RESULT: Scunthorpe v Poole - BSN Final

29/09/24

Poole hold the advantage after an impressive 53-37 first leg victory with Zach Cook and Richard Lawson both unbeaten
 

Scunthorpe made a late change to their initial plans to operate rider replacement, choosing instead to use Ashton Boughen as a guest to cover the injury absence of Michael Palm Toft, but the Oxford rider ended up hitting the fence in the opening ride and subsequently failed to trouble the scorers in his other rides. By the time Boughen had fallen, Richard Lawson had worked his way by Connor Mountain and so, with Sam Hagon's third place Poole went into an early lead. It was short-lived however as both Scorpions, Nathan Ablitt and the highly impressive Luke Harrison relieved Tobias Thomsen of his early lead and to put the home side two up in the tie. But Scunthorpe were ill-prepared for the absolute majestic performance that temporary captain Zach Cook was about to deliver.

Producing two brilliant moves off turns one and two he established control of the heat and Poole's reward was bolstered by a solid rearguard defence by Charles Wright  who had Simon Lambert pestering him. Tom Brennan dominated heat four but few witnessed him as all eyes were on the battle-royale between opposing reserves Harrison and Foord, who were trading places throughout, but the raider (not of the Lost Ark) was Kyle Howarth who somehow just managed to get upsides Foord and share the heat, leaving the battling Pirate undeservedly pointless. 

A first attempt to get heat five underway ended in a warning for Sam Hagon and Simon Lambert both for anticipating the start, but once the race did get away cleanly it was Lawson who conquered with Hagon bravely battling behind him to keep Allen and Lambert at bay and allow Poole to put four points between the sides. Tom Brennan found it impossible to "move the Mountain" in heat six but nothing was lost as Thomsen filled third ahead of Boughen. Heat seven had Zach Cook producing an incredible inside dive coming off turn three to sweep by Wright, Howarth and Ablitt and as he checked over his shoulder was clearly delighted to see Wright as the nearest to him, securing another 5-1 for the Pirates. Another looked a possiblity when Hagon and Foord were maintaining first and second places in heat eight but the combined efforts of Mountain and Harrison turned the whole heat around as they both came through from the back to recover four points from the deficit. There were two races in one in heat nine, as Brennan was dealing ably with Allen but Thomsen not quite able to get a clear enough lead on Lambert to block him out, but then Cook and Wright were untroubled in the tenth to give Poole a handy eight point lead again now that one third of the tie had been accomplished.

It took Lawson a whole lap to get the scent of fresh air in heat eleven as Howarth had proved a bit of a handful but once the Lawson went by there was no doubting he would maintain his unbeaten evening. Charles Wright enjoyed a tapes to flag victory to deny Scunthorpe another heat of trying to claw back the deficit, one that was about to grow even further as Lawson and Brennan combined for a heat thirteen 5-1 although to the credit of Harrison, drafted in as a reserve switch for Boughen, certainly gave Brennan plenty to think about.

A broken split link on his chain threw Foord into the first turn fence in heat fourteen leaving Poole a rider down in this penultimate race of the meeting, but with Zach Cook in the form he was on it proved no real handicap as he comfortably protected the dozen points Poole had built up as a lead, leaving Cook and Lawson to complete their respective full and paid maximums with a nominated heat 5-1, although Harrison again was no easy pushover.   

SCUNTHORPE 37
Ashton Boughen F,0,0,RS=0 (3)
Connor Mountain 2,3,2',1,0=8+1 (5)
Simon Lambert 0,1,1',1'=3+2 (4)
Jake Allen 2,0,2,2=6 (4)
Kyle Howarth 1',1,2,0=4+1 (4)
Nathan Ablitt 2',0,1',1'=4+3 (4)
Luke Harrison 3,2,3,2,1,1=12 (6)
POOLE 53
Richard Lawson 3,3,3,3,2'=14+1 (5)
Sam Hagon 1,2',0,0=3+1 (4)
Charles Wright 1,2',2',3=8+2 (4)
Zach Cook 3,3,3,3,3=15 (5)
Tom Brennan 3,2,3,2'=10+1 (4)
Tobias Thomsen 1,1',0,0=2+1 (4)
Vinnie Foord 0,0,1,FD=1 (4)
Ht 1:  R.Lawson, C.Mountain, S.Hagon, A.Boughen [fell] 2-4 2-4 [59.05]
Ht 2:  L.Harrison, N.Ablitt, T.Thomsen, V.Foord 5-1 7-5 [58.4]
Ht 3:  Z.Cook, J.Allen, C.Wright, S.Lambert 2-4 9-9 [58.57]
Ht 4:  T.Brennan, L.Harrison, K.Howarth, V.Foord 3-3 12-12 [57.55]
Ht 5:  R.Lawson, S.Hagon, S.Lambert, J.Allen 1-5 13-17 [58.07]
Ht 6:  C.Mountain, T.Brennan, T.Thomsen, A.Boughen 3-3 16-20 [58.36]
Ht 7:  Z.Cook, C.Wright, K.Howarth, N.Ablitt 1-5 17-25 [58.2]
Ht 8:  L.Harrison, C.Mountain, V.Foord, S.Hagon 5-1 22-26 [59.52]
Ht 9:  T.Brennan, J.Allen, S.Lambert, T.Thomsen 3-3 25-29 [59.13]
Ht 10:  Z.Cook, C.Wright, C.Mountain, A.Boughen 1-5 26-34 [58.45]
Ht 11:  R.Lawson, K.Howarth, N.Ablitt, S.Hagon 3-3 29-37 [59.78]
Ht 12:  C.Wright, L.Harrison, S.Lambert, T.Thomsen 3-3 32-40 [58.81]
Ht 13:  R.Lawson, T.Brennan, L.Harrison, K.Howarth 1-5 33-45 [59.01]
Ht 14:  Z.Cook, J.Allen, N.Ablitt, V.Foord [fell exc] 3-3 36-48 [58.34]
Ht 15:  Z.Cook, R.Lawson, L.Harrison, C.Mountain 1-5 37-53 [59.0]