REPORT: Birmingham Brummies v Poole Pirates

For the second successive meeting the 'Wessex Marine' Pirates ran out 54-36 winners, a scoreline that has proved to be all too familiar to the Birmingham Brummies who have fallen to that score in three of their eight league matches this season, including twice previously at Perry Barr.

Solid gates from both Richard Lawson and Anders Rowe set the Poole stall out perfectly as they led home the Brummies guest, familiar face Danny King, to kick off with a 5-1. Adam Roynon was in full control of heat two and with Kyle Newman holding off the late pressure from Sam Hagon the Pirates made it two maximums from the first two heats. Zach Cook picked up a telling off from referee Chris Gay for anticipation at the start of heat three. As the riders returned to tapes brother Ben was moved from his preferred starting point by the starting official, although it made little difference as he had command at turn one. Zach tried an inside switch but Batchelor split the brothers, just to relieve some of the agony for the troubled West Midlanders. Skipper Steve Worrall had to work hard to get the better of reserve Alfie Bowtell in heat four as the home side had someone to cheer home given that Justin Sedgmen was away and gone, but the reprise was short-lived as Lawson, from gate four, hit the front immediately and Rowe was doing everything he could to give Batchelor a troubled ride. A third of the way through and Poole led by a handy ten points.

An attempt to close the gap by introducing Sedgmen as a tactical substitute to pair with King was foiled by both Worrall and Newman, the latter putting in an excellent shift to secure the 5-1 for the Pirates. Those Cook boys were well in charge of heat seven as the lead extended to eighteen points but then Bowtell and Nielsen sparked, the latter getting by Roynon (who, as with Cook in heat three, picked up a starting warning). Rowe attempted to try and deny the Brummies but without success. 

Three riders hit the third turn in heat nine abreast of each other and the outcome was a fall for two-on-the-trot Bowtell as he tried to get the run round Worrall. Lone Brummie in the re-run Batchelor could only split his two rivals as Worrall won for the second time. Both Ben and Zach relegated King from second to last in heat ten and Zach narrowly missed out on an on-the-line steal on winner Nielsen. Lawson didn't have it all his own way in heat eleven as Sedgmen put him under pressure after early exchanges of places between the Birmingham captain and Rowe had come out in favour of the Aussie. Rowe, to his credit, had made a clever line switch leaving turn two but couldn't make the move stick. Newman was out of the traps first in heat twelve and with Ben Cook powering by Batchelor there was absolutely no doubt as to where the league points were heading from this meeting as Poole moved on to a forty-seven point tally. 

Lawson had his colours lowered by King in heat thirteen but with Worrall in third the heat was shared, as was heat fourteen despite Zach Cook's perfect ride, for Roynon was held out by good team riding from Hagon and Starke, two riders that had been struggling for points. Ben Cook rode heat fifteen as if the meeting outcome depended on it, but thankfully it didn't as both Batchelor and King denied him anything other than the point for third place.

BIRMINGHAM 36
Danny King 1,1,0,3,2'=7+1 (5)
Stefan Nielsen 0,TS,2',3=5+1 (3)
Troy Batchelor 2,2,2,1,3=10 (5)
Paul Starke R,0,RS,1'=1+1 (3)
Justin Sedgmen 3,0,1,2,0=6 (5)
Sam Hagon 1,0,0,2=3 (4)
Alfie Bowtell 0,1,3,FD,0=4 (5)
.
POOLE 54
Richard Lawson 3,3,3,2=11 (4)
Anders Rowe 2',1,1,1=5+1 (4)
Ben Cook 3,3,1',2',1=10+2 (5)
Zach Cook 1,2',2,3=8+1 (4)
Steve Worrall 2,3,3,1'=9+1 (4)
Kyle Newman 2',2',1,3,0=8+2 (5)
Adam Roynon 3,0,0,0=3 (4)
.
Ht 1:  R.Lawson, A.Rowe, D.King, S.Nielsen 1-5 1-5 [59.88]
Ht 2:  A.Roynon, K.Newman, S.Hagon, A.Bowtell 1-5 2-10 [61.47]
Ht 3:  B.Cook, T.Batchelor, Z.Cook, P.Starke [rtd] 2-4 4-14 [59.37]
Ht 4:  J.Sedgmen, S.Worrall, A.Bowtell, A.Roynon 4-2 8-16 [59.25]
Ht 5:  R.Lawson, T.Batchelor, A.Rowe, P.Starke 2-4 10-20 [59.85]
Ht 6:  S.Worrall, K.Newman, D.King, J.Sedgmen, S.Nielsen [Tac Subbed] 1-5 11-25 [59.43]
Ht 7:  B.Cook, Z.Cook, J.Sedgmen, S.Hagon 1-5 12-30 [59.5]
Ht 8:  A.Bowtell, S.Nielsen, A.Rowe, A.Roynon 5-1 17-31 [61.35]
Ht 9:  S.Worrall, T.Batchelor, K.Newman, A.Bowtell [fell exc] 2-4 19-35 [60.44]
Ht 10:  S.Nielsen, Z.Cook, B.Cook, D.King 3-3 22-38 [60.88]
Ht 11:  R.Lawson, J.Sedgmen, A.Rowe, S.Hagon 2-4 24-42 [60.62]
Ht 12:  K.Newman, B.Cook, T.Batchelor, A.Bowtell 1-5 25-47 [61.62]
Ht 13:  D.King, R.Lawson, S.Worrall, J.Sedgmen 3-3 28-50 [60.28]
Ht 14:  Z.Cook, S.Hagon, P.Starke, A.Roynon 3-3 31-53 [60.71]
Ht 15:  T.Batchelor, D.King, B.Cook, K.Newman 5-1 36-54 [60.84]

SGB Referee: Mr Chris Gay 
POOLE won toss and chose gates 1&3 | BIRMINGHAM choose gates 1&3 in heat 15  
League Points: BIRMINGHAM 0 POOLE 2
Full report to follow