RESULT:POOLE 41 COVENTRY 50

Coventry boss Gsry Havelock warned that his Bees' side were seeking revenge for last Friday's Pirates' raid at Coventry and the former Poole captain was true to his word as for the second successive season the Midland's side broke into fortress Wimborne Road and left with league bounty.

Just as Poole started strongly 5 days ago the Bees banked three maximum heat scores in the first four heats, the Pirates managing to fortuitously exchange one back when Joonas Kylmakorpi came to grief whilst hunting race leader Kyle Newman down in heat 4.

The one positive in an otherwise uncharacteristic Pirates performance was the tenacity of Kacper Gomolski and his efforts were rewarded in heat 6 when he passed Chris Harris only to have to fend off persistence from the Cornishman for the full four laps. They were shoulder to shoulder as they crossed the line, some yards behind race winner Andersen, and so tight were they that on the slow down Gomolski slid off.

His efforts had restricted Coventry to a mere 4-2 advantage but that opened the door for Poole to chance their arm with a tactical ride. Wearing the black and white, stand-in skipper Chris Holder made a good start and was joined by Pirates' guest Richard Lawson, in for regular captain Maciej Janowski.

But crucially Danny King found a way to split the home riders and painful for the Pirates it was Holder who dropped the position thus restricting Poole to just a 5-3 return, leaving themselves still facing a 7 point deficit.

Poole yielded the next five heat winners including a tremendous ride from lone-Pirates Dakota North to pass Hans Andersen in heat 10, after Lawson had taken a heavy purler at the first attempt.

Holder, registering the fastest time of the season, and Grajczonek closed the gap to just three points with a 4-2 in heat 11 before a horror three-rider spill forced heat 12 to be stopped a second time.

Newman had too eagerly anticipated the start causing a re-run where he missed the gate entirely, but Jason Garrity moved Paul Starke and James Sarjeant over as the three riders sped off the pit turn, leaving the inside lane clear for Newman to dart through. But as Newman hit the front the other three all collided but thankfully each walked away unscathed.

In the second re-run Newman led all the way for what was looking like a formality 4-2 when Starke fell on the final lap and bravely had to push a reluctant bike all the way to the flag, to a standing ovation. The point looked critical as it brought Poole to just one point behind with three heats to go, but those efforts were in vain as Harris and Andersen banged home a 5-1 for the Bees over Holder and Lawson to  leave Poole requiring two heat advantages, one of which needed to be a 5-1, to save the match.

Backmarker North fell in heat 14 to quosh those hopes and Coventry secured the league win with a King/Kylmakorpi maximum over Gomolski.

All was not over though with Pirates requiring a 5-1 to prevent Coventry leaving with all four points and whilst North made a huge effort early on to try and join race leader Holder at the front Hans Andersen and Chris Harris proved to be just too powerful and Havelock's wish for redemption was delivered

POOLE 41
C. Holder 0,(2),3,1,3=9
J. Grajczonek 1,1,3,1=6
D. North F,0,3,FD,0=3
K. Gomolski 2',2,3,1=8+1
R. Lawson 1,3,FD,0=4
P. Starke 2,0,1=3
K. Newman 1',3,0,1,3=8+1

COVENTRY 50
H. Andersen 2',3,2,2',2=11+2
K. Doolan 3,3,1',1'=8+2
D. King 2',2,0,3=7+1
J. Kylmakorpi F,R,2,2'=4+1
C. Harris 3,1,2,3,1'=10+1
J. Garrity FD,2',2,FD=4+1
J. Sarjeant 3,1,0,2=6

Ht 1 K. Doolan H. Andersen J. Grajczonek C. Holder 1-5 (1-5) (59.85)
Ht 2 J. Sarjeant P. Starke K. Newman J. Garrity (Fell d/q) 3-3 (4-8) (60.47)
Ht 3 C. Harris D. King R. Lawson D. North (Fell) 1-5 (5-13) (60.21)
Ht 4 K. Newman K. Gomolski J. Sarjeant J. Kylmakorpi (Fell) 5-1 (10-14) (60.77)
Ht 5 K. Doolan J. Garrity J. Grajczonek P. Starke 1-5 (11-19) (60.31)
Ht 6 H. Andersen K. Gomolski C. Harris D. North 2-4 (13-23) (60.28)
Ht 7 R. Lawson D. King C. Holder (TR) J. Kylmakorpi (Rtd) 5-2 (18-25) (60.47)
Ht 8 K. Gomolski J. Garrity K. Doolan K. Newman 3-3 (21-28) (61.22)
Ht 9 J. Grajczonek J. Kylmakorpi K. Newman J. Sarjeant 4-2 (25-30) (60.59)
Ht 10 D. North H. Andersen K. Doolan R. Lawson (Fell d/q) 3-3 (28-33) (59.97)
Ht 11 C. Holder C. Harris J. Grajczonek D. King 4-2 (32-35) (59.65)
Ht 12 K. Newman J. Sarjeant P. Starke J. Garrity (Fell d/q) 4-2 (36-37) (62.56)
Ht 13 C. Harris H. Andersen C. Holder R. Lawson 1-5 (37-42) (60.41)
Ht 14 D. King J. Kylmakorpi K. Gomolski D. North (Fell d/q) 1-5 (38-47) (61.53)
Ht 15 C. Holder H. Andersen C. Harris D. North 3-3 (41-50) (61.25)

Referee Paul Carrington
Gates:Coventry won the toss and took 1&3 in heat 1. Poole on 1&3 in heat 15