REPORT Poole 52 Berwick 38 - SGB Cab Direct Championship

The Wessex Marine Pirates showed beleaguered Berwick Bandits, reduced to just five men after losing the services of both Lewis Kerr and Bastian Borke during the course of the first half of the meeting, no mercy as they romped to a 52-38 victory to complete the double over the Bandits.

The scene for the marathon meeting was arguably set when the opening heat took the best part of half an hour to complete.
At the first attempt a collision with his team-mate down the back straight,after both Poole riders had hit the front, left Lewis Kerr in some discomfort and was forced to sit out the rest of the meeting. His racing partner Danyon Hume was adjudged the cause of the incident and was disqualified from the rerun, whilst Injured Rider Replacement came into operation, for the second time in as many meetings at Wimborne Road for the visiting number one, and former Poole captain Rory Schlein was the first to take the covering ride.

Problems at the start of the re-run for Richard Lawson caused him to breach the tapes, generating a further delay whilst the tapes were re-strung and the decisions reached as to whether Poole would deploy a reserve rider or handicap Lawson by 15 metres. The latter option was the choice and whilst he made up a large chunck of that penalised meterage, Lawson had to settle for third place whilst Tobias Thomsen was thrilling the half-term holiday crowd with his pace that kept Schlein at bay.

A fine showing by Bastian Borke, making heat two his own followed but was all the visitors could gleam as Max Perry held out Freddy Hodder for a share of the points. Zach Cook made an atrocious start and left himself far too much to do in heat three, especially as former Poole rider Drew Kemp was making all the running and outwitting Tom Brennan. The resulting 2-4 squared the meeting and both sides seemed determined to kick on from here. Skipper Ben Cook had to do his 'kicking' without his steel shoe that had come adrift on the way to the start and certainly influenced his ride as he just couldn't quite find a way by Schlein and Borke and the Bandits broke into a four point lead.

The antidote to that came from Zach Cook who made absolutely no mistakes with his departure from the tapes in heat five and with Tom Brennan backing up, parity was soon restored. But only briefly, as a fuel supply, later diagnosed as shale in the fuel cap, hampered Lawson, who from a long way back was watching Thomsen fight for every inch before eventually having to concede the pursuit of Schlein.

Another interruption to proceedings followed in heat seven when Kemp and Sam Hagon both took spectacular falls in a tight first turn and time was needed for running repairs to the air fence, not to mention some recovery time for both the stricken riders, both eligible for the re-run.

So, with an early interval, in terms of heats ridden rather than time of the evening, taken, racing resumed and Jye Etheridge made all the running, but by the time the flag was falling, Ben Cook had gained plenty of ground and very nearly stole the win, but the outcome was enough for Berwick to restore their four point lead.

The turning point in the meeting followed in heat eight when Borke tried desperately to try and nip inside his compatriot Thomsen after the Poole man, enjoying his best Poole performance of the season, had moved into second, but Borke misjudged his move, clipped his opponent's wheel and took a very heavy fall into the back straight fence. It was evident that this delay would be a lengthy one, endorsed by the information that a county ambulance had been called.

Once racing was able to resume, with Borke taken to hospital, there was understandably a subdued atmosphere, amidst a determined effort to run the final half of the meeting in a quick fire fashion. Two excellent moves by Thomsen and Hagon leaving the pit-turn on the first lap of the re-run set up the Pirates for a restoration of parity in the scores. Brennan and Zack Cook followed suit with a 5-1 of their own, the latter riding a little defensively as Schlein was hunting him down.

Usually by 21:55 hours at Wimborne Road one would have expected at least one victory from Richard Lawson, but his first of this meeting came around that time when he stormed to victory in heat ten whilst Thomsen converted the win into a 4-2 advantage as Poole began to command the meeting.

Ben Cook had to trade places with Kemp in the early exchanges of heat eleven but went on to share the heat, Hagon not quite able to make up ground on Hume. Brennan delivered a convincing win in heat twelve, young Perry giving Etheridge an honest ride throughout but then the Pirates sealed the outcome of the meeting, and the aggregate bonus, with 'Big Ben' [Cook] striking the hammer blow with Lawson as they banked a heat thirteen 5-1.

Kemp enjoyed a second win of the night in heat fourteen, Perry equally enjoying his second scoring ride of the meeting, following home Hagon, after seeing off Hodder. The final curtain eventually fell with Poole delivering their fifth maximum of this marathon night and whilst the Pirates made an all-round pleasing performance there was an aspect of a hollow victory and all thoughts are with Borke and Kerr for speedy recoveries.

POOLE 52
Richard Lawson 1EH,R,3,2'=6+1 (4)
Tobias Thomsen 3,2,2',1=8+1 (4)
Tom Brennan 2,2',3,3,3=13+1 (5)
Zach Cook 0,3,2',2=7+1 (4)
Ben Cook 1,2,3,3,2'=11+1 (5)
Sam Hagon 2,0,3,0,RS=5 (4)
Max Perry 1',0,RS,0,1'=2+2 (4)
.
BERWICK 38
Lewis Kerr IRR,IRR,IRR,IRR=0 ()
Danyon Hume XD,0,1,1'=2+1 (4)
Jye Etheridge 1,3,0,1',R=5+1 (5)
Drew Kemp 3,1,2,2,3,0=11 (6)
Rory Schlein 2,3,3,1,2,1,1=13 (7)
Freddy Hodder 0,1,0,TS,0=1 (4)
Bastian Borke 3,2',1,FD,RS=6+1 (4)
.
Ht 1:  T.Thomsen, R.Schlein, R.Lawson, D.Hume 4-2 4-2 [59.31]
Ht 2:  B.Borke, S.Hagon, M.Perry, F.Hodder 3-3 7-5 [59.47]
Ht 3:  D.Kemp, T.Brennan, J.Etheridge, Z.Cook 2-4 9-9 [59.41]
Ht 4:  R.Schlein, B.Borke, B.Cook, M.Perry 1-5 10-14 [59.1]
Ht 5:  Z.Cook, T.Brennan, B.Borke, D.Hume 5-1 15-15 [59.65]
Ht 6:  R.Schlein, T.Thomsen, F.Hodder, R.Lawson [rtd] 2-4 17-19 [59.62]
Ht 7:  J.Etheridge, B.Cook, D.Kemp, S.Hagon 2-4 19-23 [60.31]
Ht 8:  S.Hagon, T.Thomsen, D.Hume, B.Borke [fell exc] 5-1 24-24 [60.53]
Ht 9:  T.Brennan, Z.Cook, R.Schlein, F.Hodder 5-1 29-25 [59.84]
Ht 10:  R.Lawson, D.Kemp, T.Thomsen, J.Etheridge 4-2 33-27 [60.31]
Ht 11:  B.Cook, D.Kemp, D.Hume, S.Hagon 3-3 36-30 [60.44]
Ht 12:  T.Brennan, R.Schlein, J.Etheridge, M.Perry, F.Hodder [Tac Subbed] 3-3 39-33 [60.25]
Ht 13:  B.Cook, R.Lawson, R.Schlein, J.Etheridge 5-1 44-34 [60.47]
Ht 14:  D.Kemp, Z.Cook, M.Perry, F.Hodder 3-3 47-37 [60.6]
Ht 15:  T.Brennan, B.Cook, R.Schlein, D.Kemp 5-1 52-38 [60.81]

SCB Referee Gary Allen 
BERWICK won toss and chose gates 1&3 | POOLE choose gates 1&3 in heat 15  
League Points: POOLE 3 BERWICK 0
 

Photo credits: Tony Hartmann &Anthony Burchell