Report: Edinburgh Monarchs v Poole Pirates (Championship)

Poole 'Wessex Marine' Pirates added a further two points to the CAB Direct Championship tally with a slightly flattering six point win against the Edinburgh Monarchs

Poole arrived in the Scottish city expecting a very tough meeting and with the Monarchs set fair for an opening 5-1 there was little to suggest waivering from that view, but a retirement from Kye Thomson handed the Pirates a shared heat. Hopes of getting a result from the reserves heat were challenged by the fact the best in-form reserve in the SGB Championship, Victor Palovaara, was again in a free-flowing points mode. Poole were able to mitigate some damage when both Paul Starke and Dayle Wood found themselves in a bit of trouble entering the fourth turn on the second lap, fortunately for the Pirates it was Starke who recovered the quickest, restricting the heat to a 4-2 deficit. There was another mistake in heat three, this time Jonatan Grahn the victim which served to share the heat, won by Michele 'Paco' Castagna.

All riders were struggling around the pit turn in heat four, Lewis Kerr losing a lot of ground and Polis clipping the fence as he set about retaining the lead he had from the gate. Darryl Ritchings riding more of the inside of the track sneaked up into second passing Wood and then Kerr improved on his last place, but had to show quick reactions to avoid running in to the back of Ritchings on the final turn, to register the third shared heat in the opening four. Both Richard Lawson and Tobias Thomsen were sharper at the gate than their first rides and they took Poole into a slender 16-14 advantage. Justin Sedgmen made it two wins from two starts but at the back Starke passed Thomson only to be retaken and then tailing off to an unchallenging position, which allowed Edinburgh to level up the scores.

More points were handed to Poole, this time in heat seven when, on a 5-1 with Palovaara, Oskar Polis pulled up and with the scores at 21-21 a break to proceedings was called, ostensibly to allow the blinding sun, which was causing visibility entering turn three, to set.

During the downtime, Polis was checked over by the medics and withdrawn with a wrist injury, ensuring that Palovaara would be seen plenty more times in the remaining eight heats. The first was in heat eight when he shot out of the traps whilst Ritchings was doing his best to hold up Thomson allowing Tobias to make his second place more secure. It proved valuable, for once Thomson shrugged off the Poole reserve he covered the remaining distance looking faster than Toby, but had just that little too much ground to make up, but the Monarchs were back in front (25-23). Problems for Lewi Kerr on the way to tapes in heat nine meant a quick switch to one of Lawson's bikes and seemed to ride it like a dream, but off the final turn it developed into a nightmare as he drifted too far wide which allowed Castagna to sneak up the inside and steal the win on the line. 

Rowe was doing the business out front in heat ten but Cook was struggling to make any impression and the sixth drawn heat was chalked up. For once, the Pirates managed to put some fresh air between themselves and Palovaara, who was starting a four-on-the-trot sequence, Lawson, shadowed by Thomsen holding out to write off the deficit and inch Poole ahead by two (34-32 they led). There was a bit of drama in heat twelve when Dayle Wood fell on the opening lap, mid-turn between three and four. Trying to get clear he struggled with the bike and the other three riders kept going at speed. Wood decided to scupper clear of the track leaving his bike upright near the fence. The red lights were eventually noticed but there had to be a fair amount of evasive action to avoid the stricken machine. With Wood disqualified as cause of the stoppage there was no change in positions in the re-run, for once, Palovaara prevailing for his fourth win of the night(one more than Poole had managed in a combined effort).

The Swede's fifth victory swiftly followed in heat thirteen despite having Lawson tracking him throughout. Kerr took third place to protect Poole's narrow advantage and when Castagna was disqualified for causing the stoppage of heat fourteen, the Pirates were in a stronger position to retain the advantage. In the closing stages of the re-run Cook found some real speed and very nearly denied Palovaara sixth winning ride. But that had to be the Monarch's reserve final outing, his full seven rides consumed and so it was down to Lawson or Rowe to simply win heat fifteen to secure the victory. Both made excellent starts and the record books will record a six point winning margin, but that was the biggest gap between the sides in the whole of the meeting, thus not painting too true a picture of just how tough it was.

EDINBURGH 42
Justin Sedgmen 3,3,1',0,1=8+1 (5)
Kye Thomson R,1,1,2,0=4 (5)
Jonatan Grahn 0,1,0,0,RS=1 (4)
Michele Castagna 3,R,3,FD=6 (4)
Oskar Polis 3,R,NS,NS=3 (2)
Victor Palovaara 3,3,3,1,3,3,3=19 (7)
Dayle Wood 1,0,RS,FD=1 (3)
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POOLE 48
Richard Lawson 2,3,3,2,3=13 (5)
Tobias Thomsen 1',2',2,2'=7+3 (4)
Anders Rowe 2,2,3,2,2'=11+1 (5)
Zach Cook 1',1',0,2=4+2 (4)
Lewis Kerr 1',2,2,1'=6+2 (4)
Paul Starke 2,0,1',1',1'=5+3 (5)
Darryl Ritchings R,2,0,RS=2 (3)
.
Ht 1:  J.Sedgmen, R.Lawson, T.Thomsen, K.Thomson [rtd] 3-3 3-3 [55.27]
Ht 2:  V.Palovaara, P.Starke, D.Wood, D.Ritchings [rtd] 4-2 7-5 [55.42]
Ht 3:  M.Castagna, A.Rowe, Z.Cook, J.Grahn 3-3 10-8 [55.9]
Ht 4:  O.Polis, D.Ritchings, L.Kerr, D.Wood 3-3 13-11 [58.78]
Ht 5:  R.Lawson, T.Thomsen, J.Grahn, M.Castagna [rtd] 1-5 14-16 [56.5]
Ht 6:  J.Sedgmen, L.Kerr, K.Thomson, P.Starke 4-2 18-18 [56.93]
Ht 7:  V.Palovaara, A.Rowe, Z.Cook, O.Polis [rtd] 3-3 21-21 [56.93]
Ht 8:  V.Palovaara, T.Thomsen, K.Thomson, D.Ritchings 4-2 25-23 [56.58]
Ht 9:  M.Castagna, L.Kerr, P.Starke, J.Grahn 3-3 28-26 [57.42]
Ht 10:  A.Rowe, K.Thomson, J.Sedgmen, Z.Cook 3-3 31-29 [57.19]
Ht 11:  R.Lawson, T.Thomsen, V.Palovaara, J.Grahn, O.Polis [NS] 1-5 32-34 [57.66]
Ht 12:  V.Palovaara, A.Rowe, P.Starke, D.Wood [fell exc] 3-3 35-37 [57.37]
Ht 13:  V.Palovaara, R.Lawson, L.Kerr, J.Sedgmen, O.Polis [NS] 3-3 38-40 [57.84]
Ht 14:  V.Palovaara, Z.Cook, P.Starke, M.Castagna [fell exc] 3-3 41-43 [57.78]
Ht 15:  R.Lawson, A.Rowe, J.Sedgmen, K.Thomson 1-5 42-48 []

SGB Referee : Graeme Hunter 
POOLE won toss and deferred choice to heat 15; EDINBURGH chose gates 1&3 |POOLE choose gates 1&3 in heat 15  
League Points: EDINBURGH 0 POOLE 2