REPORT:BLUE RIBAND

Anders Rowe was crowned the THERMOHOME Poole Blue Riband Champion with a 14 point score, dropping his only point of the night to club captain Zach Cook who missed out on a rostru.

Second place (12pts) went to Richard Lawson and third was taken by Adam Ellis (11pts).

In the first batch of opening four heats only one managed to see  a full complement of riders complete the distance, as Adam Ellis, leading heat one had water on his plugs, defending champion Edward Kennett pulled up in heat three and Darryl Ritchings had his first machine malfunction of a problematical evening.  From those heats the biggest surprise winner was that of Vinnie Foord who was the first rider to win a race in the 32nd Blue Riband, aided by Ellis' misfortune and Zach Cook getting a bit filled in on the first lap. Anders Rowe, Jonas Jeppesen and Richard Lawson joined Vinnie at the top of the leader board, but three of those were all about to suffer misfortunes of their own.

Lawson found his throttle cable was loose and tried to buy himself some time by breaking the tapes, but he was not afforded the opportunity of a handicap start, although he would have had to have been well on the pace if he was going to get the better of Rowe who simply breezed by Ellis for a second victory. Tobias Thomsen won heat six at a canter and celebrated donut-fashion, but Jeppesen had concerns over his motor as it failed to last the distance. Zach Cook made a good start in heat eight but the race was called back when Luke Killeen fell with a disqualification chalked up against his name. In the re-run Drew Kemp made a far better gate and Cook couldn't close him down, hampered even further when his bike packed up on the final lap and had to push home from the pit gate for a single point.  Foord then spun out at the first turn of heat eight, causing newcomer Kevin Juhl Pedersen to fall too. Foord was out but Juhl Pedersen declared eligible for the re-start and won it with some ease.

Ellis eventually found the win he had been hunting, claiming it at the expense of Thomsen, then Rowe made it three from three with a heat ten win, a race which saw William Cairns make a super start from gate four and use the outside line to secure an impressive second place, over the more experienced combination of Scott Nicholls and Edward Kennett. A great move from Cook to scythe between Juhl Pedersen and Starke to establish his first win of the meeting, made for an entertaining heat eleven. There was movement from Kemp at the start of heat twelve which went unpunished from the box, but Lawson was having none of it and made enough headway to keep Kemp at bay, but it was the end of the night for Jeppesen who packed up again and subsequently withdrew from his remaining two rides.

Ellis passed Kemp for another win in heat thirteen whilst Lawson collected his third victory after squeezing out Juhl Pedersen on turn two. Rowe's colours were eventually lowered; it took the Poole skipper to do so, then Paul Starke sprung a surprise to hold out Nicholls to win heat sixteen.

Ellis celebrated a tapes to flag victory to finish on 11 points and a rostrum spot in his sights. Spurred by his previous win, Starke took an early lead in heat eighteen but both Kemp and Cairns passed him. For once, Lawson wasn't content to sit behind a team-mate and was pushing Cook hard and it took a ruthless move from him on the final lap to muscle into the lead, knowing that it would relieve him of a three-man run-off for two of the rostrum places. Back in the pits Rowe knew a second place would be enough to give him the title and £3,000 prize money but took no chances and won it comfortably to his credit.

Ht I Vinnie Foord,William Cairns,Zach Cook,Adam Ellis (rtd) (60.6)
Ht II Anders Rowe,Tobias Thomsen,Kevin Juhl Pedersen,Drew Kemp (60.28)
Ht III Jonas Jeppesen,Paul Starke,Luke Killeen,Edward Kennett (rtd) (59.88)
Ht IV Richard Lawson,Scott Nicholls,Ben Morley,Darryl Ritchings (rtd) (59.37)
Ht V Anders Rowe,Adam Ellis,Paul Starke,Richard Lawson (dq) (59.16)
Ht VI Tobias Thomsen,Darryl Ritchings,William Cairns,Jonas Jeppesen (rtd) (60.97)
Ht VII Drew Kemp,Scott Nicholls,Zach Cook,Luke Killeen (fell dq) (59.84)
Ht VIII Kevin Juhl Pedersen,Edward Kennett,Ben Morley,Vinnie Foord (fell dq) (60.74)
Ht IX Adam Ellis,Tobias Thomsen,Luke Killeen,Ben Morley (59.65)
Ht X Anders Rowe,William Cairns,Scott Nicholls,Edward Kennett (60.76)
Ht XI Zach Cook,Kevin Juhl Pedersen,Paul Starke,Darryl Ritchings (60.93)
Ht XII Richard Lawson,Drew Kemp,Vinnie Foord,Jonas Jeppesen (rtd) (59.79)
Ht XIII Adam Ellis,Drew Kemp,Edward Kennett,Darryl Ritchings (rtd) (59.94)
Ht XIV Richard Lawson,Kevin Juhl Pedersen,William Cairns,Luke Killeen (60.16)
Ht XV Zach Cook,Anders Rowe,Ben Morley,Jonas Jeppesen (non starter) (59.39)
Ht XVI Paul Starke,Scott Nicholls,Tobias Thomsen,Vinnie Foord (61.82)
Ht XVII Adam Ellis,Scott Nicholls,Kevin Juhl Pedersen,Jonas Jeppesen (non starter) (59.99)
Ht XVIII Drew Kemp,William Cairns,Paul Starke,Ben Morley (61.23)
Ht XIX Richard Lawson,Zach Cook,Tobias Thomsen,Edward Kennett (60.51)
Ht XX Anders Rowe,Luke Killeen,Darryl Ritchings,Vinnie Foord (61.46)

Final Standings

14:Anders Rowe
12:Richard Lawson
11:Adam Ellis
10:Zach Cook,Drew Kemp
9:Tobias Thomsen,Kevin Juhl Pedersen,Scott Nicholls
8:William Cairns,Paul Starke
4:Vinnie Foord,Luke Killeen
3:Jonas Jeppesen,Edward Kennett,Darryl Ritchings,Ben Morley

Photo credit: Liam Cockwell