Pirates confirm Wells as replacement for Busk Jakobsen

The No1 Carpet Cleaning Poole Pirates have confirmed American Ricky Wells will replace reserve Nikolaj Busk Jakobsen.

Busk Jakobsen has missed three of the Pirates’ past four encounters with an Appendix issue.

Wells, meanwhile, who comes in on a 4.24 average, has enjoyed a fruitful spell guesting for both Busk Jakobsen and the injured Nico Covatti, bagging scores of 9+1 and 10 at home to King’s Lynn and away at Ipswich last week.

And co-promoters Matt and Danny Ford have now moved quickly to secure Wells’s services permanently alongside Covatti, who will return to the Pirates one-to-seven when Ipswich visit Wimborne Road on Thursday.

Danny Ford said: “Ricky has performed superbly since being released by Belle Vue at the end of June.

“Nikolaj’s illness has set him back and we felt it best if he was given some time to recover fully without the strain of travelling to and from Britain.

“We were also mindful of making a decision early in the club’s best interests as well as Nikolaj’s and I’d like to go on record to thank him for his amazing effort this season.

“We all wish him well with his recovery and hope to welcome him back to Wimborne Road in the future.

“Ricky has been excellent coming in as a guest and now we also have Nico back from injury, I think they will play a big role for us at reserve for the remainder of the season.”

Covatti has overcome chest injuries sustained in a crash with Pirates team-mate Richie Worrall on June 27 and will line up against the Witches on Thursday.

The clash has come too soon for number one Brady Kurtz, however, who misses out with concussion following a spill for Vetlanda in Sweden on July 2.

Ford added: “Brady has had a few knocks to the head already this season so we don’t want to rush him back – it’s important he’s right as we all know how serious concussion can be in sport.”

The Pirates will operate rider replacement for Kurtz on Thursday, while Ben Barker comes in as a guest for Worrall.

Chris Louis’s Witches will be looking for revenge after the patched-up Pirates ended their perfect home record with a shock 48-42 win at Foxhall last week, but will have to seek it without number one Chris Harris who is unavailable.

Scott Nicholls comes in as a guest.

Pirates: Rider Replacement for Brady Kurtz, Ben Barker (guest), Nicolai Klindt, Josh Grajczonek, Jack Holder, Nico Covatti, Ricky Wells.

Witches: Scott Nicholls (guest), Cameron Heeps, Danny King, Richard Lawson, Krystian Pieszczek, Edward Kennett, Jake Allen.

Picture: Taylor Lanning.