REPORT: Poole Pirates v Oxford Cheetahs - BSN Semi Final

Poole Pirates have positioned themselves well to win their BSN Semi final tie against the Oxford Cheetahs, as they will take a  26 point lead into the second leg

For only the second time this season, the Pirates opened with a 5-1 score as Tobias Thomsen made sure his move up the inside of Sam Masters would stick, but the four point lead remained after heat two as Luke Killeen held off Will Cairns in the early stages. Poole, clearly frustrated with the single point win margins they had been posting at home recently were determined to kick on against the Cheetahs, as Lewis Kerr and Zach Cook demonstrated in heat three. First to the opening turn and quick to but distance between themselves and the Oxford pair, Jordan Jenkins and Mitch McDiarmid. A switch of reserves served Oxford no fortune, as the incoming Killeen was well beaten this time by Anders Rowe and Cairns, although with Cameron Heeps sliding off on the third lap the race did not go its full duration. Having been defeated into a rare third place in his first ride, Masters made no mistakes and offered up no opportunities for passing, but Cook and Kerr were more than content with the shared heat as it kept Poole with a healthy early lead of a dozen points (21-9).

Thomsen made hard work of being part of a third Poole maximum heat, as guest Sam Hagon found speed to counter Thomsen's drifting and in what should have been a comfortable 5-1 it was down to a close check of the transponders to confirm he had held on by a tyre! There was a slice of fortune in heat seven, as McDiarmid and Jenkins were out the traps first. Rowe battled into second place to split them but Jenkins suffered a south bend fall, earning a disqualification. The Pirates filled their gating gloves in the re-run and left McDiarmid too much to do. 
Another switch of reserves failed to yield what Oxford needed, Thomsen shrugging off Killeen and Cairns having the edge on Etheridge to produce the first 4-2 of the meeting. Heat nine seemed to take an age. First Cook was warned for moving a the , then Hagon made a similar infringement, whilst Kerr was having machine problems and was in cruising mode when the lights came on. He failed to take the opportunity to switch machines and that proved costly as he didn't even reach the first turn at the third attempt. Thankfully, though, Cook had and he left Hagon and Heeps helplessly behind. Heat ten was the race of the night with Thomsen providing all the thrills. He came under a double assault from McDiarmid and Jenkins in the early stages and somehow managed to come through that episode unscathed and still in second place - Lawson leading. It should really have been plain sailing from that point on but he made a few strange moves and McDiarmid had found a possible counter attack, but Thomsen is nothing if not determined and he held firm to delight the crowd, remain unbeaten and played his part in Poole's sixth maximum heat score of the tie. (43-17).

Heat eleven had the referee checking the replay after Killeen went down at the pit gate just as Starke was waving him goodbye, and the verdict found against the Oxford reserve so they were reduced to just having Masters scoring for them. Not a bad  option as he proved with his second race win. Jenkins' night of frustration extended into heat twelve when he went down at the first turn and was shown the white disqualification light. Cairns had half a chance to pass Killeen entering the back straight but couldn't quite execute it., but Kerr had the race under control out front. Killeen was called up for heat thirteen in place of Heeps in which Lawson made a telling pass at the first turn on Masters. Later, Rowe was a bit more sedate in going by Killeen as Poole extended their lead to thirty. Not having conceded a heat advantage all evening, and with Cook, so often a heat fourteen winner, it was something of surprise to see McDiarmid and Hagon have life a little too easy out front. The two unbeaten Pirates - Lawson and Thomsen went to tapes for heat fifteen just as they had at the start of the meeting and had Masters in opposition. But Killeen fell at the first turn, frustratingly for Masters who had made the drop on Lawson and so the foursome were called back. Lawson shuffled over to the right-hand side of his gate one area, much to the annoyance of Masters and for the third time in the match Lawson managed to get the better run on a rider he admires a good deal. Thomsen tried to restrain Killeen but things went a little awry, so there was no maximum tag applied to his performance but a justifiable Rider of the Night award.

POOLE 58
Richard Lawson 3,3,3,3,3=15 (5)
Tobias Thomsen 2',2',3,2',0=9+3 (5)
Lewis Kerr 3,1',R,3=7+1 (4)
Zach Cook 2',2,3,1=8+1 (4)
Anders Rowe 3,3,2,1=9 (4)
Paul Starke 1',2',1',0=4+3 (4)
William Cairns 2,2',1,1=6+1 (4)
.
OXFORD 32
Sam Masters 1,3,3,2,2=11 (5)
Jye Etheridge 0,0,0,RS=0 (3)
Jordan Jenkins 1,FD,R,FD=1 (4)
Mitch McDiarmid 0,1,1,3=5 (4)
Cameron Heeps F,0,1',RS=1+1 (3)
Luke Killeen 3,1,RS,2,RS,FD,2,0,1'=9+1 (7)
Sam Hagon 0,RS,1,RS,2,2'=5+1 (4)
.
Ht 1:  R.Lawson, T.Thomsen, S.Masters, J.Etheridge 5-1 5-1 [60.28]
Ht 2:  L.Killeen, W.Cairns, P.Starke, S.Hagon 3-3 8-4 [60.86]
Ht 3:  L.Kerr, Z.Cook, J.Jenkins, M.McDiarmid 5-1 13-5 [61.19]
Ht 4:  A.Rowe, W.Cairns, L.Killeen, C.Heeps [fell] 5-1 18-6 [awd]
Ht 5:  S.Masters, Z.Cook, L.Kerr, J.Etheridge 3-3 21-9 [60.78]
Ht 6:  R.Lawson, T.Thomsen, S.Hagon, C.Heeps 5-1 26-10 [61.88]
Ht 7:  A.Rowe, P.Starke, M.McDiarmid, J.Jenkins [fell exc] 5-1 31-11 [61.88]
Ht 8:  T.Thomsen, L.Killeen, W.Cairns, J.Etheridge 4-2 35-13 [61.95]
Ht 9:  Z.Cook, S.Hagon, C.Heeps, L.Kerr [rtd] 3-3 38-16 [61.39]
Ht 10:  R.Lawson, T.Thomsen, M.McDiarmid, J.Jenkins [rtd] 5-1 43-17 [61.7]
Ht 11:  S.Masters, A.Rowe, P.Starke, L.Killeen [fell exc] 3-3 46-20 [62.11]
Ht 12:  L.Kerr, L.Killeen, W.Cairns, J.Jenkins [fell exc] 4-2 50-22 [61.79]
Ht 13:  R.Lawson, S.Masters, A.Rowe, L.Killeen 4-2 54-24 [61.44]
Ht 14:  M.McDiarmid, S.Hagon, Z.Cook, P.Starke 1-5 55-29 [62.34]
Ht 15:  R.Lawson, S.Masters, L.Killeen, T.Thomsen 3-3 58-32 [61.71]

SGB Referee Paul Carrington 
POOLE won toss and chose gates 1&3 | OXFORD choose gates 2&4 in heat 15  
 

Meeting Reaction

Photo credit Liam Cockwell