REPORT: Poole 60 Scunthorpe 29 - KO Cup Semi Final

24/07/24

Revenge, they say, is best served cold and nine months after losing the KO Cup silverware for the first time since moving into the SGB Championship, the 'Wessex Marine' Pirates put themselves in a strong position to have a shot at regaining it, as they crushed current holders Scunthorpe with a 60-29 first leg score at this season's semi-final stage.

Poole got off to an ideal start as Richard Lawson and Tobias Thomsen hit the first turn ahead of rivals Michael Palm-Toft and Simon Lambert and there was no dislodging them from the 5-1 position despite late pressure from Palm-Toft. But the Scorpions weren't initially fazed as reserves Nathan Ablitt and Luke Harrison both made better gates than the lifting Sam Hagon and Vinnie Foord. Although Hagon was making up ground, the race had to be stopped when Harrison hit some difficulty on the South bend and came down. Hagon lifted again in the three-man re-run and was on the prowl for a second time, with Ablitt looking fair game as Hagon had a good outside line in his sights. But as the pair of them approached the first turn, Hagon went down and with no instant stop lights it was clear that he would be disqualified once the button was pressed, as the two remaining upright riders, Ablitt and Foord, approached. So a third attempt at getting a completion of the second heat was necessary and Foord worked hard to keep his good buddy honest, Ablitt just having enough of an advantage to take the win. Skipper Ben Cook made a great outside move in heat three on Jake Allen down the straight, and half a lap later, brother Zach took a very narrow entry into the fourth turn and sneaked up the other side of Connor Mountain. Once clear, Zach had Allen in his sights but had to settle for a third place to give Poole a 4-2 gain. Tom Brennan made a superb gate and shrugged off Howarth who, surprisingly, was with him at the first turn. Foord was in third throughout the heat and with Harrison making him work hard to retain it, the Sussex lad was certainly willed on by the vociferous Poole fans.

The standard break for track grading between heats four and five almost turned into a disaster when the spray bar broke on the water bowser and the third and fourth turns took a soaking that could best be described as 'excessive'. This necessitated a longer than desired delay whilst the track curators remedied the situation, and eventually, when given the green light to proceed, the referee offered the four contestants an opportunity to do a practice lap to test conditions. Scunthorpe skipper, who was lining up on gate one had a word in the ear (or helmet to be precise) of his fellow captain, Cook and both indicated that they just wanted to get on with the meeting. From gate three Palm-Toft made the running and led home the Cook boys, Zach the closest to him. Heat six saw Ablitt squeezed out at the first turn as an unsatisfactory start was declared with all four back in. A good battle was developing for third and fourth, Ablitt, who initially sped out of the tapes and into a brief second place with partner Kyle Howarth, (before Lawson passed the pair of them) having Thomsen breathing down his neck. So close were they, that Thomsen clipped his rear wheel launching both riders spectacularly into the air-fence. Ablitt, in relative terms, was soon on his feet, but things weren't looking too good for Thomsen, with the ambulance arriving. Bravely the Dane got to his feet, shrugged off the escorts of the medics as they wanted to give him a ride back to the medical room, preferring to make the long walk back to the pits under the enthusiastic applause of a much-relieved crowd. Unfortunately, this was to be the last of Thomsen's racing for the night, a damaged ankle inhibiting him too greatly, forcing him to withdraw from the meeting (and the forthcoming league matches at Glasgow and Workington).
The heat was awarded as a shared heat, but racing didn't resume until 20:54, more than an hour after heat one had been called to tapes! But once the riders arrived for heat seven there was no stopping Brennan out front, whilst Hagon produced a determined ride to pass Mountain for a 5-1. With changes coming to heat eight on both sides, there was a danger that the visitors might claw something back, but Hagon and Foord both quickly passed Lambert and Ablitt and all of a sudden the Pirates were holding a fifteen point lead, which was about to be converted into a nineteen point margin when ,Ben Cook wasted no time in covering the four laps knowing brother Zach was far enough clear of Howarth to make it another 5-1 for the Pirates.

With Hagon busy again, just as he had been at Redcar five days earlier, he and Lawson both missed the start, but Lawson made an excellent pass on Mountain and set about Jake Allen, although he couldn't prevent Scunthorpe celebrating their third (and what was to be proven, their last) race winner. Heat eleven was won from the gate, Brennan the victor but Hagon missed the gate again, so the onslaught was momentarily arrested through the heat share with Lambert and Palm-Toft second and third respectively. Ben Cook had an untroubled outing in heat twelve but eyes again were on Foord as, not for the first time, he was busy holding off a challenging Ablitt. The 4-2 result restored the nineteen point lead and when Brennan found the wide line in heat thirteen, Lawson was content to let him go and complete a programmed maximum, pushing the lead on to twenty three points. That escalated to twenty seven a heat later as Hagon defiantly held off Mountain whilst Zach Cook was adding his name to outright race winners for the Pirates, and what better way to crush the Scorpions than to finish with a hat-trick of maximums. Lawson and Brennan accomplished that but not before Lawson had to produce a sublime last-to-first sweep on the opening lap. On the final circuit he appeared more than content to allow Brennan through, but Tom missed the gap and drifted to the fourth bend fence. Expertly he steered back to safety and got home safely for that 5-1, his paid maximum, and a staggering thirty one point first leg lead.

POOLE 60
Richard Lawson 3,3,2,2',3=13+1 (5)
Tobias Thomsen 2',FD,RS,RS=2+1 (2)
Ben Cook 3,1',3,3=10+1 (4)
Zach Cook 1,2,2',3=8+1 (4)
Tom Brennan 3,3,3,3,2'=14+1 (5)
Sam Hagon FD,2',3,0,0,2'=7+2 (6)
Vinnie Foord 2,1,2',1=6+1 (4)
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SCUNTHORPE 29
Michael Palm Toft 1,3,1',0,1=6+1 (5)
Simon Lambert 0,0,1,2=3 (4)
Jake Allen 2,0,3,2,0=7 (5)
Connor Mountain 0,1,1,1=3 (4)
Kyle Howarth 2,2,1,1=6 (4)
Nathan Ablitt 3,1',R,RS,0=4+1 (4)
Luke Harrison FX,0,RS,0,0=0 (4)
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Ht 1: R.Lawson, T.Thomsen, M.Palm Toft, S.Lambert 5-1 5-1 [59.25]
Ht 2: N.Ablitt, V.Foord, S.Hagon [fell exc], L.Harrison [fell exc] 2-3 7-4 [61.28]
Ht 3: B.Cook, J.Allen, Z.Cook, C.Mountain 4-2 11-6 [59.06]
Ht 4: T.Brennan, K.Howarth, V.Foord, L.Harrison 4-2 15-8 [59.06]
Ht 5: M.Palm Toft, Z.Cook, B.Cook, S.Lambert 3-3 18-11 [59.62]
Ht 6: R.Lawson, K.Howarth, N.Ablitt, T.Thomsen [fell exc] 3-3 21-14 [Awd]
Ht 7: T.Brennan, S.Hagon, C.Mountain, J.Allen 5-1 26-15 [59.53]
Ht 8: S.Hagon, V.Foord, S.Lambert, N.Ablitt [rtd] 5-1 31-16 [59.81]
Ht 9: B.Cook, Z.Cook, K.Howarth, L.Harrison 5-1 36-17 [59.35]
Ht 10: J.Allen, R.Lawson, C.Mountain, S.Hagon 2-4 38-21 [60.97]
Ht 11: T.Brennan, S.Lambert, M.Palm Toft, S.Hagon 3-3 41-24 [59.53]
Ht 12: B.Cook, J.Allen, V.Foord, N.Ablitt 4-2 45-26 [59.35]
Ht 13: T.Brennan, R.Lawson, K.Howarth, M.Palm Toft 5-1 50-27 [60.32]
Ht 14: Z.Cook, S.Hagon, C.Mountain, L.Harrison 5-1 55-28 [60.68]
Ht 15: R.Lawson, T.Brennan, M.Palm Toft, J.Allen 5-1 60-29 [60.59]