REPORT: Redcar 41 (84) Poole 49 (96)

19/07/24

'Brilliant Ben', 'Resistant Richard' and 'Teamer' Tom' pooled their resources to produce an incredibly strong finish by the 'Wessex Marine' Pirates that kept the Pirates at the top of the table.

It was far from easy for the Pirates, reduced to six men, effectively for the whole meeting after the luckless Vinnie Foord crashed sensationally on warm-up when his throttle jammed open and then took a further heavy fall at the first turn of heat two.His withdrawal under medical grounds left Sam Hagon knowing he would be in for a busy night.

Sam had to be quick to pounce on a mistake by Ben Trigger in the re-start of the second heat, crucially being able to split the the Devonian from runaway leader Jake Mulford. That served to level the scores again after Lawson had made a great start in heat one and Charles Wright managed to find the extra power to fend off the hard-pressing efforts of Tobias Thomsen.

Three of the four contestants of heat three found the fourth turn a little troublesome first time around with Zach Cook the most affected, losing all his momentum and being caught by Bears' guest, a former regular at the ECCO, Jordan Jenkins. The only rider to navigate it smoothly was Dan Gilkes, out front, but then he came under chase from Brennan in the latter stages but the Poole man was unable to prevent Redcar from inching ahead. Heat four had current Poole captain, Ben Cook and their former skipper Danny King enduring a true battle which eventually King crowned with a win, but a third place from Hagon was enough to keep matters close.

Neither Lawson nor Thomsen made a decent start in heat four, despite being on the seemingly much favoured two and four gates but Lawson recovered strongly and pushed eventual winner Jenkins all the way to mitigate the damage. The brilliance of Ben Cook came to the fore in heat six as he made successive passes on both Bears, no mean feat considering one of those was Charles Wright who knows only too well how to win at the ECCO.

That maintained a gap of four points between the sides on the night, and with the advantage in Redcar's favour, thoughts of a super heat being needed to resolve the bonus point at the very least began to fill minds. King banked a tapes to flag win in a somewhat uneventful heat seven but hearts were in Pirates' mouths in heat eight when Hagon seemed resolute on sticking to a line that Thomsen ideally needed as they both tried to hunt Mulford down. Eventually, just by being wholeheartedly brave Thomsen dug in down the extreme outside and leant on the Bears' reserve to force the opening, before setting about leader Jason Edwards.

It was a much easier ride for Ben Cook in heat nine but Hagon couldn't get by either Gilkes or Jenkins, thus that six point margin remained in the scores and it continued to be the case when Wright posted his first win of the night getting the better of Brennan who had squeezed through the gap measuring smaller than the eye of the needle to pass Edwards, but with Zach Cook unable to contribute, Redcar extended their lead to six points.

An announcement came declaring Ben Cook would be replacing Thomsen as a tactical substitute but that was quickly revoked and the original line-up came to post. Thomsen then took a heavy fall on the first turn with the verdict of all four back coming as some relief in the Poole camp. Looking to make the most of his inclusion, Thomsen did all the hard work in getting by Trigger only for his bike to grind to a halt and deny the Pirates a needed heat advantage, having to settle only for Lawson's stylish win over King. The tactical move did come in heat twelve though, with Hagon being rested and clearly the Brennan and Cook had a game plan that worked to perfection, with the first 5-1 of the night being chalked up by either side.

Just like London buses, a second was just around the corner and again Ben Cook featured, this time with Lawson his sparring partner. The delight with the move to relegate King and Wright to the minor positions on the second lap was there to see as the two Pirates nodded in acknowledgement to one another as they went down the back straight.

The old saying was 'Happiness is 40-38' but these days if you get to that score then there is still work to do to retain that joy and Zach Cook, without a win to his name, stepped masterfully up to the plate to win heat fourteen whilst Hagon's third place was enough to guarantee not only the bonus point but also to protect Poole's unbeaten run around the ECCO since 2022.

A super heat however was still a possible outcome if Redcar's big hitters could avenge for the heat thirteen defeat, but Cook and Lawson had the bit between the teeth and had no desire for any extended action beyond heat fifteen, combining again perfectly for a 5-1 of their own, completing the last third of the meeting so strong that Poole had outscored their hosts by 22-8!!

REDCAR 41
Charles Wright 2,1',3,0,1=7+1 (5)
Jason Edwards 0,2,3,1=6 (4)
Dan Gilkes 3,1,1',1=6+1 (4)
Jordan Jenkins 1,3,2,2=8 (4)
Danny King 3,3,2,1,0=9 (5)
Ben Trigger 1,0,1',RS=2+1 (3)
Jake Mulford 3,0,0,0,0=3 (5)
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POOLE 49
Richard Lawson 3,2,3,3,2'=13+1 (5)
Tobias Thomsen 1,0,2,R=3 (4)
Tom Brennan 2,2,2,3=9 (4)
Zach Cook 0,1',0,3=4+1 (4)
Ben Cook 2,3,3,2',2',3=15+2 (6)
Sam Hagon 2,1',0,1',0,TS,1=5+2 (6)
Vinnie Foord N2,NS,NS,NS=0 (1)
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Ht 1: R.Lawson, C.Wright, T.Thomsen, J.Edwards 2-4 2-4 [54.1]
Ht 2: J.Mulford, S.Hagon, B.Trigger, V.Foord [2mins exc] 4-2 6-6 [54.5]
Ht 3: D.Gilkes, T.Brennan, J.Jenkins, Z.Cook 4-2 10-8 [54]
Ht 4: D.King, B.Cook, S.Hagon, J.Mulford, V.Foord [NS] 3-3 13-11 [54.3]
Ht 5: J.Jenkins, R.Lawson, D.Gilkes, T.Thomsen 4-2 17-13 [54.1]
Ht 6: B.Cook, J.Edwards, C.Wright, S.Hagon 3-3 20-16 [54.6]
Ht 7: D.King, T.Brennan, Z.Cook, B.Trigger 3-3 23-19 [54.1]
Ht 8: J.Edwards, T.Thomsen, S.Hagon, J.Mulford, V.Foord [NS] 3-3 26-22 [55]
Ht 9: B.Cook, J.Jenkins, D.Gilkes, S.Hagon 3-3 29-25 [54.1]
Ht 10: C.Wright, T.Brennan, J.Edwards, Z.Cook 4-2 33-27 [55]
Ht 11: R.Lawson, D.King, B.Trigger, T.Thomsen [rtd] 3-3 36-30 [55.1]
Ht 12: T.Brennan, B.Cook, D.Gilkes, J.Mulford, S.Hagon [Tac Subbed] 1-5 37-35 [55.1]
Ht 13: R.Lawson, B.Cook, D.King, C.Wright 1-5 38-40 [54.9]
Ht 14: Z.Cook, J.Jenkins, S.Hagon, J.Mulford, V.Foord [NS] 2-4 40-44 [54.5]
Ht 15: B.Cook, R.Lawson, C.Wright, D.King 1-5 41-49 [55.1]