Report:Scunthorpe 48 v Poole 42

9/08/24

With Scunthorpe boasting a one-hundred percent home record and the Pirates unbeaten in the league (over 15 heats) something had to give as the league's second placed side hosted the leaders who held a fourteen point advantage in the quest for the bonus point.

A double set of swift starts in heat one, the first penalised due to Palm-Toft being too eager to post a score against the Pirates for the first time in the week. Whilst under a warning for the re-run it didnt faze him in any way as he and skipper Simon Lambert pegged Richard Lawson back. The Rocketman was chasing so closely over the four laps he was getting well and truly filled in by the roost and even had to dispense with his goggles on the last lap, but the chase yielded nothing more than third place and Poole were four down. Luke Harrison was another creeper in heat two and gained a post race warning, all after Poole's guest Jacob Hook, in for shoulder victim Vinnie Foord, produced a good pass to take up the early running of heat two. With Tobias Thomsen doing well to recover from a temporary drift to the rear you could sense that Poole might halve the deficit, but Nathan Ablitt had other ideas and snatched victory on the line. Captain Ben Cook couldn't quite seal off the outside line down the back straight on the opening lap of heat three and Jake Allen was alert to it and swiftly went by to set-up a 4-2 advantage allowing the Scorpions to push the Pirates further behind. Tom Brennan produced a great move to make heat four his own but Hook couldn't trouble Howarth any, the Scunthorpe heat leader not looking as sharp as his reserve team-mate Harrison. The setting of the sun and the desire to hold the BEN Fund collection conspired for a lengthy delay ahead of heat five, with plenty of track grading go on during the downtime. Once racing resumed we were entertained with a two intense battles,. Out front Lawson and Allen both had the win as their target, with the Poole man prevailing superbly, whilst behind Sam Hagon was opening his account by keeping Connor Mountain at bay as Poole banked their first heat advantage. A storming ride from Lambet denied Brennan any real hope of a second win, the GP wildcard having to work hard to get by Palm-Toft to minimise the damage of Lambert's victory. Zach Cook displayed a lot of interest in trying to pass the stubborn Howarth in heat seven but his efforts went unrewarded other than the two points for second place, although brother Ben held out Ablitt for shared heat number three.
A mini crisis for Hook ahead of heat eight when, with fifty-five seconds on the clock his bike, which had been temperamental on the parade, chose to pack up and he had to scurry back to the pits and sit astride his spare. Once the tapes rose neither he nor Hagon had any answers to the pace of Lambert and Harrison as the margin between the sides developed into double figures and making the battle for the bonus take on a different slant.
But Poole did have an answer in heat nine, immediately sending Lawson out to partner Brennan and rest Thomsen. The two Poole big hitters did just that, thus countering the heat eight outcome perfectly. Heat ten had Zach Cook grafting hard yet again but he just couldn't upset leader Palm-Toft. Ben however was able to end Lambert's scoring spree and share the heat to retain the six point deficit margin with the meeting moving into it's final third.
Lawson showed his true mettle as he absolutely refused to concede points to Howarth in heat eleven and managed to get by just as the final flag was falling. Hagon's third place proved valuable to keep the meeting very much alive as now just four points separated the two sides and Poole just eight points away from putting the bonus point to bed. Ben Cook made a good move on Allen in heat twelve to collect his only race win of the night but somehow Thomsen was able to surrender his early third place, denying Poole the chance of trimming back those four points.
The intensity of heat thirteen was immense, a gentlemen's top pocket handkerchief able to cover all four rides over all four laps, and that could even have been further folded on the final turn, such was the battle. Somehow Palm-Toft managed to inch by Lawson but equally inexplicably, Brennan found room to pass Howarth and share the heat, one that could have produced so many different outcomes. Zach Cook found the move in heat fourteen to once again win the penultimate programmed heat of a meeting but Hook couldn't quite grapple at Mountain close enough to convert the result into a heat gain, so the meeting went into a last heat decider with a super heat beckoning if Poole could salvage the 5-1 to draw level. It wasn't to be as Palm-Toft made the best of the first turns and with Allen more than content to hold up Lawson there never really came an opportunity for Poole to avoid the first league defeat of the season.

SCUNTHORPE 48
Michael Palm-Toft 3,1,3,3,3=13 (5)
Simon Lambert 2',3,3,0=8+1 (4)
Jake Allen 3,2,1,2,1=9 (5)
Connor Mountain 1,0,0,1'=2+1 (4)
Kyle Howarth 1',3,2,0=6+1 (4)
Nathan Ablitt 3,0,0,2=5 (4)
Luke Harrison 0,2,2',1'=5+2 (4)
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POOLE 42
Richard Lawson 1,3,3,3,2,0=12 (6)
Sam Hagon 0,1,1,1=3 (4)
Ben Cook 2,1',1',3=7+2 (4)
Zach Cook 0,2,2,3=7 (4)
Tom Brennan 3,2,2',1',2=10+2 (5)
Tobias Thomsen 1',0,TS,0=1+1 (3)
Jacob Hook 2,0,0,0=2 (4)
.
Ht 1: M.Palm-Toft, S.Lambert, R.Lawson, S.Hagon 5-1 5-1 [57.7]
Ht 2: N.Ablitt, J.Hook, T.Thomsen, L.Harrison 3-3 8-4 [58.83]
Ht 3: J.Allen, B.Cook, C.Mountain, Z.Cook 4-2 12-6 [57.29]
Ht 4: T.Brennan, L.Harrison, K.Howarth, J.Hook 3-3 15-9 [57.94]
Ht 5: R.Lawson, J.Allen, S.Hagon, C.Mountain 2-4 17-13 [59.05]
Ht 6: S.Lambert, T.Brennan, M.Palm-Toft, T.Thomsen 4-2 21-15 [57.98]
Ht 7: K.Howarth, Z.Cook, B.Cook, N.Ablitt 3-3 24-18 [57.62]
Ht 8: S.Lambert, L.Harrison, S.Hagon, J.Hook 5-1 29-19 [59.24]
Ht 9: R.Lawson, T.Brennan, J.Allen, C.Mountain, T.Thomsen [Tac Subbed] 1-5 30-24 [58.08]
Ht 10: M.Palm-Toft, Z.Cook, B.Cook, S.Lambert 3-3 33-27 [58.16]
Ht 11: R.Lawson, K.Howarth, S.Hagon, N.Ablitt 2-4 35-31 [59.33]
Ht 12: B.Cook, J.Allen, L.Harrison, T.Thomsen 3-3 38-34 [58.77]
Ht 13: M.Palm-Toft, R.Lawson, T.Brennan, K.Howarth 3-3 41-37 [58.94]
Ht 14: Z.Cook, N.Ablitt, C.Mountain, J.Hook 3-3 44-40 [59.06]
Ht 15: M.Palm-Toft, T.Brennan, J.Allen, R.Lawson 4-2 48-42 [58.52]

SGB Referee Mr Graeme Hunter
SCUNTHORPE won toss and chose gates 2&4 | POOLE choose gates 2&4 in heat 15
League Points: SCUNTHORPE 2 POOLE 1
Photo credit Ian Rispin