Report:Plymouth Gladiators v Poole Pirates

Without skipper Zach Cook and knowing the strength of the Gladiators, albeit it without the injured Tobias Thomsen, and holding just a four point advantage in the quest for the bonus point, Poole fans knew they needed something special from the team if they were to add to their BSN Series Southern points table.

Those fans weren't disappointed as the Pirates, switching their options from rider replacement to Jason Edwards as cover for Cook, delivered an impressive all-round performance.

Still feeling the effects of his Good Friday heat one spoil, Richard Lawson stormed from the tapes and for a short while had Edwards in tow, but Danny King managed to split them and whilst he couldn't land a blow on Lawson the action was far from over as Thomsen's cover - Simon Lambert - put Edwards under threat, which the Redar rider did well to withstand to give Poole an early lead. Many tracks have an interval 'kids' race but Poole have theirs in heat two and the two sixteen year olds - Will Cairns and Cooper Rushen - kept to their promise of enjoying as many 5-1's as possible this season. Klima never getting close to influence. Kyle Newman made a sharp gate and looked to have the better of Ben Barker momentarily, but the Gladiators' skipper edged him out and with Fraser Bowes struggling in his maiden ride at the Coliseum, Joe Thompson took third to enable Plymouth to claw a couple of points back. An excellent pass by Lewi Kerr in heat four ensured the first heat share of the night and protecting Poole's four point (eight in terms of the bonus) advantage. Edwards got away first in heat five and Lawson attempted a daring inside pass which just didn't quite come off. Barker picked off the Poole guest at the end of the first lap as the second shared heat was chalked up (13-17).

For the first time both Pirates were out gated and outpaced in a heat as King and Lambert had the better of Kerr and Cairns and the meeting was back to all-square. Nicholls had to use all his strength to barge his way by Newman in heat seven to prevent Plymouth from dropping behind again, but they were soon to experience that feeling when Edwards and Cairns combined for a comprehensive 5-1 over Lambert and Klima. A tapes to flag win came from Kerr in heat nine and that prompted the first track grade of the meeting. The start of heat ten was further delayed when the referee couldn't discern the initial cause of plenty of movement at the tapes and so brought all four back for a re-run. That brought about Bowes' maiden Poole race win but even that was overshadowed by Neman's brilliance as he made a terrific move on King to tuck in for a largely unexpected Poole 5-1 (26-34).

Eight behind, Plymouth immediately reached out to the tactical substitute option, bringing King in to partner Nicholls, but Lawson was having none of it, making a decent gate and holding the two ex-Poole boys at bay. Both Cairns and Newman looked to lose traction heading into turn one in heat twelve but both recovered swiftly to come through for heat sharing positions behind winner Thompson. Heat thirteen allowed Nicholls to avenge for his earlier defeat to Lawson but Plymouth's third heat advantage was limited to only a 4-2 and barring a disaster the bonus point was heading Poole's way. The match itself was almost in the bag when after a furious chase Rushen moved by Spencer just metres from the line to follow in Barker and Bowes. But there was contact made in the move and Spencer went down, leading to him being awarded third place which meant a home 5-1 in fifteen would level the match. Lawson had the same desire as Kerr to not allow that outcome, Nicholls splitting them but all three points being banked by the Pirates which leaves them just an aggregate point against Oxford away from qualifying.

PLYMOUTH 42
Danny King 2,3,1,2,1,0=9 (6)
Simon Lambert 0,2',1,0=3+1 (4)
Joe Thompson 1,0,1',3=5+1 (4)
Ben Barker 3,3,2,3=11 (4)
Scott Nicholls 1',3,1',3,2=10+2 (5)
Daniel Klima 1,2,RS,0,TS,0,RS=3 (4)
Tom Spencer 0,RS,0,RS,RS,1=1 (3)

POOLE 48
Richard Lawson 3,1',3,2,3=12+1 (5)
Jason Edwards 1,2,3,0=6 (4)
Kyle Newman 2,2,2',1'=7+2 (4)
Fraser Bowes 0,1',3,2=6+1 (4)
Lewis Kerr 3,1,3,0,1=8 (5)
William Cairns 3,0,0,2=5 (4)
Cooper Rushen 2',0,2',XD=4+2 (4)

Ht 1: R.Lawson, D.King, J.Edwards, S.Lambert 2-4 2-4 [53.86]
Ht 2: W.Cairns, C.Rushen, D.Klima, T.Spencer 1-5 3-9 [58.9]
Ht 3: B.Barker, K.Newman , J.Thompson, F.Bowes 4-2 7-11 [55.37]
Ht 4: L.Kerr, D.Klima, S.Nicholls, C.Rushen 3-3 10-14 [54.61]
Ht 5: B.Barker, J.Edwards, R.Lawson, J.Thompson 3-3 13-17 [54.75]
Ht 6: D.King, S.Lambert, L.Kerr, W.Cairns 5-1 18-18 [54.31]
Ht 7: S.Nicholls, K.Newman , F.Bowes, T.Spencer 3-3 21-21 [54.39]
Ht 8: J.Edwards, C.Rushen, S.Lambert, D.Klima 1-5 22-26 [55.65]
Ht 9: L.Kerr, B.Barker, J.Thompson, W.Cairns 3-3 25-29 [55.04]
Ht 10: F.Bowes, K.Newman , D.King, S.Lambert 1-5 26-34 [53.85]
Ht 11: R.Lawson, D.King, S.Nicholls, J.Edwards, D.Klima [Tac Subbed] 3-3 29-37 [54.43]
Ht 12: J.Thompson, W.Cairns, K.Newman , D.Klima 3-3 32-40 [55.55]
Ht 13: S.Nicholls, R.Lawson, D.King, L.Kerr 4-2 36-42 [53.65]
Ht 14: B.Barker, F.Bowes, T.Spencer, C.Rushen[exc] 4-2 40-44 [awd]
Ht 15: R.Lawson, S.Nicholls, L.Kerr, D.King 2-4 42-48 [54.44]

SGB Referee Mr Chris Gay

Photo credit Liam Cockwell