Poole Pirates v Ipswich Witches

Poole moved back to the top of the table by digging deep against a resilient Ipswich side, who themselves had desires on taking pole position in the league.

The Witches opened strongly with a confident 5-1 from Cameron Heeps and Scott Nicholls before Nico Covatti celebrated his return back after injury with victory in heat two, backed up by debutant Ricky Wells to shave two points off that early deficit. The stable partnership of Josh Grajczonek and Nicolai Klindt combined for their 12th 5-1 of the season as a pairing to edge Poole ahead but the scores were levelled-up when Jake Allen provided too resistent to Jack Holder's heat four efforts after Ricky Wells had created openings early on in the race. 

The 13th heat maximum for the skipper and the Dane conspired to push Poole ahead after five heats but Edward Kennett and Krystian Pieszczek emphatically rallied to the Witches cause to square the meeting once again, 18-18 after six heats.

Danny King held out Holder and Covatti in heat seven that triggered a sequence of three drawn heats , the Pirates a bit fortunate however when Cameron Heeps packed up when heading towards a heat gain for the visitors in heat eight. Grajczonek who had been on the wrong end of that Witches' match-levelling sixth heat 5-1 made amends in heat nine by dominating but his ultra-reliable partner Klindt, having been moved over at the first turn had a forlorn task in trying to make a mark. Klindt however, made a nuisance of himself when called upon as a rider replacement but it was guest Ben Barker who caught the eye by outgating and bravely battling away to keep out Danny King, as Poole snuck back into the lead.

Covatti and Holder had pressure from Nicholls to contend with before they could seal off a 5-1 from heat 11 and create the largest margin between the two sides on the night, 36-30. After Klindt returned to winning heats in the twelfth, a shared heat resulting,  the race of the night unfolded as Barker and Krystian Pieszczek traded places intensely behind Holder. Eventually the Pole managed to assert his superiority on second place but the consequent 4-2 gave Poole a handy eight point lead with just two heats remaining.

But the Witches weren't quite done for. Uitilising Danny King as a tactical substitute and aided by a retirement for skipper Grajczonek they managed to pull a 4-2 out the bag to give them sight of the consolation point. King again came up with the goods in heat 15 to ensure his side would be heading back to Suffolk with something to show for their efforts, but Klindt and Holder were content to let him go as they concentrated on just holding off Pieszczek.

POOLE 48
Rider Replacement (B.Kurtz)
B.Barker 1,0,3,1=5
N.Klindt 2',2',0,1,3,2=10+2
J.Grajczonek 3,3,1,3,R=10
J.Holder 0,2,2,2',3,1'=10+2
N.Covatti 3,1',1',3,2=10+2
R.Wells 1,0,2,0=3

IPSWICH 42
S.Nicholls 2',1,1,0=4+1
C.Heeps 3,0,R,0=3
D.King 0,3,2,2,3,3=13
R.Lawson 1,0,0=1
K.Pieszczek 2',1',2,0=5+2
E.Kennett 2,1,3,2,1'=9+1
J.Allen 0,3,3,1=7

Ht 1:  C.Heeps,  S.Nicholls,  B.Barker,  J.Holder  (RR) 1-5  1-5 |59.57]
Ht 2:  N.Covatti,  E.Kennett,  R.Wells,  J.Allen 4-2  5-7 [59.96]
Ht 3:  J.Grajczonek,  N.Klindt,  R.Lawson,  D.King 5-1  10-8 [59.28]
Ht 4:  J.Allen,  J.Holder,  E.Kennett,  R.Wells 2-4  12-12 [60.25]
Ht 5:  J.Grajczonek,  N.Klindt,  S.Nicholls,  C.Heeps 5-1  17-13 [59.78]
Ht 6:  E.Kennett,  K.Pieszczek,  J.Grajczonek  (RR),  B.Barker 1-5  18-18 [60.59]
Ht 7:  D.King,  J.Holder,  N.Covatti,  R.Lawson 3-3  21-21 [60.44]
Ht 8:  J.Allen,  R.Wells,  N.Covatti (RS),  C.Heeps  (Rtd) 3-3 24-24 [61.13]
Ht 9:  J.Grajczonek,  E.Kennett,  K.Pieszczek,  N.Klindt 3-3  27-27 [60.34]
Ht 10:  B.Barker,  D.King,  N.Klindt  (RR),  R.Lawson 4-2  31-29 [60.81]
Ht 11:  N.Covatti,  J.Holder,  S.Nicholls,  C.Heeps 5-1  36-30 [61.15]
Ht 12:  N.Klindt,  D.King,  E.Kennett,  R.Wells 3-3  39-33 [61.03]
Ht 13:  J.Holder,  K.Pieszczek,  B.Barker,  S.Nicholls 4-2  43-35 [61.63]
Ht 14:  D.King  (TS),  N.Covatti,  J.Allen,  J.Grajczonek  (Rtd) 2-4  45-39 [61.25]
Ht 15:  D.King,  N.Klindt,  J.Holder,  K.Pieszczek 3-3  48-42 [61.19]

Gates: IPSWICH won toss and chose gates 1&3 | POOLE took gates 1&3 in heat 15

Referee James McGregor

League Points POOLE 3 IPSWICH 1

Rider of the Night: N.Klindt

Midland & Southern Development League

WEYMOUTH 13
J.Laker 2,3,2,3 =10
S.Peters 0,NS,NS, =0
J.Jessop  1,1,1, =3
C.Kirtley-Paine 0,0,0, =0

EXETER 23
A.Sheppard 3,3,Fx, =6
K.Ward 1,2',1, =4+1|
C.Andrews 2',1',2, =5+2
J.Chattin 3,2,3, =8

Heat 1 A.Sheppard,J.Laker,K.Ward,S.Peters 2-4 2-4 [66.69]
Heat 2 J.Chattin,C.Andrews,J.Jessop ,C.Kirtley-Paine (15m hcap) 1-5 3-9 [69.32]
Heat 3 J.Laker,J.Chattin,C.Andrews,S.Peters 3-3 6-12 [66.31]
Heat 4 A.Sheppard,K.Ward,J.Jessop ,C.Kirtley-Paine 1-5 7-17 [65.03]
Heat 5 J.Chattin,J.Laker,K.Ward,C.Kirtley-Paine 2-4 9-21 [67.22]
Heat 6 J.Laker ,C.Andrews,J.Jessop ,A.Sheppard ( fell exc) 4-2 13-23 [69.56]
pictures Dave Fairbrother