SWINDON 50 PIRATES 42

A catastrophic start to their meeting got mildly better as the meeting progressed but the Pirates couldn't quite maintain their sequence of picking up some league reward for their efforts, eventually going down by 8 points to the rejuvenated Swindon Robins.

Chris Holder was leading heat one when his machine came to an abrupt halt which allowed the rider renowned as being the second half of the Turbo Twins, Darcy Ward to pick up a race victory on his home debut. Ward, loaned to Swindon for the remainder of the season might well have found a way by judging by his performance on the night, but certainly his fellow debutant Eduard Krcmar wouldn't have gained the third place that he had to push home for, which put Swindon into an early lead.
There was drama in heat 2 when Paul Starke, running a second to Kyle Newman, eventually ran out of options to stave off the persistence of his Somerset team mate Charles Wright as they came out of the final turn. Once passed Starke reared ugly and crashed yards from the line costing the Pirates another potential heat advantage. With Starke on the deck the now pursuing Lewis Rose initially did well to avoid the stricken Starke but collided with the fence and took a heavy fall that ended his night.
The intensity of the battle between Newman and Wright when they met again in heat 4 was true value for money for the large crowd that had already benefitted from slashed admission prices, but for Poole fans the result was only consolatory as Zengota had the race comfortably won, so Newman's second place just cushioned the blow as Gomolski was really struggling at the back.
Trailing by 6 after a similar number of heats the Pirates misery intensified as first North gained a disqualification, falling whilst third after getting out of shape on the second lap and being hit from behind by Gomolski who was trying to lay his bike down. In the re-run Gomolski who had been treated for a hand injury after that incident made a sharp gate but couldn't hold the bike up and crashed out in a similar position and again a disqualification was inflcted, leaving Batchelor and Ward to contest an unchallenged 5-0.
Briefly the Pirates enjoyed some success as Watt responded with a winning tactical ride but again the battle of the reserves was enthralling this time Wright had the support of Zengota to fend off a hard pressing Newman, then Gomolski and Newman paired up for a Pirates 5-1 at the expense of Wright and Krcmar.
Having suffered two retirements in his opening outings, Robins' guest Hans Andersen came to the party with a stunning heat 10 win over the hard pressing Holder, but Watt was looking a faint shadow of the man that had stormed to victory two heats previous. Janowski momentarily passed Ward in heat 11 but the returning Aussie gave the Swindon fans a flash of what he is capable of but North did enough to prevent any further deterioration in the score, Poole still trailed by 6.
With Rose sidelined only three riders came to tapes for heat 12 but before the race could get underway Newman had to scurry back to the pits and jump on a loaned bike from Watt. Wright shot away fast and was untroubled unlike poor Newman who had to push home a full circuit for a point which hopefully would keep the Pirates in the meeting.
But another clever move by Ward on Janowski bolstered by Batchelor's defeat of Holder saw Swindon increase their advantage and then a huge 5-1 from Andersen and Zengota put the meeting beyond the hope of a consolation point for the Pirates although Janowski and Holder did close out with a maximum 5-1 to destroy backmarker Ward's unbeaten performance.

SWINDON 50
D. Ward 3,2',3,3,0=11+1
E. Krcmar 1,1,0,0=2
H. Andersen R,R,3,3=6
G. Zengota 3,3,1',2',1=10+2
T. Batchelor 3,3,1,1=8
C. Wright 2,1,3,2,1,3=12
L. Rose 1'=1+1
POOLE 42
C. Holder R,1',2,0,2'=5+2
D. Watt 2,2,6,0=10
D. North 1',FD,1',F=2+2
K. Gomolski 0,FD,3,1=4
M. Janowski 2,2,2,2,3=11
P. Starke F,R,2=2
K. Newman 3,2,0,2',1'=8+2

Ht 1 D. Ward D. Watt E. Krcmar C. Holder (Rtd) 4-2 (4-2) (66.08)
Ht 2 K. Newman C. Wright L. Rose P. Starke (Fell) 3-3 (7-5) ()
Ht 3 T. Batchelor M. Janowski D. North H. Andersen (Rtd) 3-3 (10-8) (65.74)
Ht 4 G. Zengota K. Newman C. Wright K. Gomolski 4-2 (14-10) (66.59)
Ht 5 C. Wright D. Watt E. Krcmar P. Starke (Rtd) 4-2 (18-12) (67.49)
Ht 6 G. Zengota M. Janowski C. Holder H. Andersen (Rtd) 3-3 (21-15) (65.46)
Ht 7 T. Batchelor D. Ward K. Gomolski (Fell d/q) D. North (Fell d/q) 5-0 (26-15) (67.96)
Ht 8 D. Watt (TR) C. Wright G. Zengota K. Newman 3-6 (29-21) (66.55)
Ht 9 K. Gomolski K. Newman C. Wright E. Krcmar 1-5 (30-26) (68.05)
Ht 10 H. Andersen C. Holder T. Batchelor D. Watt 4-2 (34-28) (66.83)
Ht 11 D. Ward M. Janowski D. North E. Krcmar 3-3 (37-31) (65.84)
Ht 12 C. Wright P. Starke K. Newman L. Rose(NS) 3-3 (40-34) (68.43)
Ht 13 D. Ward M. Janowski T. Batchelor C. Holder 4-2 (44-36) (66.18)
Ht 14 H. Andersen G. Zengota K. Gomolski D. North (Fell) 5-1 (49-37) (68.14)
Ht 15 M. Janowski C. Holder G. Zengota D. Ward 1-5 (50-42) (66.12)

Referee Jim Lawrence
Gates: Swindon won toss and deferred choice of gates to heat 15 (2&4). Poole took gates 2&4 in heat 1
SWINDON 3 league points POOLE 0 league points

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