REPORT: Poole Pirates v Plymouth Gladiators

19/04/23

Poole 'Wessex Marine' Pirates secured top spot in the Southern section of the BSN series after staggeringly scoring 39 out of a possible 40 race points in the first eight heats of their home fixture against Plymouth

When Anders Rowe made his presence known as the riders left the tapes in heat one, few could foresee what was about to unveil across the first half of this meeting as the "Wessex Marine" Pirates put the "Prow Park" Gladiators to the sword.

Rowe travelled nicely to the first turn and travelled behind skipper Steve Worral to inflict the first of five consecutive 5-1's on the visitors. The run was only broken when the home side went even better in heat six as Worrall or Rowe were consigned to a match-race in a rerun, enforced when Jake Turner had fallen at the pit turn on the second lap after Richie Worrall had already packed up with machine problems.

During that spate of maximums, the Pirates still had to be on their toes, not least Zach Cook in heat three as he became embroiled in an early cat and mouse adventure with Ben Barker, the Plymouth man just having beaten the two minute time allowance when his bike stalled ahead of the green light.

Adam Roynon continued to underline the fact that he was settling in nicely at Wimborne Road, dealing well with R.Worrall in heat four whilst the Rocketman Richard Lawson was blasting off into a different postcode. Ben Cook then had to keep all his wits about him in heat five as Kyle Howarth was putting him under pressure but by sticking to the task the interim score-card was showing 30-5.

With Plymouth not able to move off that five point mark in the sixth, they were at last able to chalk up something better than a single point in heat seven after Kyle Newman had gated slowly and took a lap to circumnavigate Paul Starke and try and get Barker in his sights whilst Lawson again lead. Immediately though, the Pirates were back on the maximums, Roynon looking for his partner Rowe as the pair hit the first turn.

Not having a made a team change, something or a rare event for Garry May, the Plymouth team boss did attempt to deploy his big guns in heat nine, pulling out Turner in favour of tactical substitute Barker. The Cooks dealt admirably with the introduced rider however, but programmed R.Worrall collected the visitors first race winner as they eventually moved into double figures, some thirty one points adrift however.

Two on the trot for Barker and he was not happy about where he was being told to line-up, eventually moving closer to the inside of gate two, further away from Steve Worrall. The Cornishman made a quick get-away but it proved all in vain as his partner Starke fell at the first turn and a second attempt was called for. This time Rowe was more in the mix but he couldn't hold position. Steve Worrall found good speed in the latter stages but in a bid to try and get by he hit a patch on the apex of the third turn and fell on the final lap, gifting the Gladiators a 5-1.

Kyle Howarth picked up a start warning in heat eleven and when they went again it was Lawson who made the race his own, Howarth preoccupied throughout with the tireless efforts of Newman. The last lap of heat twelve had a lot happening, first of all with Roynon getting out of shape. Ben Cook went by him and put pressure on Barker but just as Worrall had done two heats earlier, Cook hit a soft patch and went down, allowing Roynon to resume his second place.

Plymouth had therefore outscored Poole 10-14 from sharing heat nine, but Poole hit back hard with a powerhouse 5-1 from Lawson and Worrall in heat thirteen and they would have moved further clear in heat fourteen had Newman not been forced to pull up with machine issues on the final lap.

All heat fifteen realistically had on it was a maximum chance for Lawson, remarkably despite the Poole dominance he had survived as the only unbeaten rider, but Richie Worrall ended that hope with victory over rare heat fifteen competitor Zach Cook and Lawson, but the Pirates had done all the damage in those first eight races.

Heat Details

Poole 59
Steve Worrall 3,3,F,2'=8+1 (4)
Anders Rowe 2',2',3,1=8+2 (4)
Ben Cook 3,2',2,F=7+1 (4)
Zach Cook 2',3,1',2,1'=9+3 (5)
Richard Lawson 3,3,3,3,2=14 (5)
Kyle Newman 2',1,1,R=4+1 (4)
Adam Roynon 3,2',2',2=9+2 (4)
.
Plymouth 30
Kyle Howarth 0,1,2,0=3 (4)
Dan Gilkes 1,0,1,0=2 (4)
Paul Starke 0,0,3,3,0=6 (5)
Ben Barker 1,2,0,2',3=8+1 (5)
Richie Worrall 1,XD,3,1,3=8 (5)
Jake Turner 0,FD,TS,1=1 (3)
Ben Trigger 1,0,0,1=2 (4)
.
Ht 1: S.Worrall, A.Rowe, D.Gilkes, K.Howarth 5-1 5-1 [59.09]
Ht 2: A.Roynon, K.Newman, B.Trigger, J.Turner 5-1 10-2 [61.01]
Ht 3: B.Cook, Z.Cook, B.Barker, P.Starke 5-1 15-3 [59.84]
Ht 4: R.Lawson, A.Roynon, R.Worrall, B.Trigger 5-1 20-4 [59.77]
Ht 5: Z.Cook, B.Cook, K.Howarth, D.Gilkes 5-1 25-5 [61.15]
Ht 6: S.Worrall, A.Rowe, R.Worrall[exc], J.Turner [fell exc] 5-0 30-5 [61.38]
Ht 7: R.Lawson, B.Barker, K.Newman, P.Starke 4-2 34-7 [59.87]
Ht 8: A.Rowe, A.Roynon, D.Gilkes, B.Trigger 5-1 39-8 [61.06]
Ht 9: R.Worrall, B.Cook, Z.Cook, B.Barker, J.Turner [Tac Subbed] 3-3 42-11 [60.02]
Ht 10: P.Starke, B.Barker, A.Rowe, S.Worrall [fell] 1-5 43-16 [61.22]
Ht 11: R.Lawson, K.Howarth, K.Newman, D.Gilkes 4-2 47-18 [60.56]
Ht 12: P.Starke, A.Roynon, J.Turner, B.Cook [fell] 2-4 49-22 [61.63]
Ht 13: R.Lawson, S.Worrall, R.Worrall, K.Howarth 5-1 54-23 [60.96]
Ht 14: B.Barker, Z.Cook, B.Trigger, K.Newman [rtd] 2-4 56-27 [61.24]
Ht 15: R.Worrall, R.Lawson, Z.Cook, P.Starke 3-3 59-30 [60.82]