RESULT: POOLE V LAKESIDE

A steady Noah's Ark style start saw defending league champions Poole build an early lead, two-by-two, over current league leaders Lakeside in a hastily run meeting to try and allow travelling fans to beat the road closures planned for 10pm at Ringwood.

And by the time the chequered flag fell for the final lap of the night those powerful Pirates had crushed the Essex side by 24 points - a string of post interval maximum heat scores putting the meeting well beyond the Hammers' grasp.

Poole were delivered a stroke of fortune in the opening heat when visiting skipper Andreas Jonsson, keen to get on with the racing, ploughed through the tapes and was sent back 15 metres for the re-start. It was a handicap that he quickly made short work of as he split Chris Holder from leader Brady Kurtz and almost claimed the victory at the flag.

But things were to get better for the Swede in his next ride as he did just that - steal victory on the line - reeling in Hans Andersen who had shown some superb skills to switch lines and blast from last to first in the early stages of heat 6.

That steal by Jonsson was the Hammers second race win, Piotr Swiderski improving on his first heat last place to break the sequence of Poole 4-2 advantages in heat 5 but had to be on his guard against the ever-threatening Brady Kurtz.

Poole still looked in control, but all the time their lead was growing, the threat of a Lakeside tactical ride loomed, and in many ways a heat 9 2-4 loss served the Pirates well as it prevented the visitors from being able to use the double point option.

Buczkowski produced the move of the night as he blitzed through from last to first in heat 10 after Poole skipper Dave Watt had made his best start of the evening only to run into trouble around the pit-turn. Watt's drift looked as though it might prove costly for the Pirates but Buczkowski's timely move ensured Poole retained their 8 point advantage at the mini-break.

The Pirates came out blazing, extinguishing any flicker of hope the visitors may have had of claiming any reward from their visit, and with a hat-trick of 5-1 scores followed by a brace of 4-2 advantages the Pirates outpointed their opponents 23-7 in the final third of the meeting.

A late arrival to the track due to M3 traffic delays, Poole's Hans Andersen admitted "I didn’t let the delay get to me. There was nothing I could do about it so I just tried to relax and not allow myself to be affected. I got the set-up a bit wrong in my first ride but was pretty pleased with the rest of my showing."

""I think I should have had three wins tonight - the referee gifted one to AJ ." he quipped in reference to the very tight verdict to heat 6 where it was adjudged that Jonsson had just pipped him on the line.

The two sides meet again on Friday in the return at Lakeside with the same fourteen riders named.

Poole 57
C. Holder 1,1',3,3=8+1
B. Kurtz 3,2,2,2',1=10+1
D. Watt 1,0,R,1=2
H. Andersen 1,2,3,3=9
K. Buczkowski 3,2,3,2',3=13+1
A. Ellis 3,1',0,2'=6+2
K. Newman 1,3,2',3=9+1
LAKESIDE 33
A. Jonsson 2,3,2,1,2=10
P. Swiderski 0,3,1,1'=5+1
K. Nilsson 2,3,1,R,0=6
R. Lawson 2,0,1,2=5
L. Bridger 0,1,0,0=1
R. Mear 0,0,0,1=1
L. Kerr 2,0,3,0=5

Ht 1 B. Kurtz A. Jonsson(tapes 15m hcap) C. Holder P. Swiderski 4-2 (4-2) (62.6)
Ht 2 A. Ellis L. Kerr K. Newman R. Mear 4-2 (8-4) (62.5)
Ht 3 K. Buczkowski K. Nilsson D. Watt L. Bridger 4-2 (12-6) (63.09)
Ht 4 K. Newman R. Lawson H. Andersen L. Kerr 4-2 (16-8) (63.16)
Ht 5 P. Swiderski B. Kurtz A. Ellis R. Mear 3-3 (19-11) (62.54)
Ht 6 A. Jonsson H. Andersen L. Bridger D. Watt 2-4 (21-15) (61.72)
Ht 7 K. Nilsson K. Buczkowski C. Holder R. Lawson 3-3 (24-18) (62.12)
Ht 8 H. Andersen K. Newman P. Swiderski R. Mear 5-1 (29-19) (62.41)
Ht 9 L. Kerr B. Kurtz R. Lawson A. Ellis 2-4 (31-23) (62.53)
Ht 10 K. Buczkowski A. Jonsson P. Swiderski D. Watt (Rtd) 3-3 (34-26) (62.36)
Ht 11 C. Holder B. Kurtz K. Nilsson L. Bridger 5-1 (39-27) (61..75)
Ht 12 K. Newman A. Ellis R. Mear L. Kerr 5-1 (44-28) (63.65)
Ht 13 C. Holder K. Buczkowski A. Jonsson L. Bridger 5-1 (49-29) (62.1)
Ht 14 H. Andersen R. Lawson D. Watt K. Nilsson (Rtd) 4-2 (53-31) (62.31)
Ht 15 K. Buczkowski A. Jonsson B. Kurtz K. Nilsson 4-2 (57-33) (61.69)

Referee Paul Carrington
Gates:  Lakeside on gates 1&3. Poole on 1&3 in heat 15