Poole Pirates v Belle Vue Aces

The No.1 Carpet Cleaning Pirates had declared their full one-to-seven for this league match against league leaders Belle Vue but by 8:15pm they had been reduced to just four fit regulars.

Nikolaj Busk Jakobsen had reported in ill earlier in the day and then, in arguably the race of the night, heat 8, Nico Covatti, chasing Dimitri Berge lost control, skewed across the track right in the path of his partner Richie Worrall. Both riders needed extensive medical attention which included a trip to Poole Hospital, accompanied by the paramedic thus causing a lengthy delay, with racing not resuming until 9:58pm.

With the curfew of 10:15pm looming every effort was made to move the action along as quickly as possible, although only four heats were possible before the deadline, but what passion the Pirates threw at the meeting in that time, certainly rewarding those fans who had been able to hang around during the lull in racing.

The outcome of that heat eight incident was an awarded 4-2 in favour of the Aces which levelled the scores at 24 a-piece, the Aces having culled the  six point deficit they faced after five heats with a 5-1 from heat 7 as Dan Bewley and Steve Worrall paired up to keep Brady Kurtz at bay.

But a brave outside move by skipper Josh Grajczonek to squeeze by Aces' guest Scott Nicholls (replacing the injured Kenneth Bjerre) was simultaneous to Nicolai Klindt nipping up the inside of Ricky Wells before attempting to put Nicholls under further threat.

That gave Poole a slender lead and when more gallantry came from the reduced Pirate camp, as Jack Holder blasted his way from third to first in one fell swoop it at least gave Poole a shared heat.

Taking the second of a three-in-three sequence of heats, Paul Starke made a telling move to get by Dimitri Berge, again a pass that assured Poole of another share of the spoils as Brady Kurtz couldn't quite find any chink in Max Fricke's armour out front.

Nicolai Klindt managed to get home ahead of Wells , Bewley and the deadline to complete a hat-trick of shared heats and protect the Pirates two point advantage with the meeting declared.

POOLE 37
J.Holder 1',1',3=5+2
R.Worrall 2,2,2=6
N.Klindt 1',1,1,3=6+1
J.Grajczonek 2,3,3=8
B.Kurtz 3,1,2=6
N.Covatti 3,R,FD=3
P.Starke 1,1,0,1',0=3+1

BELLE VUE 35
M.Fricke 3,2,3=8
D.Berge 0,0,3,0=3
D.Bewley 3,3,1',1'=8+2
S.Worrall FD,2',2=4+1
S.Nicholls 2,3,2=7
R.Wells 2,0,0,2=4
J.Lidsey 0,R,1=1

Ht 1:  M.Fricke,  R.Worrall,  J.Holder,  D.Berge 3-3  3-3 |59.22]
Ht 2:  N.Covatti,  R.Wells,  P.Starke,  J.Lidsey 4-2  7-5 [60.31]
Ht 3:  D.Bewley,  J.Grajczonek,  N.Klindt,  S.Worrall  (Fell d/q) 3-3  10-8 [59.94]
Ht 4:  B.Kurtz,  S.Nicholls,  P.Starke,  J.Lidsey  (Rtd) 4-2  14-10 [60.09]
Ht 5:  J.Grajczonek,  M.Fricke,  N.Klindt,  D.Berge 4-2  18-12 [59.82]
Ht 6:  S.Nicholls,  R.Worrall,  J.Holder,  R.Wells 3-3  21-15 [60.41]
Ht 7:  D.Bewley,  S.Worrall,  B.Kurtz,  N.Covatti  (Rtd) 1-5  22-20 [60.44]
Ht 8:  D.Berge,  R.Worrall,  J.Lidsey,  N.Covatti  (Fell d/q) 2-4 24-24 [awd]
Ht 9:  J.Grajczonek,  S.Nicholls,  N.Klindt,  R.Wells 4-2  28-26 [60.84]
Ht 10:  J.Holder,  S.Worrall,  D.Bewley,  P.Starke 3-3  31-29 [61.44]
Ht 11:  M.Fricke,  B.Kurtz,  P.Starke,  D.Berge 3-3  34-32 [61.62]
Ht 12:  N.Klindt,  R.Wells,  D.Bewley,  P.Starke 3-3  37-35 [62.41]
Gates: POOLE won toss and chose gates 1&3 |
Referee Paul Carrington
League Points POOLE 3 BELLE VUE 1
Rider of the Night: Josh Grajczonek