REPORT: Poole Pirates v Scunthorpe Scorpions (Championship)

Poole have opened their CAB Direct Championship defence with a home win over Scunthorpe and a first ever tier two five ride maximum for Anders Rowe.

Steve Worrall's return to Wimborne Road was fast, in fact the fastest time of the season, arguably aided by Richard Lawson pushing him hard all the way, once the current Poole number one had squeezed by Luke Harrison to mitigate the extent of a first heat defeat. With debutant Darryl Ritchings having his first outing in heat two, it was a fair effort early one as he was not too far short of getting by Zaine Kennedy, but the failure to do so meant Poole's only points in this reserve heat were courtesy of Starke's fast gate. Talking of good gates, Connor Mountain was electric off four but he was kept honest by Anders Rowe who stalked his every move. On the final lap, Anders managed to find the passing line and snatched victory on the line. His new engine-room partner, for the night at least, Lewis Kerr , weighed in with a third place to level the meeting scores at nine each.

Jake Allen and Zaine Kennedy immediately regained a Scunthorpe advantage, by banging in a 5-1 with skipper Zach Cook, new at five, working tirelessly to try and recover from a missed gate. After his exploits of heat three, Rowe did matters the easier way in heat five, making the start, unlike Worrall whose movement at the tapes cost him dearly in this one and, as it was to turn out, a future heat. Kerr was in support in this one allowing Poole to level yet again. Allen came to a sudden stop as he was attacking bend one in heat six, Poole gaining a Lawson-inspired 4-2 with Thomsen to go ahead and give themselves an advantage to build on.
Cook was away and gone in his second ride, taking heat seven by storm whilst Starke looked ready to pass SImon Lambert around the pit turn but just missed the opportunity to finish the move. It was Thomsen's turn to style it from the gate but again Starke missed the chance to improve on his position when looking good heading around the pit turn, this time he was just too tight to the inner line. The Poole boys - Rowe and Kerr - were looking for each other as they left the tapes and whilst Declan Kennedy tried to pressurise Kerr, it was enough to persuade the Poole man to 'up a gear' and pull clear.

It was 'Awesome Lawson' as he stuck to the wide outside line and passed the field to win heat ten, backed by Thomsen to put ten points between the two sides. There was drama in heat eleven when the red lights came on to call the start back, Steve Worrall having anticipated the tapes rising and with that earlier warning against his name he was disqualified. But with the lights on Harrison appeared to lock up and he take a very awkward fall mid track on the first arc and was not able to return for the re-start. So Scunthorpe were reliant on bringing in the Kennedy brothers and Zaine became embroiled in a cat-and-mouse chase with Cook, with the Poole skipper eventually prevailed in, but partner Starke had again struggled at that pit turn allowing Declan to get the better of him. Heat twelve was also called back, Darryl Ritchings sliding off at the first turn, the referee ruling all four back, In the re-run Ritchings was competitive and his pass on Declan Kennedy was warmly appreciated by the Poole crowd. His third place would have stuck, for sure, had the race gone its full distance, but an unchallenged fall for Kennedy resulted in the heat being awarded, 4-2 to Poole who were now assured the minimum of a draw if they provided a race finisher in each of the remaining heats.

Lawson seemed to be in replay mode as he replicated his heat ten efforts in thirteen and that guaranteed a Poole win, Cook adding a point with third place. Kerr clearly had been watching his good friend Lawson, for he too produced a similar move in heat fourteen and with Starke battling into third place Poole were all the time boosting their chances of the aggregate bonus point when the sides meet again in July. Lawson made a good start in heat fifteen and he was aware that Rowe was on course for a full-house maximum and so once Rowe had shrugged off Mountain it was just a matter of whether there was enough of the race duration left to allow Rowe to catch up. The timing was perfect and Lawson was delighted with the bonus point allowing Rowe that great feeling of a first ever maximum in the Championship.

POOLE 55
Richard Lawson 2,3,3,3,2'=13+1 (5)
Tobias Thomsen 0,1,3,2'=6+1 (4)
Anders Rowe 3,3,3,3,3=15 (5)
Lewis Kerr 1,2',2',3=8+2 (4)
Zach Cook 1,3,3,1=8 (4)
Paul Starke 3,0,0,0,1=4 (5)
Darryl Ritchings 0,0,RS,1=1 (3)
.
SCUNTHORPE 35
Steve Worrall 3,0,XE,2,2,0=7 (6)
Luke Harrison 1,1,1',NS=3+1 (3)
Simon Lambert 0,1',0,TS=1+1 (3)
Connor Mountain 2,2,1,2,1=8 (5)
Jake Allen 3,R,R,0=3 (4)
Declan Kennedy 2,2,1,1',FD=6+1 (5)
Zaine Kennedy 1',2',2,2,0=7+2 (5)
.
Ht 1:  S.Worrall, R.Lawson, L.Harrison, T.Thomsen 2-4 2-4 [58.97]
Ht 2:  P.Starke, D.Kennedy, Z.Kennedy, D.Ritchings 3-3 5-7 [61.99]
Ht 3:  A.Rowe, C.Mountain, L.Kerr, S.Lambert 4-2 9-9 [61.03]
Ht 4:  J.Allen, Z.Kennedy, Z.Cook, D.Ritchings 1-5 10-14 [60.89]
Ht 5:  A.Rowe, L.Kerr, L.Harrison, S.Worrall 5-1 15-15 [60.16]
Ht 6:  R.Lawson, D.Kennedy, T.Thomsen, J.Allen [rtd] 4-2 19-17 [60.21]
Ht 7:  Z.Cook, C.Mountain, S.Lambert, P.Starke 3-3 22-20 [60.77]
Ht 8:  T.Thomsen, Z.Kennedy, L.Harrison, P.Starke 3-3 25-23 [61.66]
Ht 9:  A.Rowe, L.Kerr, D.Kennedy, J.Allen [rtd] 5-1 30-24 [61.48]
Ht 10:  R.Lawson, T.Thomsen, C.Mountain, S.Lambert 5-1 35-25 [61.43]
Ht 11:  Z.Cook, Z.Kennedy, D.Kennedy, P.Starke, S.Worrall [tapes exc], L.Harrison [NS] 3-3 38-28 [61.50]
Ht 12:  A.Rowe, S.Worrall, D.Ritchings, D.Kennedy [fell exc], S.Lambert [Tac Subbed] 4-2 42-30 [awd]
Ht 13:  R.Lawson, S.Worrall, Z.Cook, J.Allen 4-2 46-32 [61.22]
Ht 14:  L.Kerr, C.Mountain, P.Starke, Z.Kennedy 4-2 50-34 [61.59]
Ht 15:  A.Rowe, R.Lawson, C.Mountain, S.Worrall 5-1 55-35 [61.97]

SGB Referee  Mr Seth Perkin/Trainee Mr Josh Marsh 
POOLE won toss and chose gates 1&3 | SCUNTHORPE choose gates 2&4 in heat 15  
League Points: POOLE 2 SCUNTHORPE 0
 

For Post match reaction click here

Photos: Tony Hartmann