Result:Poole Pirates v Edinburgh Monarchs (Championship)

The Poole 'Wessex Marine' Pirates were able to pull off a second victory over the Edinburgh Monarchs this season, but the Scottish side made them work for it, especially in the early stages.

Pirates' fans nerves were tested in the early exchanges of this meeting against the Monarchs, the Scottish side the better starters , securing a convincing brace of 4-2 heat advantages in the opening two heats. Lewi Kerr made a good move in heat three to pass Sedgmen but such was his speed he found himself heading for the fence and so had to shut off rapidly, allowing Sedgmen time to say thank you as he went badk to resume the lead. It finished as a shared heat but then Anders Rowe and Will Cairns delivered the first Poole race winner (Rowe), the first Poole heat advantage and the first maximum heat score of the evening. It was enough to level the scores but Castagna appeared to be having a whale of a time as he stormed to his second personal race win, leaving Kerr and Zach Cook to block out Victor Palovaara, the scores remaining all square at 15-15.

Tobias Thomsen ventured on a very wide entry to the first turn and that effectively did for him, whilst Lawson was back to his winning ways. Edinburgh broke away again, at the second attempt to get heat seven underway, Rowe going too soon first time of asking. In the re-start he had to be forceful on Justin Sedgmen just to get into second whilst Kye Thomson was enjoying the fresh air all around him out front. The odds favoured the unbeaten Castagna and the impressive Jonatan Grahn, who was enjoying his first look at Wimborne Road, in heat eight, especially as Tobias had been pointless hitherto. But he and Cairns turned the tables and their resulting 5-1 edged Poole ahead for the first time. It also sparked a major Pirate attack as Kerr and Cook followed suit in heat nine and Thomsen and Lawson made it three on the bounce. So from being two behind, the Pirates found themselves going into a ten point lead in the space of those three mid-meeting heats (35-25).

Palovaara banked his only race win of the night, missing the action behind him as Rowe and Castagna were battling at every turn. The Pirates was able to split to mitigate the effect of Palovaara's win, and then Lewi Kerr trumped the Swede's tactical ride and even had Will Cairns bravely battling  behind and claiming the none-too-shabby scalp of Sedgemen. Rowe and the busy Palovaara looked joined at the saddle as they headed down the back straigh, but Rowe found the power button first and went on to join Lawson in an all-points securing 5-1. Cook was in his favourite heat fourteen position - out front - whilst Cairns was having a real dog fight with Thomson. On the third lap Thomson found some unexpected drive that gave him so much speed he was even able to close in on Cook, but it finished as a 4-2 and the Pirates were all set to sign off with a 5-1 when Kerr threw a chain which ended his race sprawled on the deck. Sensibly, the race was awarded as a shared heat and although Poole deserved the win there was no way the Monarchs were sixteen points worse than the Pirates.

POOLE 53
Richard Lawson 2,3,2',3,3=13+1 (5)
Tobias Thomsen 0,0,3,3=6 (4)
Lewis Kerr 2,2,3,3,F=10 (5)
Zach Cook 1',1',2',3=7+3 (4)
Anders Rowe 3,2,2,2'=9+1 (4)
Paul Starke 2,0,0,RS=2 (3)
Will Cairns 0,2',2',1,1=6+2 (5)
.
EDINBURGH 37
Victor Palovaara 1,0,3,2,1,1'=8+1 (6)
Michele Castagna 3,3,1,1,2=10 (5)
Justin Sedgmen 3,1,1,0=5 (4)
Kye Thomson 0,3,0,2=5 (4)
Michael Palm-Toft 0,1',1,RS=2+1 (3)
Jonatan Grahn 3,1,2,0,RS,TS,0=6 (5)
Jordy Loftus 1,RS,RS,0,0=1 (3)
.
Ht 1:  M.Castagna, R.Lawson, V.Palovaara, T.Thomsen 2-4 2-4 [59.93]
Ht 2:  J.Grahn, P.Starke, J.Loftus, W.Cairns 2-4 4-8 [60.54]
Ht 3:  J.Sedgmen, L.Kerr, Z.Cook, K.Thomson 3-3 7-11 [60.62]
Ht 4:  A.Rowe, W.Cairns, J.Grahn, M.Palm-Toft 5-1 12-12 [61.51]
Ht 5:  M.Castagna, L.Kerr, Z.Cook, V.Palovaara 3-3 15-15 [60.54]
Ht 6:  R.Lawson, J.Grahn, M.Palm-Toft, T.Thomsen 3-3 18-18 [60.98]
Ht 7:  K.Thomson, A.Rowe, J.Sedgmen, P.Starke 2-4 20-22 [60.93]
Ht 8:  T.Thomsen, W.Cairns, M.Castagna, J.Grahn 5-1 25-23 [61.43]
Ht 9:  L.Kerr, Z.Cook, M.Palm-Toft, J.Loftus 5-1 30-24 [61.68]
Ht 10:  T.Thomsen, R.Lawson, J.Sedgmen, K.Thomson 5-1 35-25 [61.68]
Ht 11:  V.Palovaara, A.Rowe, M.Castagna, P.Starke 2-4 37-29 [61.29]
Ht 12:  L.Kerr, V.Palovaara, W.Cairns, J.Sedgmen, J.Grahn [Tac Subbed] 4-2 41-31 [61.61]
Ht 13:  R.Lawson, A.Rowe, V.Palovaara, J.Grahn 5-1 46-32 [61.62]
Ht 14:  Z.Cook, K.Thomson, W.Cairns, J.Loftus 4-2 50-34 [61.73]
Ht 15:  R.Lawson, M.Castagna, V.Palovaara, L.Kerr [fell] 3-3 53-37 [awd]

SGB Referee  Chris Durno 
EDINBURGH won toss and chose gates 1&3 | POOLE choose gates 1&3 in heat 15  
League Points: POOLE 3 EDINBURGH 0