RESULT: POOLE 58 KING'S LYNN 34

Some clubs have a Captain Fantastic but in Maciej Janowski the Poole Ready Power Pirates can boast a Captain Phenomenal. The Pole delivered his sixth unbeaten performance since joining the Pirates and his second of the season as he headlined a hugely convincing Pirate showing that took them to the top of the Elite League.

Janowski could easily have missed out on that paid maximum but he showed tremendous tenacity in both heats 13 and 15 to overcome Poole track specialist Chris Harris, who was on duty for the Stars as cover for Dane Niels-Kristian Iversen. By that time the meeting was already done and dusted as far as the destiny of the league points were concerned, mainly due to the Pirates terrific start to the meeting that saw them fire in a treble of 5-1 scores before the visitors were able to stop the rot by providing the next three race winners themselves.

The third of those victories came from Kenneth Bjerre in heat six, and Bjerre's sole winning ride of the night had the Poole fans cheering loudly, for it held out his team-mate Harris who was on a double points ride! Janowski won the seventh heat with Holder working hard but without success to try and pass ex-Pirate Josh Grajczonek who was guesting for King's Lynn.

Kyle Newman and Kacper Gomolski, the first Poole pairing to miss out on a 5-1 in heat 4 made amends in the 8th heat but they had to work hard to retain the front positions they had claimed as GB call-up Robert Lambert was rapidly reeling them in.

A confidence-boosting performance by Dave Watt was beginning to show. He had attained the fastest time of the season when he set up the opening 5-1 of the night and was dominant again as he took control of heat 9 early on to retain Poole's 12 point advantage.

There was drama in heat 10 when Robert Lambert collided heavily with the pit gate air barrier on the final lap having earlier made a determined pass on Dakota North. It was a heavy impact but thankfully the youngster was back on his feet and able to walk the short distance into the pits, his night's work over but having given an excellent account of himself.

Watt's improvement continued as he and Holder passed Grajczonek but apart from Lewis Kerr's heat 12 winning ride the Stars had little to offer, other than the pressure applied by Harris which Janowski, and Holder in 13, were well able to contend with as Poole racked up their highest score of the season and go into the world cup break looking a solid outfit.

The Rider of the Night, Janowski admitted afterwards "this was a good team performance, we all rode well and on night's such as this I think it shows that we could go on and win the title if we can keep this going."

Poole 58
C. Holder 2',1,3,3=9+1
D. Watt 3,1',3,2',1=10+2
D. North 3,1,1,3=8
K. Gomolski 2,0,2',0=4+1
M. Janowski 2',3,3,2',3=13+2
P. Starke 3,2,0,1'=6+1
K. Newman 2',1',3,2=8+2
King's Lynn 34
C. Harris 0,4',2,1,2=9+1
R. Lambert 1,3,1,F=5
J. Grajczonek 1,2,1,2,0=6
K. Doolan 0,0,1',1'=2+2
K. Bjerre 0,3,0,0=3
A. Morris 1,0,F=1
L. Kerr 0,3,0,2,3=8

Ht 1 D. Watt C. Holder R. Lambert C. Harris 5-1 (5-1) (59.5)
Ht 2 P. Starke K. Newman A. Morris L. Kerr 5-1 (10-2) (60.31)
Ht 3 D. North M. Janowski J. Grajczonek K. Bjerre 5-1 (15-3) (60.1)
Ht 4 L. Kerr K. Gomolski K. Newman K. Doolan 3-3 (18-6) (60.4)
Ht 5 R. Lambert P. Starke D. Watt A. Morris 3-3 (21-9) (59.59)
Ht 6 K. Bjerre C. Harris (TR) D. North K. Gomolski 1-7 (22-16) (60.41)
Ht 7 M. Janowski J. Grajczonek C. Holder K. Doolan 4-2 (26-18) (60.04)
Ht 8 K. Newman K. Gomolski R. Lambert L. Kerr 5-1 (31-19) (60.29)
Ht 9 D. Watt L. Kerr K. Doolan P. Starke 3-3 (34-22) (60.82)
Ht 10 M. Janowski C. Harris D. North R. Lambert (Fell) 4-2 (38-24) (59.94)
Ht 11 C. Holder D. Watt J. Grajczonek K. Bjerre 5-1 (43-25) (60.31)
Ht 12 L. Kerr K. Newman P. Starke A. Morris (Fell) 3-3 (46-28) (61.28)
Ht 13 C. Holder M. Janowski C. Harris K. Bjerre 5-1 (51-29) (61.5)
Ht 14 D. North J. Grajczonek K. Doolan K. Gomolski 3-3 (54-32) (61.1)
Ht 15 M. Janowski C. Harris D. Watt J. Grajczonek 4-2 (58-34) (59.94)

For more pictures from the meeting visit our gallery here