Wolverhampton Wolves v Poole Pirates

26/08/19

Poole produced a very tired performance as they succumbed to a 20-point defeat against play-off raiders Wolverhampton.

The Pirates  slipped to an opening 4-2 reversal that had rider replacement Nico Covatti launching off his machine as he found himself too tight around the second turn, but the Poole reserve enjoyed a much tidier ride to win the reserves heat, thus when Nicolai Klindt made a silky smooth start to gain full control of the heat three and  his pursuant Rory Schlein made an unforced error which allowed skipper Josh Grajczonek to snatch third place, the scores were level at nine-a-piece.

Wolves banked the first 5-1 of the night as Sam Masters and Ryan Douglas held out Brady Kurtz who had flustered a bit at the tapes and then attacked the first turn far too wide to make a cut back effective. Covatti gave Schlein something to think about in the early stages of heat five, Poole managing to stop Wolverhampton from making any further headway as Holder blocked out Nick Morris. There was no chance of that happening in heat six for whilst Kurtz was doing his best to keep Jacob Thorssell honest out front, Covatti had nothing in the tank to hold off Luke Becker, the American then edging closer to the leaders. 

Klindt was locked in a battle with Sam Masters down the back straight in heat seven but it was the move of Josh Grajczonek who stormed through to take up the pace , but hopes of the Pirates pulling anything back were dashed when Klindt slipped back behind Kyle Howarth to allow the home side to retain their six point lead.

Grajczonek was out again in heat eight but was one of three riders that ended up on the deck as the battle for the fourth turn became far too intense and he was joined by Ryan Douglas and Ricky Wells. It was a tough call for the referee to apportion any real blame in a genuine racing incident but his verdict was to disqualify Wells. Grajczonek, feeling more than a little second hand  was unable to make any impression in the re-run.

Kurtz and Covatti pulled two points back in heat nine for Poole but this was effectively the extent of the Pirates challenge, for, from this point forward the Sam Ermolenko-managed Wolves began to ratch up the standard and Poole had little to offer, especially as it became apparent Grajczonek's night was over, troubled with a hip injury.
 
Becker and Thorssell had a comfortable 5-1 over ex-Wolves duo Klindt and Wells in heat 10 and then Masters had the ability to hold out the interests of Kurtz as heat 11 ended shared with Holder beating Howarth. Poole could offer no resistance in heat 12 allowing Schlein and Douglas to cruise to a 5-1, and whilst Holder delivered his only win of the night, Kurtz was kept away from him by a resilient Thorssell, the Poole pair managing only the side's third heat advantage of the night, Wolves seeing out the meeting with a 5-1 and 4-2 respectively
 

WOLVERHAMPTON  55
Jacob Thorssell,1,3,2',2,1=9+1 (5)
Luke Becker,3,1,2',3=9+1 (4)
Rory Schlein,0,3,0,3=6 (4)
Nick Morris ,2,0,2,2'=6+1 (4)
Sam Masters,3,2,3,0,3=11 (5)
Kyle Howarth ,2,1',0,3=6+1 (4)
Ryan Douglas ,1',2',3,2'=8+3 (4)

POOLE  35
Jack Holder,2,1',1',3,2=9+2 (5)
Rider Replacement ,#6,#6,#4,TS=0 ()
Nicolai Klindt,3,0,1,1=5 (4)
Josh Grajczonek ,1,3,1,#7,#6=5 (3)
Brady Kurtz ,1,2,3,2,1,0=9 (6)
Nico Covatti ,F,3,2,0,1,0,1=7 (7)
Ricky Wells ,0,R,FD,0,0=0 (5)

Ht 1: Luke Becker, Jack Holder, Jacob Thorssell, Nico Covatti   [fell] 4-2 4-2 [56.22]
Ht 2: Nico Covatti , Kyle Howarth , Ryan Douglas , Ricky Wells  3-3 7-5 [56]
Ht 3: Nicolai Klindt, Nick Morris , Josh Grajczonek , Rory Schlein 2-4 9-9 [55.91]
Ht 4: Sam Masters, Ryan Douglas , Brady Kurtz , Ricky Wells   [rtd] 5-1 14-10 [57.15]
Ht 5: Rory Schlein, Nico Covatti , Jack Holder, Nick Morris  3-3 17-13 [56.16]
Ht 6: Jacob Thorssell, Brady Kurtz , Luke Becker, Nico Covatti  4-2 21-15 [56.56]
Ht 7: Josh Grajczonek , Sam Masters, Kyle Howarth , Nicolai Klindt 3-3 24-18 [57.19]
Ht 8: Ryan Douglas , Luke Becker, Josh Grajczonek , Ricky Wells   [fell exc] 5-1 29-19 [57.13]
Ht 9: Brady Kurtz , Nick Morris , Nico Covatti , Rory Schlein 2-4 31-23 [57.03]
Ht 10: Luke Becker, Jacob Thorssell, Nicolai Klindt, Ricky Wells  5-1 36-24 [56.72]
Ht 11: Sam Masters, Brady Kurtz , Jack Holder, Kyle Howarth  3-3 39-27 [57.22]
Ht 12: Rory Schlein, Ryan Douglas , Nicolai Klindt, Nico Covatti  5-1 44-28 [57.69]
Ht 13: Jack Holder, Jacob Thorssell, Brady Kurtz , Sam Masters 2-4 46-32 [57.5]
Ht 14: Kyle Howarth , Nick Morris , Nico Covatti , Ricky Wells  5-1 51-33 [57.81]
Ht 15: Sam Masters, Jack Holder, Jacob Thorssell, Brady Kurtz  4-2 55-35 [57.66]

REFEREE Darren Hartley

GATES WOLVERHAMPTON  won toss and chose gates 1&3 | POOLE  choses gates 1&3 in heat 15

League Points: WOLVERHAMPTON  3 POOLE  0