COVENTRY 41 PIRATES 48

The Dorset side got off to a storming start in this early season top of the table clash at Coventry with three maximum heat scores inside the first four heats to give themselves something to defend against a Bees' mid-meeting onslaught, as the injury jinx struck again for the Ready Power Pirates.

Whilst Chris Holder blew away his Coventry demons with a scintillating ride in the opening heat, being partnered by guest Rory Schlein to the first of those early 5-1's, his skipper, Maciej Janowski found himself having to withdraw from the meeting after sustaining a knee injury, caused when Chris Harris sent him into the third turn air-fence on the last lap of heat 3.

The Coventry captain received his 'marching orders' from referee Jim Lawrence who declared the result, clearly won by the impressive Dakota North,  as a 5-1 due to the positions held at the time of the incident. Janowski attempted a further ride but was forced to pull up early in heat 6 as the Bees began to work their way back into the meeting, courtesy of Danny King and Joonas Kylmakorpi becoming the first home riders to actually make a half decent start.

North hit the deck in heat 7 but was able to remount although failed to complete the distance as Chris Harris collected his first win of the night.

There was a further scare for Poole as their other Pole, Kacper Gomolski took an awkward fall in heat 9 when chasing third placed Cameron Heeps, Gomolski walking away from the track holding his arm and evidently in some discomfort. The Pirates avoided any loss of their 6 point lead as Kyle Newman stood up bravely to a strong challenge from Jason Garritty early on.

Harris split the Aussie pairing of Schlein (winner) and Holder in heat 10 but North and Schlein had the easy beating of Cameron Heeps and the retiring Hans Andersen to re-establish an 8 point lead after 11 heats.

Both Newman and Bees' reserve James Sarjeant were fortunate to walk away after a reckless challenge by Garritty had sent Newman hurtling into the air barrier, Sarjeant not having time to safely react at the scene and went down hard too. In the re-run though Sarjeant defied the odds to lead home the Poole reserve duo of Newman and stand-in Stefan Nielsen as the scores moved on to 30-42.
 
Holder then slid off in heat 13 coming away unscathed and admitting "it was good to get this meeting under my belt being the first time back here since my big crash. It's nice to be able to walk out of here to be honest and even better that we do it with all the points. I only hope that Magic and Kacper aren't too seriously hurt, Magic has a problem with his knee but hopefully it won't be too bad."

The Bees' number one Andersen also failed to finish leaving Harris and North to battle it out all the way to the line, Harris just taking the verdict on the line to trim the deficit to 11, although heats had run out for the Bees to claim any league points.

They did however have a chance to prevent Poole from collecting the full quota of four points and when King and Kylmakorpi headed home North in heat 14 their hopes remained intact, but North had other ideas in heat 15, storming away from the tapes, after Harris had been sent back 15 metres for failing to meet the time allowance, to maintain the Pirates' maximum league points haul of the season after three meetings.

COVENTRY 41
H. Andersen 1,1,0,R=2
C. Heeps 0,2,1',1=4+1
D. King 1,3,0,3=7
J. Kylmakorpi 1,2',3,2',1'=9+3
C. Harris Dq,3,2,3,2=10
J. Garritty 2,1',2,Dq=5+1
J. Sarjeant 1',0,FD,3=4+1
POOLE 48
C. Holder 3,1,1,F=5
R. Schlein 2',3,1',3,2',0=11+3
D. North 3,F,3,2,1,3=12
K. Gomolski 3,2,F,R=5
M. Janowski 2',R=2+1
S. Nielsen 0,0,1'=1+1
K. Newman 3,2',2,3,2=12+1

Ht 1 C. Holder R. Schlein H. Andersen C. Heeps 1-5 (1-5) (60.2)
Ht 2 K. Newman J. Garritty J. Sarjeant S. Nielsen 3-3 (4-8) (60.7)
Ht 3 D. North M. Janowski D. King C. Harris(D/Q) 1-5 (5-13) (60.3)
Ht 4 K. Gomolski K. Newman J. Kylmakorpi J. Sarjeant 1-5 (6-18) (61.3)
Ht 5 R. Schlein C. Heeps J. Garritty S. Nielsen 3-3 (9-21) (59.8)
Ht 6 D. King J. Kylmakorpi C. Holder M. Janowski (Rtd) 5-1 (14-22) (59.8)
Ht 7 C. Harris K. Gomolski H. Andersen D. North (Fell) 4-2 (18-24) (59.4)
Ht 8 J. Kylmakorpi K. Newman R. Schlein J. Sarjeant (Fell d/q) 3-3 (21-27) (60.1)
Ht 9 K. Newman J. Garritty C. Heeps K. Gomolski (Fell) 3-3 (24-30) (60.9)
Ht 10 R. Schlein C. Harris C. Holder D. King 2-4 (26-34) (60.2)
Ht 11 D. North R. Schlein C. Heeps H. Andersen 1-5 (27-39) (60.5)
Ht 12 J. Sarjeant K. Newman S. Nielsen J. Garritty(D/Q) 3-3 (30-42) (61.4)
Ht 13 C. Harris D. North H. Andersen (Rtd) C. Holder (Fell) 3-2 (33-44) ()
Ht 14 D. King J. Kylmakorpi D. North K. Gomolski (Rtd) 5-1 (38-45) ()
Ht 15 D. North C. Harris J. Kylmakorpi R. Schlein 3-3 (41-48) ()

Referee Jim Lawrence
Gates:Poole won the toss and took 1&3 in heat 1. Coventry 2&4 in heat 15
COVENTRY 0 league points - POOLE 4 league points 

Pictures: JEFF DAVIES