BELLE VUE 53 PIRATES 39

RESULT and scorers from Monday’s Elite League match at Kirkmanshulme Lane;

There was no danger of Poole letting a ten point slip in the manner that they did on their last Mancunian visit, for the Aces had certainly been sharpening their tapes reactions and all too frequently outclassed the Pirates in the race to the first turn, steadily building their own double figure advantage this time around.

Whilst skipper Maciej Janowski proved to be the only visiting race winner in the first sector of the meeting it was largely the efforts of Dakota North that kept some strain of belief of a possible result - if his enthusiasm and attacking performance could rub off on to the rest of the side then just maybe Poole could test the resolve of the Aces, who had the added pressures of trying to rebuild their own play-off aspirations.

An early use of the tactical, Janowski being thrown the gauntlet at the first opportunity to deploy, failed to gain the greatest benefit as Craig Cook made good early speed and the Poole skipper, recognising it was a forlorn hope to reel in the Cumbrian, chose to try and create openings for backmarker Holder to exploit.

Kevin Wolbert - the former Pirate deputising for another, Josh Grajczonek who had been ruled out on compassionate grounds having been involved in the sickening incident the day before at the Premier League Fours  - however had different ideas and the German maintained the separation of the Pirates' top two to minimise the effect of Janowski's double points.

The Aces' top two, Zagar and Nicholls, maximised the available points in heat 7 to establish a 14 point lead on the night signalling a long way back for the Pirates.

Another tenacious ride by North to win heat 8, just holding on after contact with Nielsen in the dash to the line added a flicker of hope and the efforts of Gomolski and Newman to leave Steve Worrall pointless for the first time of the night ensured Poole still had a chance to fight back.

With Holder looking far more like the undoubted talent he is speeding off into the distance and North foiling Nicholls a heat advantage turned the wick of belief up a notch. Dave Watt looked a lot sharper and Janowski held out Fricke in heat 11 as Zagar again went unbeaten and then Newman delivered a reserves' race win but Paul Starke's night of misery ended on the deck at the commencement of the final lap.

So heat 13 grew in significance and Zagar was again untroubled out front whilst Nicholls was being made to work to stay ahead of Holder, but as the race aged Nicholls found extra pace and stormed by Janowski. It was a result that extinguished the flame of hope as far as the Pirates were concerned and the final two heats were shared equally.

BELLE VUE 53
M. Zagar 3,2',3,3=11+1
M. Fricke 1,3,3,0=7
C. Cook 1',3,0,1',0=5+2
K. Wolbert 2',1,1',2=6+2
S. Nicholls 2,3,1,2',3=11+1
S. Worrall 3,1,0,2=6
S. Nielsen 1,3,2,1'=7+1
Poole 39
C. Holder 0,0,3,0=3
D. North 2,2,3,2',1'=10+2
D. Watt 0,0,2,3=5
K. Gomolski 0,1,2,0=3
M. Janowski 3,4,1',1,2=11+1
P. Starke 0,0,0,FD=0
K. Newman 2,1,1',3=7+1

Ht 1 M. Zagar D. North M. Fricke C. Holder (rtd) 4-2 (4-2) ()
Ht 2 S. Worrall K. Newman S. Nielsen P. Starke 4-2 (8-4) ()
Ht 3 M. Janowski S. Nicholls C. Cook D. Watt 3-3 (11-7) ()
Ht 4 S. Nielsen K. Wolbert K. Newman K. Gomolski 5-1 (16-8) ()
Ht 5 M. Fricke D. North S. Worrall P. Starke 4-2 (20-10) ()
Ht 6 C. Cook M. Janowski (TR) K. Wolbert C. Holder 4-4 (24-14) ()
Ht 7 S. Nicholls M. Zagar K. Gomolski D. Watt 5-1 (29-15) ()
Ht 8 D. North S. Nielsen K. Wolbert P. Starke 3-3 (32-18) ()
Ht 9 M. Fricke K. Gomolski K. Newman S. Worrall 3-3 (35-21) ()
Ht 10 C. Holder D. North S. Nicholls C. Cook 1-5 (36-26) ()
Ht 11 M. Zagar D. Watt M. Janowski M. Fricke 3-3 (39-29) ()
Ht 12 K. Newman S. Worrall S. Nielsen P. Starke (Fell d/q) 3-3 (42-32) ()
Ht 13 M. Zagar S. Nicholls M. Janowski C. Holder 5-1 (47-33) ()
Ht 14 D. Watt K. Wolbert C. Cook K. Gomolski 3-3 (50-36) ()
Ht 15 S. Nicholls M. Janowski D. North C. Cook 3-3 (53-39) ()

Referee Margaret Vardy
Gates: Poole won the toss and chose 1&3. Belle Vue took 1&3 in heat 15
BELLE VUE 3 league points Poole 0 league points