RESULT:Play Off Semi Final Second Leg - Workington v Poole

14/09/24

Unbeaten in their previous two visits to Northside, the second of which was the only non-victory in their previous six meetings (when they drew in the semi-final of the BSN Series), a confident Poole side made the trip determined to hold on to their 14-point first leg lead and set up their third final appearance of the season.

Armed with three guests, however, the Workington Comets showed early intentions that they weren't going to make life too easy for the Pirates as Jason Edwards shot out of the gate to dictate activity at the first turn. Richard Lawson attempted a smart switch of line but Edwards held firm and with Charles Wright heading off Sam Hagon, the home side took an early lead and began reducing the deficit. Vinnie Foord made a clever early pass on Sam McGurk to share the reserve's heat points, Tobias Thomsen coming on strong at Paul Starke on the final lap but without consequence. Skipper Ben Cook made a storming start in heat three but it was to no avail as Dan Thompson had been moving previously and the race called back. Second time of asking the Cook boys were in one and two positions going into turn one but Zach drifted marginally too wide allowing Thompson through, the Comets' guest managing to stay in second in spite of Zach's revived efforts. Foord made a move on Starke at the start of heat four under which Starke went down and all four riders were called back to the tapes. Brennan was majestic as he made the gate for a second time but as he came off turn two he reared badly and took a hefty fall, earning a disqualification, at the time of which Starke was not under power and so the third attempt was reduced to a simple match race which, not unexpectedly, Troy Batchelor won, although Foord was far from disgraced.

Hagon made a good early show but was unable to secure a points securing position that would have added to Lawson's victory, earned after he passed Thompson who in fairness had wobbled at around the very same point where Brennan had crashed out in the previous heat. Brennan and Thomsen were on a 5-1 in heat six until Wright managed to split them, but the resulting 4-2 enabled Poole to extend their aggregate lead to fifteen. Ben Cook was not content with protecting that in heat seven as rather than settle behind Batchelor he made a superb move to make it two wins from two on the day with Zach untroubled by Sam McGurk who was a sacrificial replacement, as the Comets wanted to use Starke in heat eight.
It was a move that held high hopes for the home fans especially as Edwards was away fast, but Foord spectacularly had the measure of what confronted him and produced a brilliant pass off the final turn to get by both his opponents, allowing Poole to retain their advantage on the day. Heat nine was warming up for an intense battle between the quartet but Thomsen lost control on the fourth turn and took a fall, sustaining more damage to his machine than person. In the re-run, Brennan was in no mood to hang around and quickly left Thompson and Vuolas wanting. A double Cook pass on Edwards entering turn three of the first lap of heat ten virtually sealed the dream of goal one - to qualify - and edged the Pirates even closer to a victory on the day as they led by seven points with a handful of heats remaining.

The first of those was an untroubled victory for Lawson and a deserved point for the battling Hagon. On his second bike in heat twelve Thomsen made a good gate and only had Ben Cook ahead of him. A good holding job by Toby keeping out Vuolas and Starke meant that a finisher from the remaining heats would be enough to secure another Northside victory. It then became a sealed deal despite Wright's consolation victory in heat thirteen ending Lawson's unbeaten performance in the tie, whilst Brennan's exploits were hampered by his steel shoe flapping away as he tried to hunt down the Comets' stand-in number one. Foord was in a good position in heat fourteen behind leader Zach Cook until his bike began to falter and both passed him as he coasted on to the centre field. Poole signed off the meeting with a 5-1 from Lawson and Zach Cook and with Oxford holding a two point lead from their away leg a southern derby final looks a potential outcome to determine the 2024 league champions.

WORKINGTON 36
Charles Wright 1,2,0,3,1=7 (5)
Jason Edwards 3,0,2,1=6 (4)
Antti Vuolas 0,1',1',1=3+2 (4)
Dan Thompson 2,2,2,2,R=8 (5)
Troy Batchelor 3,2,2,R=7 (4)
Paul Starke 3,XD,RS,1',RS,0,1'=5+2 (5)
Sam McGurk 0,RS,0,RS,0,RS=0 (3)
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POOLE 53
Richard Lawson 2,3,3,1',3=12+1 (5)
Sam Hagon 0,0,0,1=1 (4)
Ben Cook 3,3,3,3=12 (4)
Zach Cook 1,1,2',3,2'=9+2 (5)
Tom Brennan FD,3,3,2=8 (4)
Tobias Thomsen 2,1,FD,2'=5+1 (4)
Vinnie Foord 1',2,3,R=6+1 (4)
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Ht 1: J.Edwards , R.Lawson, C.Wright , S.Hagon 4-2 4-2 [56.1]
Ht 2: P.Starke , T.Thomsen, V.Foord, S.McGurk 3-3 7-5 [57.7]
Ht 3: B.Cook, D.Thompson , Z.Cook, A.Vuolas 2-4 9-9 [56.2]
Ht 4: T.Batchelor , V.Foord, P.Starke [exc], T.Brennan [fell exc] 3-2 12-11 [57]
Ht 5: R.Lawson, D.Thompson , A.Vuolas , S.Hagon 3-3 15-14 [56.6]
Ht 6: T.Brennan, C.Wright , T.Thomsen, J.Edwards 2-4 17-18 [56.2]
Ht 7: B.Cook, T.Batchelor , Z.Cook, S.McGurk 2-4 19-22 [56.3]
Ht 8: V.Foord, J.Edwards , P.Starke , S.Hagon 3-3 22-25 [57.5]
Ht 9: T.Brennan, D.Thompson , A.Vuolas , T.Thomsen [fell exc] 3-3 25-28 [56.8]
Ht 10: B.Cook, Z.Cook, J.Edwards , C.Wright 1-5 26-33 [56.5]
Ht 11: R.Lawson, T.Batchelor , S.Hagon, S.McGurk 2-4 28-37 [57.4]
Ht 12: B.Cook, T.Thomsen, A.Vuolas , P.Starke 1-5 29-42 [57]
Ht 13: C.Wright , T.Brennan, R.Lawson, T.Batchelor [rtd] 3-3 32-45 [56.9]
Ht 14: Z.Cook, D.Thompson , P.Starke , V.Foord [rtd] 3-3 35-48 [57.8]
Ht 15: R.Lawson, Z.Cook, C.Wright , D.Thompson [rtd] 1-5 36-53 []