PIRATES 43 LEICESTER 23

Matt Ford watched his title-chasing Volvo Cars Poole Pirates complete a ‘double-double’ over Leicester before insisting: “Our season really starts now.”

The Platinum Pirates racked up a fourth straight victory and sixth win in seven outings following last night’s rain-affected 43-23 triumph over the Lions at Wimborne Road.

The win, which included a nine-point maximum from Nicolai Klindt, took them to second in the SGB Premiership standings – one point behind leaders Swindon and level with Somerset ahead of the sides’ mouth-watering clash on Monday.

Ford said: “It was a comfortable win against Leicester, but I was disappointed the rain came and we had to call it a day after 11 heats.

“Monday’s meeting against Somerset at home is now a huge, huge clash. After that, our next five meetings are all against Swindon, Somerset and King’s Lynn – the other three sides in the play-off positions.

“You could say our season really starts now and I urge the supporters to turn out in force. We’re going to need a little bit of luck and a lot of support if we are going to get our hands on the title in our platinum season, but we’ve certainly put ourselves in a great position.”

The Pirates already had the win in the can by the time the heavens opened just before the start of heat 11 last night.

Although Lions spearhead Hans Andersen dropped just one point from his three rides in an eight-point haul, guest David Bellego was the only other visiting rider to win a race as the Pirates stood firm on their own shale.

Chris Harris soared from last to second to rack up a 5-1 alongside Kacper Woryna in heat, before captain Josh Grajczonek got the better of Brit Scott Nicholls for a heat maximum with Brady Kurtz in race six.

Despite Bellego and Stuart Robson’s 4-2 in the next race, however, the Pirates bagged successive 5-1s in heats nine and 10 to put the meeting out of reach as the storm clouds gathered.

POOLE 43
B.Kurtz 2,3,3=8
J.Grajczonek 1',2',3,2'=8+3
R.Worrall 1,1,2'=4+1
N.Klindt 3,3,3=9
C.Harris 2',2,1'=5+2
F.Jakobsen 1,0,2=3
K.Woryna 3,3,0=6

LEICESTER 23
H.Andersen 3,2,3=8
R.Wells 0,0,1',0=1+1
D.Bellego 0,3,1=4
S.Robson 2,1,0=3
S.Nicholls 0,1,1=2
C.Mountain 2,0,0=2
J.Allen 0,1,2=3

Ht 1:  H.Andersen,  B.Kurtz,  J.Grajczonek,  R.Wells |3-3 | 3-3
Ht 2:  K.Woryna,  C.Mountain,  F.Jakobsen,  J.Allen |4-2 | 7-5
Ht 3:  N.Klindt,  S.Robson,  R.Worrall,  D.Bellego |4-2 | 11-7
Ht 4:  K.Woryna,  C.Harris,  J.Allen,  S.Nicholls |5-1 | 16-8
Ht 5:  N.Klindt,  H.Andersen,  R.Worrall,  R.Wells |4-2 | 20-10
Ht 6:  B.Kurtz,  J.Grajczonek,  S.Nicholls,  C.Mountain |5-1 | 25-11
Ht 7:  D.Bellego,  C.Harris,  S.Robson,  F.Jakobsen |2-4 | 27-15
Ht 8:  J.Grajczonek,  J.Allen,  R.Wells,  K.Woryna |3-3 | 30-18
Ht 9:  N.Klindt,  R.Worrall,  S.Nicholls,  C.Mountain |5-1 | 35-19 []
Ht 10:  B.Kurtz,  J.Grajczonek,  D.Bellego,  S.Robson |5-1 | 40-20 []
Ht 11:  H.Andersen,  F.Jakobsen,  C.Harris,  R.Wells |3-3 | 43-23 []
Meeting abandoned (Rain) Result Stands
Referee Dave Robinson
League Points POOLE 3 LEICESTER 0