LEICESTER 45 PIRATES 45

Less than half a wheel's width came between a Poole Pirate away win and a draw as the master of the Leicester raceway, former Pirate Jason Doyle snatched victory on the line in heat 15 of an incident fuelled meeting.

Doyle's late snatch denied Maciej Janowski victory in the re-run final heat after Poole skipper Darcy Ward had fallen whilst in a match winning position first time of asking.

Poole had earlier been reduced to six men after Przemyslaw Pawlicki had fallen in a spectacular heat 5 crash when he failed to negotiate the pit-turn and sustained a collarbone injury, and their stand-in reserve Matt Williamson despite making three excellent starts suffered a disqualifcation for falling in each of his three rides.

But the visitors, with solid performances from Janowski, guest Craig Cook and reserve Kyle Newman were able to take a slender two point advantage going into the final race meaning they needed to avoid a heat defeat to claim victory on the night.

Whilst Jason Doyle was making all the running, Ward and Janowski were settled in the minor places and a 7th straight win seemed on the cards, but Ward, who for the first time since August 2013 had failed to claim a race win in a Pirate meeting,  was over exuberant on the second lap and lost control on the fourth bend, crashing out for the second successive occasion for the Pirates in a heat 15.

The referee, who had awarded two earlier heats, declared a re-run, without Ward, which left Janowski needing to at least split the home pair of Doyle and Korneliussen if Poole were going to gain the "Lions" share of the points. For a near full four laps Janowski was going one better and was dictating the race but a brilliant charge by Doyle saw him snatch the race win by the slenderest of margins and in the process earn a draw on the night.

Whilst Poole will have to settle for the two league points earned for an away draw they will also be counting the cost of that Pawlicki injury, which if finally confirmed as a broken collarbone could certainly hamper the Pirates' championship chasing aspirations not to mention their chances in next weekend's European Team final.

LEICESTER 45
J. Doyle 3,2,3,3,2,3=16
S. Stead 1,2',1,1,3=8+1
M. Korneliussen 0,3,2,2,0,1=8
P. Aspgren 2,0,0,1',2=5+1
R. Replacement =0
M. Clegg 1,1',1'=3+2
J. Bates 3,F,2,R,FD=5
POOLE 45
D. Ward 2,2,0,1,FD=5
J. Grajczonek 0,3,1,0,1'=5+1
P. Pawlicki 1,FD=1
C. Cook 1,2',3,3,3=12+1
M. Janowski 3,1',2,3,2=11+1
K. Newman 2,3,3,2,1=11
M. Williamson FD,FD,FD=0

Ht 1 J. Doyle D. Ward S. Stead J. Grajczonek 4-2 (4-2) (61.59)
Ht 2 J. Bates K. Newman M. Clegg M. Williamson (Fell d/q) 4-2 (8-4) (63.66)
Ht 3 M. Janowski J. Doyle P. Pawlicki M. Korneliussen 2-4 (10-8) (62.03)
Ht 4 J. Grajczonek P. Aspgren M. Clegg M. Williamson (Fell d/q) 3-3 (13-11) (62.84)
Ht 5 J. Doyle S. Stead C. Cook P. Pawlicki (Fell d/q) 5-1 (18-12) (awd)
Ht 6 M. Korneliussen D. Ward M. Janowski P. Aspgren 3-3 (21-15) (62.06)
Ht 7 K. Newman C. Cook S. Stead J. Bates (Fell) 1-5 (22-20) (63.15)
Ht 8 C. Cook M. Korneliussen J. Grajczonek P. Aspgren 2-4 (24-24) (61.16)
Ht 9 K. Newman J. Bates M. Clegg M. Williamson (Fell d/q) 3-3 (27-27) (64.03)
Ht 10 J. Doyle M. Janowski S. Stead J. Grajczonek 4-2 (31-29) (62.47)
Ht 11 C. Cook M. Korneliussen P. Aspgren D. Ward 3-3 (34-32) (61.94)
Ht 12 S. Stead K. Newman J. Grajczonek J. Bates (rtd) 3-3 (37-35) (62.38)
Ht 13 M. Janowski J. Doyle D. Ward M. Korneliussen 2-4 (39-39) (62)
Ht 14 C. Cook P. Aspgren K. Newman J. Bates (Fell d/q) 2-4 (41-43) (awd)
Ht 15 J. Doyle M. Janowski M. Korneliussen D. Ward (Fell d/q) 4-2 (45-45) (62.51)

Referee Dave Dowling
Gates: Poole win toss & take gates 1&3. Leicester take  2&4 in heat 15

Picture: STEVE DIXON