REPORT: Poole Pirates v Workington Comets

Wanting to support local riders and young riders, the late Norman Strachan made a bequest to local lad Kyle Newman and teenagers William Cairns and Cooper Rushen, and members of his family made a generous donation ahead of racing. The three of them going on to contribute to Poole's comfortable league win over the Comets.

POOLE 61
Richard Lawson 3,2',2,3,3=13+1 (5)
William Cairns 1,3,3,1'=8+1 (4)
Lewis Kerr 3,1',1',3=8+2 (4)
Cooper Rushen 2',2,2,2=8+1 (4)
Zach Cook 3,3,3,2',1=12+1 (5)
Luke Harrison 2',1,1,0=4+1 (4)
Kyle Newman 3,2',2',1=8+2 (4)

WORKINGTON 29
Jonas Jeppesen 2,3,1,2,1,2=11 (6)
Vinnie Foord N2,0,1,R=1 (3)
Drew Kemp 0,0,3,2=5 (4)
Tate Zischke 1,2,0,3,0=6 (5)
Troy Batchelor 1,R,3,0=4 (4)
Mitchell Cluff 1,FD,TS,0,0,1=2 (5)
Max Perry 0,0,RS,0,RS=0 (3)

Ht 1:  R.Lawson, J.Jeppesen, W.Cairns, M.Perry, V.Foord[exc 2 mins] 4-2 4-2 [59.71]
Ht 2:  K.Newman, L.Harrison, M.Cluff, M.Perry 5-1 9-3 [60.63]
Ht 3:  L.Kerr, C.Rushen, T.Zischke, D.Kemp 5-1 14-4 [60.34]
Ht 4:  Z.Cook, K.Newman, T.Batchelor, M.Cluff [fell exc] 5-1 19-5 [60.36]
Ht 5:  J.Jeppesen, C.Rushen, L.Kerr, V.Foord 3-3 22-8 [60.9]
Ht 6:  W.Cairns, R.Lawson, J.Jeppesen, T.Batchelor [rtd], M.Cluff [Tac Subbed] 5-1 27-9 [60.42]
Ht 7:  Z.Cook, T.Zischke, L.Harrison, D.Kemp 4-2 31-11 [61.32]
Ht 8:  W.Cairns, K.Newman, V.Foord, M.Perry 5-1 36-12 [61.41]
Ht 9:  T.Batchelor, C.Rushen, L.Kerr, M.Cluff 3-3 39-15 [61.1]
Ht 10:  D.Kemp, R.Lawson, W.Cairns, T.Zischke 3-3 42-18 [awd]
Ht 11:  Z.Cook, J.Jeppesen, L.Harrison, V.Foord [rtd] 4-2 46-20 [61.69]
Ht 12:  L.Kerr, D.Kemp, K.Newman, M.Cluff 4-2 50-22 [62.68]
Ht 13:  R.Lawson, Z.Cook, J.Jeppesen, T.Batchelor 5-1 55-23 [62.32]
Ht 14:  T.Zischke, C.Rushen, M.Cluff, L.Harrison 2-4 57-27 [61.9]
Ht 15:  R.Lawson, J.Jeppesen, Z.Cook, T.Zischke 4-2 61-29 [61.73]

SGB Referee Mr Seth Perkin 

The visitors suffered an early setback when Vinnie Foord was disqualified for not being ready to race within the allocated two minutes, despite being at the start line. Max Perry was drafted in to replace Foord but could not make any impression, unlike Jonas Jeppesen, who looked to have plenty of speed. He passed Cairns and then set about the chase on Richard Lawson, but it was a step too far for him. Both Pirates trapped sharply in heat two and, although Workington's guest Mitchell Cluff tried hard, he was unable to prevent the wheel-to-wheel Newman and Poole's guest Luke Harrison from extending Poole's early lead with a 5-1. That sparked a run of three such scores as Rushen and Lewis Kerr looked comfortable with each other, Rushen not afraid to keep a close eye on his partner, before Poole were given a slice of fortune as Troy Batchelor was making the running, with Cluff in his wake early on. Zach Cook, though, knew he had time on his side and took the opportunity to split them on the apex of the southern turn on the second lap. Cluff, though, went down and stayed on the track, causing the red lights to come on, which signified he would be allowed to continue sitting down, but in the more comfortable surrounds of the pits. In the restart, Cook made no error at all and had Newman backing him up. Although the Poole reserve came under increasing pressure from Batchelor, he did well to stand his ground. Jeppesen made more moves in heat five as he went by Lewis Kerr quite quickly, but then Kerr took a bit of a thumping from Foord as they headed towards the finishing line on the first circuit. Kerr did well to stay aboard, largely unhindered by the contact; the move affected Foord more, allowing Rushen to share the heat. (22-8)

Cairns produced a superb wide sweep to counter Workington's tactical move, they having brought in Jeppesen to replace Cluff. Lawson again had the beating of his opposite number one, whilst the Comets' hopes of restraining the Pirates were shot when Batchelor pulled up early. Tate Zischke was riding some good lines in his pursuit of Cook; all the while, Harrison was prodding and probing as he sought to try and improve on his third place. Cairns was clearly enjoying his night as he shot off into the distance to leave Newman to deal with the pressing efforts of Foord, a task that Newman performed admirably as another Pirates' 5-1 was chalked up. Batchelor didn't allow Rushen any time to develop his early lead, but it served to just retain the status quo as Kerr, warned for movement at the start, shared the heat, which, even with plenty of races in hand, secured the bonus point for the Pirates. Lawson found himself at the back going into turn one of heat ten and had to work hard to outfox Zischke, who, along with Kemp, had passed Cairns. Lawson went by, and the heat seemed set for a Workington advantage until Zischke fell. (42-18)

Under early pressure from Foord, Harrison stood firm and then went in earnest pursuit of Jeppesen as Cook led heat eleven. The 4-2 outcome confirmed that Poole would be moving into third place in the table, as there was no way back now for the trailing Comets. A brave first-turn effort to try and slip between the Comets didn't quite work for Newman, but he was gifted a point when Cluff fell on lap three. A splendid move by Zach Cook highlighted heat thirteen as he squeezed by both Jeppesen and Batchelor to team up with Lawson for another heat gain. There was plenty of action developing behind Zischke in heat fourteen as a super back-straight pass by Rushen on Cluff brought a prompt reply from Cluff, but Rushen wasn't finished and passed again, nearly opening it up for Harrison. The jewel in the crown, though, was saved until heat fifteen, when Lawson managed to get the crowd off their seats with a stunning last-lap move to deny Jeppesen the race win, after tracking his wheel tracks for three laps and then launching a wide sweep to close the meeting with Poole's eleventh heat advantage of the night.

Photo credit: Tony Hartmann & Liam Cockwell