-43 []