Redcar Bears 40 Poole Pirates 50

The Pirates inflicted a rare home defeat on the Redcar Bears and gained four valuable league points with a convincing 50-40 win at the ECCO Arena.

Determined to lay the demons of the Plymouth trip to rest, the Pirates put on a perfect show at the Ecco Arena opening with a speedy ride from skipper Danny King backed up by a piece of good riding by Zach Cook to make claim to third place as he left the first turn, giving Poole an early 4-2 lead. Drew Kemp showed his liking for the track with a solid winning ride, his team-mate Nathan Ablitt just unable to hold on to his early point scoring position. An eager Ben Cook paid the penalty for touching the tapes but it provided an immediate chance for Kemp to come out again and with partner Steve Worrall made it two heat advantages in three for the Pirates who took hold of a 12-6 lead. Completing the first chapter of rides, Richard Lawson added his name to the Pirate winners and again Ablitt was in the mix in the initial stages but just lacked experience to hold off Jason Edwards. 

Extensive grading ensued, which included track dampening and whilst it helped Erik Riss to end the Poole dominance of chequered flag takers, Zach Cook and King ensured that Kasper Andersen wouldn't score this time out. Redcar rang the changes in heat six, appointing Riss as a tactical substitute to replace Adam Roynon but if they thought Riss could make it two wins on the bounce, they hadn't plotted into the equation the determination of Richard Lawson to get out in the front, heading the Bears number one Charles Wright with great composure. Kemp worked tirelessly to try and overcome Riss, the German possibly getting neckache as he kept looking in wonder as to where Kemp's next assault was going to come from. In the end, it was just a shared heat but Poole still retained a six point lead. Worrall was away and gone in  heat seven whilst Ben Cook rode out of his boots to try and split the team-riding display of Lewis Kerr and Jordan Jenkins. Heat eight saw Zach Cook cleverly pick off Jenkins mid-heat to provide another shared heat and for the third time Ablitt gated well but couldn't make it stick.

Another long session of track work meant there was plenty of time between the eighth and ninth heat but when heat nine did get underway it went the same way as the five previous races, due to a good move by Lawson to overcome Andersen on the third lap. Worrall uncharacteristically missed the gate in heat ten but Ben Cook did well to minimise the damage as he went by Adam Roynon to restrict the home side to a 4-2, their first advantage of the meeting. If this was comeback then the passing of Jenkins by both King and Zach Cook served only to spoil the celebrations, in fact King almost denied the Bears any joy as he picked up a lot of speed exiting the final turn and was close to snatching the victory, Kerr though just getting to the flag in time. 

Worrall rode a good line to go outside of Riss in heat twelve, a lap later Kemp found a route on the inside which too would relegate Riss a position, this 5-1 for the Pirates guaranteeing at least one point was heading south as the interval was called. Immediately after the break Kerr was just a little bit too keen and picked up a warning for a starting infringement. In the re-start Wright made the sharpest but King wasn't far short again of nipping by, but behind Lawson was losing out to Kerr, a move that Lawson tried desperately to recover from, but without reward. So the Bears were back to six behind, thus victory could still be in their grasp but Ben Cook wasn't having any of it and launced himself into a heat fourteen lead. Adding further agony to the Bears' evening Kemp cleverly found a way by Andersen and now a four point haul was firmly in the Pirates sights as they held a ten point lead. Wright did the business in heat fifteen for Redcar but in keeping Kerr out of the points King and Lawson protected that lead and the Pirates moved up to third in the table.

REDCAR 40
C.Wright 2,2,3,3,3=13 (5)
A.Roynon 0,TS,1',1=2+1 (3)
E.Riss 0,3,1',1',1=6+2 (5)
K.Andersen 1,0,2,1=4 (4)
L.Kerr 2,2,3,1,0=8 (5)
J.Jenkins 1',1',0,0=2+2 (4)
J.Edwards 2,1',2,0=5+1 (4)
.
POOLE 50
D.King 3,1',2,2,2=10+1 (5)
Z.Cook 1,2,3,1'=7+1 (4)
S.Worrall 2',3,0,3=8+1 (4)
B.Cook XE,0,2,3=5 (4)
R.Lawson 3,3,3,0,1'=10+1 (5)
D.Kemp 3,3,0,0,2',2'=10+2 (6)
N.Ablitt 0,0,0=0 (3)
.
Ht 1:  D.King, C.Wright, Z.Cook, A.Roynon 2-4 2-4 [54]
Ht 2:  D.Kemp, J.Edwards, J.Jenkins, N.Ablitt 3-3 5-7 [55.6]
Ht 3:  D.Kemp, S.Worrall, K.Andersen, E.Riss, B.Cook [tapes exc] 1-5 6-12 [55.3]
Ht 4:  R.Lawson, L.Kerr, J.Edwards, N.Ablitt 3-3 9-15 [54.4]
Ht 5:  E.Riss, Z.Cook, D.King, K.Andersen 3-3 12-18 [56.9]
Ht 6:  R.Lawson, C.Wright, E.Riss, D.Kemp, A.Roynon [Tac Subbed] 3-3 15-21 [56]
Ht 7:  S.Worrall, L.Kerr, J.Jenkins, B.Cook 3-3 18-24 [56.2]
Ht 8:  Z.Cook, J.Edwards, A.Roynon, N.Ablitt 3-3 21-27 [56.7]
Ht 9:  R.Lawson, K.Andersen, E.Riss, D.Kemp 3-3 24-30 [54.7]
Ht 10:  C.Wright, B.Cook, A.Roynon, S.Worrall 4-2 28-32 [55]
Ht 11:  L.Kerr, D.King, Z.Cook, J.Jenkins 3-3 31-35 [55.7]
Ht 12:  S.Worrall, D.Kemp, E.Riss, J.Edwards 1-5 32-40 [56.1]
Ht 13:  C.Wright, D.King, L.Kerr, R.Lawson 4-2 36-42 [54.2]
Ht 14:  B.Cook, D.Kemp, K.Andersen, J.Jenkins 1-5 37-47 [55.6]
Ht 15:  C.Wright, D.King, R.Lawson, L.Kerr 3-3 40-50 [55.5]
REFEREE:  Chris Gay 
REDCAR won toss and chose gates 1&3 | POOLE choose gates 2&4 in heat 15  
League Points: REDCAR 0 POOLE 4