REPORT: Poole Pirates 53 Glasgow Tigers 37

23/08/23

Although by the close of the meeting the Tigers had fared some better than in their BSN series Final appearance, the Poole 'Wessex Marine' Pirates enjoyed a comfortable SGB Cab Direct Championship victory, triggered by a solid start.

Richard Lawson was away and gone in heat one and Chris Harris had to fend off the early attentions of Kyle Newman before he could go on the hunt of his opposite number one, whilst team-mate Lee Complin, taking the first, of what was going to be a busy night, of a rewardless ride, pulling up within the first half a lap. Without a great deal of time to attend to his problems, Complin arrived on track with less than forty-five seconds on the clock but he had left his yellow helmet cover on and so was not ready to race by the time the two minutes had expired. With it being the reserves heat, the Tigers only option, other than to go with just one rider, was to put Complin off a fifteen metre handicap. From the re-start Rowe was commanding the heat and official club debutant Joe Thompson rode a tidy race under pressure to bank second place for a Poole 5-1. Heat three saw the Pirates, Ben and Zach Cook, into and out of the first turn in front and delivered another maximum heat score.
After the race Claus Vissing returned to the start line to have words with the starting official, much to the derision of the partisan Poole crowd. In heat four two more brothers were on set, this time in opposing teams and it was the Pirate Worrall that had the early advantage. Richie kept the effort going and there was not much in it as they took the south turn on the final lap, Steve able to find the better line out of it and with Thompson settled in third place, Poole had another heat advantage to celebrate. Ben Cook blasted away in heat five and initially Harris couldn't get near his opponent, unlike Zach who was pushing Bomber hard and on the final lap just locked up as he left turn three having lined the Tiger up perfectly.
Ace Pijper took an unaided, but awkward fall, at the first turn of heat six, sustaining injuries that ruled him out of the meeting. It was declared, benevolently, an unsatisfactory start with all four riders allowed back and, having been initially replaced by Pijper, Complin found his rest-break cut short as he took the ride, his fourth in six. Although the lengthy delay, incorporating the interval did allow everyone a bit of a breather and once racing resumed it was the Pirates who came out fighting, none more so than Newman who battled his way by Complin and tried to hunt Richie Worrall down whilst Lawson was leading untroubled. Steve Worrall delivered a tapes to flag victory in heat seven, Rowe registering only his fourth no-score since his tenancy at reserve.

Confusion arose in heat eight as Complin again was late on track and his disqualification light came on. With the crowd expecting him to be handicapped by a fifteen metres for the second time, the decision to penalise him was overturned after claims that the warning light in the pits was faulty. It proved to make little difference in the end as Thompson made a strong gate and had Newman backing up for much of the race, before Kyle kicked on for the personal win, when it was clear that Vissing was going to put in a strong challenge. Joe couldn't hold him out and had to settle for another third place, but again Poole were building up the points, slowly putting the meeting beyond Glasgow's grasp (33-15). Ben Cook produced a scintillating move to go by Richie Worrall in heat nine and Zach looked very keen on joining his brother out front but Worrall R held firm restricting Poole to a 4-2. Tom Brennan, who was growing in stature after a disappointing opening ride, stormed from the tapes in heat ten and Lawson, who had made a dreadful exit from the tapes, found himself with just too much to do and Poole would have been more than happy with the shared heat, but it wasn't to be as Newman packed up on the third lap allowing Vissing to pick up a much easier point than expected.

Glasgow chose to go with the sole representative of Harris in heat eleven, even though a tactical option to cover the rider replacement ride was open to them. Harris found himself under early pressure from Rowe but was able to deal with that threat before establishing an all-action chase on Worrall, only to have to settle for a split of the Pirates. Tom Brennan was clinical out of the gate as he remained the only Tiger to win a race at this stage, and he had two to his name. Heat thirteen didn't get off to the most even start you would have hoped for and it was a disastrous one for Lawson as his bike packed up without going forward. Taking advantage of the raggedness Richie Worrall and Harris combined to keep Steve Worrall at bay and Glasgow claimed their first heat advantage. The tactical move came in heat fourteen with Harris taking on the task and he delivered, but behind him Rowe had cleverly held up Vissing to allow Zach Cook to build up the speed round the pit turn to move into second as Poole shared the penultimate race.

Movement from three-on-the-trot Harris foiled Ben Cook into going early in heat fifteen and he demolished the tapes before moving back fifteen metres with Steve Worrall switching to gate two. It was a perfect launch for the skipper in the re-start and whilst Ben clawed back some of his handicap the race finished all square leaving Poole to celebrate their return to the top of the table.

POOLE 53
Richard Lawson 3,3,2,R=8 (4)
Kyle Newman 1,1,3,R=5 (4)
Ben Cook 3,3,3,2,0EH=11 (5)
Zach Cook 2',1,1,2=6+1 (4)
Steve Worrall 3,3,3,1,3=13 (5)
Anders Rowe 3,0,1,1'=5+1 (4)
Joe Thompson 2',1,1,1'=5+2 (4)
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GLASGOW 37
Chris Harris 2,2,2,2',3,1'=12+2 (6)
Rider Replacement
Tom Brennan 0,1',3,3,2=9+1 (5)
Claus Vissing 1,2,2,1,0,0=6 (6)
Richie Worrall 2,2,2,3=9 (4)
Lee Complin R,0EH,0,0,0,0,0=0 (7)
Ace Pijper 1,0,FN,NS,TS=1 (2)
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Ht 1: R.Lawson, C.Harris, K.Newman, L.Complin [rtd] 4-2 4-2 [59.9]
Ht 2: A.Rowe, J.Thompson, A.Pijper, L.Complin[15m handicap] 5-1 9-3 [60.57]
Ht 3: B.Cook, Z.Cook, C.Vissing, T.Brennan 5-1 14-4 [59.66]
Ht 4: S.Worrall, R.Worrall, J.Thompson, A.Pijper 4-2 18-6 [60.25]
Ht 5: B.Cook, C.Harris, Z.Cook, L.Complin 4-2 22-8 [59.6]
Ht 6: R.Lawson, R.Worrall, K.Newman, L.Complin 4-2 26-10 [59.13]
Ht 7: S.Worrall, C.Vissing, T.Brennan, A.Rowe 3-3 29-13 [59.53]
Ht 8: K.Newman, C.Vissing, J.Thompson, L.Complin, A.Pijper [NS] 4-2 33-15 [61.6]
Ht 9: B.Cook, R.Worrall, Z.Cook, L.Complin 4-2 37-17 [60.56]
Ht 10: T.Brennan, R.Lawson, C.Vissing, K.Newman [rtd] 2-4 39-21 [59.81]
Ht 11: S.Worrall, C.Harris, A.Rowe, C.Vissing, [Three Riders Only] 4-2 43-23 [60.44]
Ht 12: T.Brennan, B.Cook, J.Thompson, L.Complin 3-3 46-26 [59.85]
Ht 13: R.Worrall, C.Harris, S.Worrall, R.Lawson [rtd] 1-5 47-31 [61.28]
Ht 14: C.Harris, Z.Cook, A.Rowe, C.Vissing, A.Pijper [Tac Subbed] 3-3 50-34 [60.59]
Ht 15: S.Worrall, T.Brennan, C.Harris, B.Cook[15m handicap] 3-3 53-37 [60.65]