POOLE 56 SWINDON 34

POOLE's injury list grew by one again as they lost the services of Przemyslaw Pawlicki during his second ride, but the Pirates rallied as a unit to earn a comprehensive 56-34 victory over the Swindon Robins to earn them three more league points and give themselves a 22 point advantage going into tonight's meeting in Wiltshire which will decide the Elite Shield Winners.

The Pirates never trailed in this meeting, picking up successive 4-2 advantages in the first three heats and that could have been four had Lee Smart gained reward for his efforts. At one stage he had worked his way into second place but was relegated to backmarker, although he never resigned himself to a last place until the chequered flag dropped.

Poole maintained a 6 point lead going into heat 6 which came to an abrupt halt when Vaclav Milik lifted at the first turn and ploughed into his partner Przemyslaw Pawlicki. Whilst the Czech was able to get back to his feet, in the knowledge he had been disqualified from the re-run, hist team-mate needed more extensive examination and was taken from the track after walking into the ambulance. Being withdrawn from the meeting he was then taken to Poole Hospital for CT scans to determine what damage, if any had been sustained.

Under the new rules for 2014 Poole were able to invoke the IRR facility (immediate rider replacement) and an out-of-sorts Maciej Janowski was nominated as the sole Pirate contender in the re-run. The stand-in skipper produced an excellent turn of events to storm to a win and thus protect Poole's lead.

Likewise, two heats later when Grajczonek was the injured Pole's cover, and Milik had run out of track again on the first turn, the lone Pirate came to Poole's rescue as Grajczonek delivered his second win in successive heats, although he had to be on his guard throughout as Robins' Troy Batchelor was already to pounce.

Matt Ford's shrewd choice of guest in Charles Wright was the headline writer in heat 9 gaining his second win of the day whilst partner Smart was cheered on all the way as he worked a passage into the third place to build Poole's lead to 8 points.

Batchelor provided Swindon with their one and only race winner of the session in heat 10 winning an all-Australian heat and lowering Chris Holder's colours for the first time but with Grajczonek staving off Morris there visitors were unable to influence the score difference. Unlike Janowski and Milik in heat 11 who team rode to a 5-1 despite Peter Kildemand throwing everything he could muster in to trying to split the pair, thrown together as Milik was replacing Pawlicki. A second 5-1 looked a possibility as Wright was riding above expectations but Nicolai Klindt denied him second place but two heats on, and after another 5-1 had been added to the Pirates' account, Wright was able to celebrate a maximum heat score as he and Milik took the score margin into the 20's and with a drawn heat to close with Poole find themselves in a strong position to regain the Elite Shield but are sure to find it a much tougher task later in the day with strong doubts about Pawlicki's involvement.


POOLE 56
C. Holder 3,3,2,3=11
J. Grajczonek 1,3,3,1',3,0=11+1
P. Pawlicki 3=3
V. Milik 3,FDq,FDq,2',3=8+1
M. Janowski 1,R,3,3,2',3=12+1
L. Smart 1,0,1=2
C. Wright 3,0,3,1,2'=9+1

Swindon 34
P. Kildemand 2,2,1,1,1'=7+1
N. Klindt 0,2,1',2=5+1
T. Batchelor 2,1',2,3,2=10+1
S. Gustafsson 2,2,0,1=5
N. Morris 0,1',0,0=1+1
D. Greenwood 0,1',FDq=1+1
S. Worrall 2,1',2,0,0=5+1

Ht 1 C. Holder P. Kildemand J. Grajczonek N. Klindt 4-2 (4-2) (59.13)
Ht 2 C. Wright S. Worrall L. Smart D. Greenwood 4-2 (8-4) (61.13)
Ht 3 P. Pawlicki T. Batchelor M. Janowski N. Morris 4-2 (12-6) (60.37)
Ht 4 V. Milik N. Klindt S. Worrall L. Smart 3-3 (15-9) (60.75)
Ht 5 C. Holder S. Gustafsson T. Batchelor M. Janowski (Rtd) 3-3 (18-12) (60.09)
Ht 6 M. Janowski (RR) P. Kildemand N. Morris V. Milik (Fell d/q) 3-3 (21-15) (60.21)
Ht 7 J. Grajczonek S. Gustafsson D. Greenwood C. Wright 3-3 (24-18) (61.06)
Ht 8 J. Grajczonek (RR) T. Batchelor N. Klindt V. Milik (Fell d/q) 3-3 (27-21) (60.57)
Ht 9 C. Wright S. Worrall L. Smart D. Greenwood (Fell d/q) 4-2 (31-23) ()
Ht 10 T. Batchelor C. Holder J. Grajczonek N. Morris 3-3 (34-26) (61.09)
Ht 11 M. Janowski V. Milik (RR) P. Kildemand S. Gustafsson 5-1 (39-27) (62.06)
Ht 12 J. Grajczonek N. Klindt C. Wright S. Worrall 4-2 (43-29) (61.63)
Ht 13 C. Holder M. Janowski P. Kildemand N. Morris 5-1 (48-30) (60.78)
Ht 14 V. Milik C. Wright S. Gustafsson S. Worrall 5-1 (53-31) (62.63)
Ht 15 M. Janowski T. Batchelor P. Kildemand J. Grajczonek 3-3 (56-34) (62.12)

Referee: Mr Daniel Holt
Gates: Poole won toss and took gates 1&3. Swindon take 1&3 in heat 15