PIRATES ARE CHAMPIONS AGAIN!

In their Platinum season the 'Volvo Cars' Poole Pirates picked up the most precious piece of silverware with a heat to spare at King's Lynn on Wednesday night.

The sixteen point lead from the first leg was stubbornly defended by the Pirates but they couldnt prevent King's Lynn winning the second leg by 51-39, the aggregate 92-88 however bringing home the Pirates 10th league championship, their 8th under the tenureship of Matt Ford.

There was an air of anxiety briefly around the Adrian Flux Arena when the home side opened with a 5-1, fears that we could be witnessing something akin to Monday's first leg, but through Worrall and Jakobsen the Pirates nerves were settled when they picked up a 4-2, only a marginal error by Jakobsen preventing that from being a levelling 5-1. King's Lynn hit right back with another 5-1 but again Poole's response was a 4-2 immediately followed by a Grajczonek and Harris maximum to restore the aggregate advantage of sixteen by levelling the scores on the night.

Riss and Lambert put in their second maximum of the evening as Worrall ran too wide in heat 6 and fell but Klindt and Woryna were too strong for the Stars' guest pairing of Ellis (for Iversen) and Howarth (Palm-Toft). The first shared heat of the night came in the eighth, Riss remaining unbeaten but Grajczonek and Jakobsen content to let him go as they concentrated on the easier task of keeping Simon Lambert at bay.

So with just seven heats remaining Poole required 14 points to claim the title, simply two points per heat and that was all they could muster from heat 9 as Proctor put in a fine ride to win from Worrall as Morris drifted across the track from the first turn losing precious ground to Jorgensen. Heat 10 had the big talking point of the meeting with Woryna falling of his own accord causing a stoppage and referee Graham Flint ruled it as a deliberate attempt to not clear the circuit, so penalised Klindt by fifteen metres in the three man re-start.

With a comparitively comfortable 5-1 King's Lynn went into a six point lead on the night and when, two heats later Proctor and Simon Lambert hit Worrall and Woryna for a 5-1 and the overall deficit was in single fingers, Poole still needing 7 points from three rides to get over the line.

More than half of those came in heat 13, courtesy of a solid win from Morris, ending Robert Lambert's unbeaten night, and a supporting third by Chris Harris. Poole needed just a second place from heat 14 and Jakobsen provided that with partner Klindt in third that put the tie beyond the Stars and had the Pirates partying with the luxury of an irrevelant heat 15 to come.

Thankfully for Poole they had achieved the job without the need for a last heat decider for there was drama as Harris failed to get off the start line due to a shed chain and the Stars finished with a consolation 5-1 and Riss celebrating a paid maximum.

But the night belonged to Middlo's Merry Men, bottom of the table in July and league champions in October. Never write the Pirates off!

KING'S LYNN 51 (88)
R.Lambert 3,2',3,2,2'=12+2
E.Riss 2',3,3,2',3=13+2
T.Proctor 3,1,3,3=10
T.Jorgensen 2',0,1,3=6+1
A.Ellis 0,0,3,0=3
K.Howarth 2,1,0=3
S.Lambert 0,2,0,2',0=4+1

POOLE 39 (92)
C.Harris 1,2',1',1,R=5+2
J.Grajczonek 0,3,2,2,1=8
K.Woryna 0,2',FD,0=2+1
N.Klindt 1,3,1,1'=6+1
N.Morris 3,1,0,3=7
R.Worrall 3,F,2,1=6
F.Jakobsen 1,1,1',2=5+1

Ht 1:  R.Lambert,  E.Riss,  C.Harris,  J.Grajczonek 5-1  5-1 |58.88]
Ht 2:  R.Worrall,  K.Howarth,  F.Jakobsen,  S.Lambert 2-4  7-5 [59.57]
Ht 3:  T.Proctor,  T.Jorgensen,  N.Klindt,  K.Woryna 5-1  12-6 [59.37]
Ht 4:  N.Morris,  S.Lambert,  F.Jakobsen,  A.Ellis 2-4  14-10 [58.99]
Ht 5:  J.Grajczonek,  C.Harris,  T.Proctor,  T.Jorgensen 1-5  15-15 [58.93]
Ht 6:  E.Riss,  R.Lambert,  N.Morris,  R.Worrall  (Fell) 5-1  20-16 [58.31]
Ht 7:  N.Klindt,  K.Woryna,  K.Howarth,  A.Ellis 1-5  21-21 [60.92]
Ht 8:  E.Riss,  J.Grajczonek,  F.Jakobsen,  S.Lambert 3-3 24-24 [59.36]
Ht 9:  T.Proctor,  R.Worrall,  T.Jorgensen,  N.Morris 4-2  28-26 [59.71]
Ht 10:  R.Lambert,  E.Riss,  N.Klindt (hcap),  K.Woryna  (Fell d/q) 5-1  33-27 [58.37]
Ht 11:  A.Ellis,  J.Grajczonek,  C.Harris,  K.Howarth 3-3  36-30 [59.84]
Ht 12:  T.Proctor,  S.Lambert,  R.Worrall,  K.Woryna 5-1  41-31 [59.45]
Ht 13:  N.Morris,  R.Lambert,  C.Harris,  A.Ellis 2-4  43-35 [59.13]
Ht 14:  T.Jorgensen,  F.Jakobsen,  N.Klindt,  S.Lambert 3-3  46-38 [59.33]
Ht 15:  E.Riss,  R.Lambert,  J.Grajczonek,  C.Harris  (Rtd) 5-1  51-39 [58.82]58.82
Gates: KING'S LYNN won toss and chose gates 1&3 | POOLE took gates 1&3 in heat 15
Referee Graham Flint
Aggregate Score: KING'S LYNN 88 POOLE 92
Rider of the Night: TEAM PERFORMANCE

Picture: STEVE HONE