REPORT: Glasgow Tigers v Poole Pirates BSN Final 2nd Leg

21/07/23

Poole promised that they would not sit back on their laurels too much, inspite of having done the hard yards in this final over the first leg when they built up a thirty four point advantage, and to their credit they did exactly that, pushing the Tigers throughout, but were just unable to pull off an on-the night victory.

The home side began positively, bringing the aggregate deficit to a round thirty with back to back 4-2 advantages, Nowak the suprise winner in the first heat as Anders Rowe kept Chris Harris occupied sufficiently long enough to allow Richard Lawson the opportunity to build up a lead over the former British GP champion and focus on chasing down the Pole, although it proved a fruitless task. A first lap fall for Adam Roynon in heat two meant Kyle Newman was a lone Pirate in the second and he battled hard but, again could not find any passing opportunity on re-run leader Lee Complin. Claus Vissing was too eager in heat three and was dismissed back to the pits with a disqualification to his name, Complin coming in to deputise. Ben Cook then twitched in the re-start and was duly warned before then pushing Benjamin Basso hard throughout the race once it eventually got under way at the third attempt. With Zach Cook back in third it steadied the Poole ship somewhat before a tapes to flag win from Steve Worrall was converted to a heat gain for the Pirates as Roynon opened his account with a third place over Ace Pijper.

Both Lawson and Rowe made decent first turns in heat five and it took a big effort from Basso to pick off Rowe, but now the evening's advantage had been cancelled out and Poole were well on course for posting their required twenty nine points. There appeared to be some contact between Nowak and Newman as they both approached the first turn but it was allowed to go unpunished and with Newman impeded the most it helped the Tigers re-establish a second leg advantage with Harris beating Worrall. But Ben Cook made heat seven his own straight from the start, and Zach edged the Pirates closer to the crown with a good pass on Complin meaning that Poole had the knowledge that a required finisher in each of the reamaining eight heats would be enough. Roynon was gifted a point in heat eight when Pijper packed up whilst Rowe was chasing Nowak, and then a shared heat from skipper Worrall and Newman, with Basso winning, meant Glasgow could no longer reach the aggregate 91 point winning target as they only had a maximum of twenty five points available to them to add to their aggregate tally of eighty five (Poole on eighty nine).

Heat ten dished up a competitive battle between Ben Cook and Nowak scrapping for the second and third positions as Harris led. Nowak came on strong off the final turn but Ben crossed the line ahead of the Pole. Poole were denied a shared heat when third-placed Anders Rowe shed a primary chain on the third turn of the final lap, whipping him on the backside and inflicting a considerable amount of pain on him, that left him prostrate on the track for some concerning moments. So the Tigers were fortunate to widen their advantage to four points on the night , but a good pass by Ben Cook on Basso early on put the Poole battler in a strong position, one that he was able to narrowly cling on to as they crossed the line together, a verdict confirmed by the transponder's recorded times.

Heat thirteen had all four riders in close proximity to each other throughout with Brennan leading. Worrall and Lawson did well to freeze Harris out, retaining the two point difference in the night's scores. Zach Cook and Roynon were unable to avoid getting in each other's way as they both wanted chances and hunting Complin down, but the final result confirmed Glasgow as the second leg winners, holding a six point lead with one heat to go. A heat that was emphatically won by Steve Worrall, clearly in a hurry to go out and lift the trophy, his fifth as a Pirate but first under his captaincy.

GLASGOW 48 (76)
Chris Harris 1,3,3,0=7 (4)
Marcin Nowak 3,1,3,1=8 (4)
Benjamin Basso 3,2,3,2,2=12 (5)
Claus Vissing XE,R,0,3=3 (4)
Tom Brennan 2,2,3,3,1'=11+1 (5)
Lee Complin 3,0,0,1,2'=6+1 (5)
Ace Pijper 1,0,R,0=1 (4)
.
POOLE 42 (104)
Richard Lawson 2,3,2,2=9 (4)
Anders Rowe 0,1,2,F=3 (4)
Ben Cook 2,3,2,3,0=10 (5)
Zach Cook 1',1,0,0=2+1 (4)
Steve Worrall 3,2,2,1',3=11+1 (5)
Kyle Newman 2,0,1',1=4+1 (4)
Adam Roynon FD,1,1',1=3+1 (4)
.
Ht 1: M.Nowak, R.Lawson, C.Harris, A.Rowe 4-2 4-2 [57.3]
Ht 2: L.Complin, K.Newman, A.Pijper, A.Roynon [fell exc] 4-2 8-4 [58.22]
Ht 3: B.Basso, B.Cook, Z.Cook, L.Complin, C.Vissing [tapes exc] 3-3 11-7 [57.95]
Ht 4: S.Worrall, T.Brennan, A.Roynon, A.Pijper 2-4 13-11 [57.44]
Ht 5: R.Lawson, B.Basso, A.Rowe, C.Vissing [rtd] 2-4 15-15 [57.68]
Ht 6: C.Harris, S.Worrall, M.Nowak, K.Newman 4-2 19-17 [57.79]
Ht 7: B.Cook, T.Brennan, Z.Cook, L.Complin 2-4 21-21 [58.54]
Ht 8: M.Nowak, A.Rowe, A.Roynon, A.Pijper [rtd] 3-3 24-24 [58.67]
Ht 9: B.Basso, S.Worrall, K.Newman, C.Vissing 3-3 27-27 [58.34]
Ht 10: C.Harris, B.Cook, M.Nowak, Z.Cook 4-2 31-29 [58.74]
Ht 11: T.Brennan, R.Lawson, L.Complin, A.Rowe [fell] 4-2 35-31 [59.33]
Ht 12: B.Cook, B.Basso, K.Newman, A.Pijper 2-4 37-35 [58.78]
Ht 13: T.Brennan, R.Lawson, S.Worrall, C.Harris 3-3 40-38 [59]
Ht 14: C.Vissing, L.Complin, A.Roynon, Z.Cook 5-1 45-39 [60.03]
Ht 15: S.Worrall, B.Basso, T.Brennan, B.Cook 3-3 48-42 []