REPORT: REDCAR v POOLE - KO CUP FINAL 2nd leg

10/10/25

Poole gave a clinical performance in the second leg of the MaxiCab Knockout to make it a home and away double over the Redcar 'Agilia' Bears and complete the first leg of a targetted treble.

The Pirates were dead set on taking this match to the Bears and Richard Lawson and Tobias Thomsen were looking set fair for the perfect 5-1 opening, when Charles Wright showed his own determination and went for a gap on the inside of the start of lap three which he made it through but not without dislodging Thomsen. The tell-tale signs that this was not as clean as he would have hoped was the fact the he immediately looked back to see where he had left Toby. It was sprawled on the track, the stop lights on and the referee reaching for the video replay button. Contented that there had been contact , on came the red light and a re-start ordered. Jake Mulford, who had been nothing more than an onlooker in the first starting, made it out the gate first, forcing Lawson to wind it on and sweep into the lead, Mulford having saved the Bears two points. Defending British U19 champion Ace Pijper warmed up perfectly for his title defence the following afternoon with a heat two victory but crucially for Poole, Will Cairns battled by Redcar's reserve guest Ben Trigger to share the heat. The reasonable start for Poole got even better when Lewi Kerr and Zach Cook cleared off for a 5-1 in heat three and so the last thing Redcar needed was a glimpse of deja-vu. But just as happened in the play-off semi-final the previous Sunday, Danny King's meeting began with a disqualification. This time there was much movement at the tapes and again there was a call to view the replay, proving inconclusive, and so it was down to initial instincts. That was, King had touched the tapes first and so was disqualified, but Anders Rowe would be served a warning. Trigger was chosen to come in from scratch and he and Cairns had a private battle behind Pijper and Rowe. Out front, with the Poole number five was throwing so many different shapes, seeking every possible line and covering every piece of track in a bid to try and "trump the Ace". But Pijper called the tune and Redcar celebrated their first heat advantage of the night, but eighteen down on aggregate many more were required. Lawson was in no mood to allow that to happen when he was on track and he went round Flint. Thomsen glanced across to see what was occurring and in that split second slowed enough to allow Flint the extra gain that he had needed to get by. A huge effort to try and improve his opening third place, Thomsen couldn't find another chance so it was just a 'minor' heat advantage for Poole to celebrate. (12-18; 50-70 agg.).

Wright was on real fire, probably enraged by his opening disqualification, but it took something special from Rowe to split Mulford from his captain in heat six. Kerr made a decent first turn but just ran fractionally wide on turn two which allowed room for King to exploit, nevertheless, the Pirates were more than happy to settle for the share. Heat eight was another excellent battle. Cairns and Thomsen leading for three and three quarter laps but Pijper making his presence felt throughout. Coming off the fourth turn, Thomsen moved over to block Pijper's chosen wide line and down went Pijper. It was confirmed that there had been no contact but Toby had committed a 'professional foul' in taking his opponent's line away and so instead of a 5-1, which would effectively have left Poole needing just one more shared heat to retain the cup, the result was a 3-3 and the jeopardy extended. Heat nine was relatively tame, although Rowe almost collided with Starke going down the back straight for the first time, but it was to become apparent that Rowe was racing whilst struggling with a bout of food poisoning, so his third second place of the night was even more impressive. Leon Flint, Redcar's cover for Riss, was 'warming up' for Sunday's visit with Glasgow in the BSN Series semi final, took the win and now Redcar needed six maximum's to save the tie (assuming Poole provided a finisher in each of the remaining half a dozen races). Kerr shed a chain link on the start line as the tapes rose, but partner Cook stamped his authority on the race, leading home Wright and Mulford and programmes were being studied to see when the meeting would be resolved (28-32; 66-84).

That resolution was very much on the cards in heat eleven as Lawson and Thomsen were pairing up on a 5-1 for three and a half laps, but King snuck between them and someone had to quickly tighten the wire around the cork on the champagne bottle, as mathematically Redcar could still out-score Poole - but only in a bizarre conclusion. So, considering it was at the track he loves to race, it was quite fitting that Kerr resolved the destiny of the cup once and for all. Chain fixed, he stormed out the tapes to win heat twelve whilst Starke moved himself into third place as Poole reached 92 points. Will Cairns was given his first Championship level heat thirteen appearance as Rowe's sickness had taken a hold. If Wright thought he could upset Lawson's unbeaten cup performance he had another thing coming. For although he passed the Rocketman it was for the very briefest of moments as Richard, quick as a flash, responded and a fourth win of the night secured. Cook made the running in heat fourteen but he did have Flint behind him throughout keeping him honest, and any Glasgow spies watching on will have been licking their lips with the way Flint was navigating the Redcar track. Lawson and Cook had no desire to take their hands of the gas in heat fifteen finishing with a comfortable 5-1 over Wright and Mulford for an aggregate 103-77 cup final success.

REDCAR 39
Charles Wright X0,3,2,2,1=8 (5)
Jake Mulford 2,1,1',1',0=5+2 (5)
Jason Edwards 1,0,0,2=3 (4)
Leon Flint 0,2,3,2=7 (4)
Danny King XE,3,2,1'=6+1 (4)
Ben Trigger 0,1,0,0,RS=1 (4)
Ace Pijper 3,3,2,0,1'=9+1 (5)
.
POOLE 51
Richard Lawson 3,3,3,3,3=15 (5)
Tobias Thomsen 1,1,X0,1=3 (4)
Lewis Kerr 2',2,R,3=7+1 (4)
Zach Cook 3,1',3,3,2'=12+2 (5)
Anders Rowe 2,2,2,RS=6 (3)
Paul Starke 2,0,1',1=4+1 (4)
William Cairns 1',0,3,0,0=4+1 (5)
.
Ht 1: R.Lawson, J.Mulford, T.Thomsen, C.Wright [exc] 2-4 2-4 [58.1]
Ht 2: A.Pijper, P.Starke, W.Cairns, B.Trigger 3-3 5-7 [55.6]
Ht 3: Z.Cook, L.Kerr, J.Edwards, L.Flint 1-5 6-12 [54.6]
Ht 4: A.Pijper, A.Rowe, B.Trigger, W.Cairns, D.King [tapes exc] 4-2 10-14 [56.2]
Ht 5: R.Lawson, L.Flint, T.Thomsen, J.Edwards 2-4 12-18 [54.7]
Ht 6: C.Wright, A.Rowe, J.Mulford, P.Starke 4-2 16-20 [55.1]
Ht 7: D.King, L.Kerr, Z.Cook, B.Trigger 3-3 19-23 [55.7]
Ht 8: W.Cairns, A.Pijper, J.Mulford, T.Thomsen [exc] 3-3 22-26 [awd]
Ht 9: L.Flint, A.Rowe, P.Starke, J.Edwards 3-3 25-29 [54.2]
Ht 10: Z.Cook, C.Wright, J.Mulford, L.Kerr [rtd] 3-3 28-32 [55.4]
Ht 11: R.Lawson, D.King, T.Thomsen, B.Trigger 2-4 30-36 [56.4]
Ht 12: L.Kerr, J.Edwards, P.Starke, A.Pijper 2-4 32-40 [55.5]
Ht 13: R.Lawson, C.Wright, D.King, W.Cairns 3-3 35-43 [56]
Ht 14: Z.Cook, L.Flint, A.Pijper, W.Cairns 3-3 38-46 [55.2]
Ht 15: R.Lawson, Z.Cook, C.Wright, J.Mulford 1-5 39-51 [56.4]
SGB Referee Mr Chris Gay
Poole win 103-77 on aggregate