PIRATES RETAIN BSN SERIES TITLE

2/10/24

Poole completed the task of retaining the BSN Series title, doing so after just eleven heats of the second leg.

The matter of their large first leg advantage was secondary in Poole's mind as they were determined to see the job through in front of their own fans and extend their current unbeaten streak to nine meetings.

Even a close inspection of the airfence in heat one couldn't dampen Richard Lawson's spirits as in the re-run he set about kicking off his second unbeaten performance of this Grand Final whilst Tobias Thomsen enjoyed a tapes to flag heat two victory for the second heat share of the meeting. If any pairing was likely to fire in a heat advantage it was the reunited Cook brothers and skipper Ben showed no ill-effects from his week and half lay off as he stormed to the front, whilst sibling Zach fended off Connor Mountain and by the second turn the resulting 5-1 was on the cards. Neither Tom Brennan nor Vinnie Foord made a particularly impressive gate in heat four but Brennan battled his way beautifully by Jake Allen to minimize the Pirates' heat loss.

Just as Zach Cook was passing Leon Flint in heat five to again join his brother, the red lights came on indicating a stricken backmarker, Simon Lambert, on the circuit. The front three were called back but this time Flint had the answers to the Zach attack, but nevertheless Poole moved four points closer to their thirty eight point primary target. Further problems confounded the Scorpions in heat six when Allen seemingly shed a chain just as he was trying to hold out Sam Hagon , and after being passed two laps earlier by Lawson. So a 5-1 was added to the Poole total. Ignition problems for Thomsen left him as an infield observer of Brennan's heat seven win.

Just as they had done in the first leg, Scunthorpe turned round the fortunes in heat eight, a potential shared heat being converted to a 1-5, although it was a close run thing on the line as Foord was very much in the mix after Hagon's early efforts to take on the outside line failed to reap dividends. Scunthorpe fielded both their reserves in heat nine after Jake Allen missed the two minute time allowance and the Cook boys punished them which statistically meant a superheat could be forced should the Scorpions register 5-1 advantages in all the remaining heats. The first of those again saw Allen timed out and when Lawson produced an early pass it left the Scorpions needing snookers (and a minor miracle) . All bets were settled in heat eleven through a Brennan win, but it became an emphatic heat result when Thomsen delivered a determined passing ride to get by Lambert.

After the interval Ben Cook made it four wins from four rides and he was partnered this time by Vinnie Foord who twice missed out on a making a telling pass at the third turn on the two opening laps, maybe track conditions after the watering just catching him out. But unperturbed he kept the hunt going and on the final lap nipped up the inside to snatch third place. Heat thirteen was something of a formality for Lawson and Brennan , unlike Zach Cook's heat fourteen victory, as he had to make the move on Mountain. Just as he was executing that, so Thomsen was passing Jake Mulford to give a 4-2 result, Zach being given the nominated heat to follow. He and Lawson both got clear but Zach was in no mood to hang around to allow Richard to make it a full maximum, but a paid one is good enough.

POOLE 57
Richard Lawson 3,3,3,3,2'=14+1 (5)
Sam Hagon 0,2',0,0=2+1 (4)
Ben Cook 3,3,3,3=12 (4)
Zach Cook 2',1,2',3,3=11+2 (5)
Tom Brennan 2,3,3,2'=10+1 (4)
Tobias Thomsen 3,R,2',1=6+1 (4)
Vinnie Foord 0,0,1,1=2 (4)
.
SCUNTHORPE 33
Leon Flint 1',0,2,0,0=3+1 (5)
Simon Lambert 2,FD,2,2',1,1=8+1 (6)
Connor Mountain 1,1',1',2,2=7+2 (5)
Rider Replacement
Jake Allen 1,R,X2,X2,1,R=2 (4)
Nathan Ablitt 2,1,1,2,0=6 (5)
Jake Mulford 1',3,3,0,0=7+1 (5)
.
Ht 1: R.Lawson, S.Lambert, L.Flint, S.Hagon 3-3 3-3 [60.06]
Ht 2: T.Thomsen, N.Ablitt, J.Mulford, V.Foord 3-3 6-6 [60.73]
Ht 3: B.Cook, Z.Cook, C.Mountain, L.Flint 5-1 11-7 [60.25]
Ht 4: J.Mulford, T.Brennan, J.Allen, V.Foord 2-4 13-11 [60]
Ht 5: B.Cook, L.Flint, Z.Cook, S.Lambert [fell exc] 4-2 17-13 [61.13]
Ht 6: R.Lawson, S.Hagon, N.Ablitt, J.Allen [rtd] 5-1 22-14 [62.02]
Ht 7: T.Brennan, S.Lambert, C.Mountain, T.Thomsen [rtd] 3-3 25-17 [61]
Ht 8: J.Mulford, S.Lambert, V.Foord, S.Hagon 1-5 26-22 [61.04]
Ht 9: B.Cook, Z.Cook, N.Ablitt, J.Mulford 5-1 31-23 [60.51]
Ht 10: R.Lawson, N.Ablitt, C.Mountain, S.Hagon 3-3 34-26 [61.29]
Ht 11: T.Brennan, T.Thomsen, S.Lambert. L.Flint 5-1 39-27 [60.07]
Ht 12: B.Cook, C.Mountain, V.Foord, N.Ablitt 4-2 43-29 [62.22]
Ht 13: R.Lawson, T.Brennan, J.Allen, L.Flint 5-1 48-30 [61.09]
Ht 14: Z.Cook, C.Mountain, T.Thomsen, J.Mulford 4-2 52-32 [62.06]
Ht 15: Z.Cook, R.Lawson, S.Lambert, J.Allen [rtd] 5-1 57-33 [61.4]

SGB Referee Simon Humphrey-Kennett
POOLE won toss and chose gates 2&4 | SCUNTHORPE choose gates 1&3 in heat 15