REPORT: Poole 55 Plymouth 35

17/07/24

Poole promoter Dan Ford laid out his wishes that the Pirates could inflict defeat of similar magnitude on south west rivals Plymouth as they managed in the earlier BSN visit by the Gladiators, and the Pirates came close to delivering.

With the memory of that 58-32 win in the back of their minds, the Pirates also had their sights set on a top of the table position and started strongly in heat one after Tobias Thomsen picked off both Gladiators at the pit turn on the first approach in the re-run of heat one, required after Alfie Bowtell had been squeezed out first time of asking. Once by his rival Thomsen then closed ever nearer in on leader Richard Lawson and most gracefully, the Poole number one was happy enough to let the Dane celebrate the first chequered flag of the night. The scores though were instantly levelled up after Sam Hagon left himself a lot of work to do when Joe Thompson and Jacob Hook set the agenda in heat two. Whilst Thompson made a small error on lap three it wasn't sufficient to allow Hagon to make any true headway. But parity in the scores was only temporary as the restored engine room of the Pirates, the Cook brothers, combined for a 5-1 over Kyle Newman and Drew Kemp, but not before Ben Cook used all his speed to good effect to pick off Kemp, who then retired from the action. Tom Brennan was an unstoppable tapes to flag winner in heat four and a last lap challenge by Vinnie Foord on Hook came possibly one turn too late and for the first time there was no maximum heat score achieved by either side.
It was Covatti's turn to show the speed in heat five and he caught Ben Cook somewhat unawares on the back straight to take up the running for another shared heat. Lawson had no option in heat six to take the win, his 200th since joining Poole, but all the action was unfolding behind as Thomsen was occupied using all possible lines to try and get by a defiant Ben Barker. Heat seven saw another Gladiator hit the deck at the first turn, this time Newman the victim and once again all four were eligible for the re-run. In that, Hagon then overdid things approaching the fourth turn on the first lap, but scurried clear of the track, to the applause of the crowd, allowing the race to go uninterrupted and allow Brennan to gain his second victory. With only three riders left, Kemp chose to just drift round at the back, showing no signs of what he was about to throw at the Pirates!
A good gate by Foord enabled him to hold ground over Bowtell in heat eight and support Thomsen's victory as Poole extended their lead into double figures, edging towards the wishes of the promoter.
That 5-1 was immediately followed by a similar score from the Cook boys, Ben again showing lots of speed. Heat ten had to be halted when Newman fell awkwardly between turns three and four of the opening lap, amidst signs of something giving way on his machine. It proved to be a fall that ended his night, rendering the warning he had picked up for flinching at the start, somewhat superfluous. In the re-run, that unwritten law of speedway saw lone Gladiator (Kemp) make the running and ensured that Lawson, struggling with his steel shoe hanging off, remained behind him. The resulting shared heat was nothing other than a sticking plaster however as Poole capitalised on Covatti's failure to get any power off the start, Brennan and Hagon putting another 5-1 onto the scorecard, and with eighteen points between the two sides, the Pirates were heading for that top spot because of a more superior race points difference than that of current incumbents Oxford.
Kemp looked sharp again in heat eleven but Ben Cook had the beating of him... just. Poole had things far easier in heat thirteen as Lawson and Brennan made all the running and quite comically, neither of them was over bothered about claiming the race and each slowed to try and allow the other through and ultimately, it was Lawson that crossed the line first. Kemp maintained his resurgence with another victory, his heat fourteen triumph kept Zach Cook behind him and then in the final race of the night it was the other brother that trailed him home with Brennan's personal glory of a maximum dashed with his paid second finish.
So a twenty point winning margin, sufficient to secure that top spot, but just shy of the May result which Ford had targeted.

POOLE 55
Richard Lawson 2',3,2,3=10+1 (4)
Tobias Thomsen 3,1,3,1'=8+1 (4)
Ben Cook 2',2,3,3,2=12+1 (5)
Zach Cook 3,1',2',2=8+2 (4)
Tom Brennan 3,3,3,2',1'=12+2 (5)
Sam Hagon 1,F,2',0=3+1 (4)
Vinnie Foord 0,0,2',0=2+1 (4)
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PLYMOUTH 35
Nico Covatti 1,3,R,NS=4 (3)
Alfie Bowtell 0,0,1,1=2 (4)
Drew Kemp R,1',3,2,3,3=12+1 (6)
Kyle Newman 1,2,FD,TS=3 (3)
Ben Barker 2,2,1,1,R=6 (5)
Joe Thompson 2',0,0,1'=3+2 (4)
Jacob Hook 3,1',0,0,1=5+1 (5)
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Ht 1: T.Thomsen, R.Lawson, N.Covatti, A.Bowtell 5-1 5-1 [59.91]
Ht 2: J.Hook, J.Thompson, S.Hagon, V.Foord 1-5 6-6 [60.57]
Ht 3: Z.Cook, B.Cook, K.Newman, D.Kemp [rtd] 5-1 11-7 [59.12]
Ht 4: T.Brennan, B.Barker, J.Hook, V.Foord 3-3 14-10 [59.47]
Ht 5: N.Covatti, B.Cook, Z.Cook, A.Bowtell 3-3 17-13 [59.91]
Ht 6: R.Lawson, B.Barker, T.Thomsen, J.Thompson 4-2 21-15 [60.31]
Ht 7: T.Brennan, K.Newman, D.Kemp, S.Hagon [fell] 3-3 24-18 [59.5]
Ht 8: T.Thomsen, V.Foord, A.Bowtell, J.Hook 5-1 29-19 [61.47]
Ht 9: B.Cook, Z.Cook, B.Barker, J.Thompson 5-1 34-20 [59.69]
Ht 10: D.Kemp, R.Lawson, T.Thomsen, K.Newman [fell exc] 3-3 37-23 [60.56]
Ht 11: T.Brennan, S.Hagon, A.Bowtell, N.Covatti [rtd] 5-1 42-24 [60.12]
Ht 12: B.Cook, D.Kemp, J.Thompson, V.Foord 3-3 45-27 [60.03]
Ht 13: R.Lawson, T.Brennan, B.Barker, J.Hook, N.Covatti [NS] 5-1 50-28 [60.69]
Ht 14: D.Kemp, Z.Cook, J.Hook, S.Hagon, K.Newman [Tac Subbed] 2-4 52-32 [61.07]
Ht 15: D.Kemp, B.Cook, T.Brennan, B.Barker [rtd] 3-3 55-35 [60.34]