RESULT: POOLE v BELLE VUE

The men from Manchester held all the Aces as they avenged for last October's championship deciding defeat by taking all available league points from this fixture.

Inspired by reserve Steve Worrall and with Scott Nicholls in scintillating form the Belle Vue Aces' 49-41 raid ended the Pirates long unbeaten home run that lasted 21 matches and dates back to April 2015.

The visitors restricted the ReadyPower Pirates to just 4 race winners all evening, Nicholls and Worrall achieving six between them. Poole initially broke the early deadlock through a Brady Kurtz/Adam Ellis 5-1 in heat 2 but the Aces' response was instant with Nicholls and Cook levelling.

The Pirates had Brady Kurtz disqualified from heat 5 when his rear wheel clipped Joe Jacobs forcing the Belle Vue rider to fall but Bjarne Pedersen fought the Pirates corner with vigour to win the re-start. It was then Matej Zagar's turn to do his side a favour in heat 6 after Craig Cook had been disqualified for causing the race to be stopped when under starter's orders, a ruling that prevented the Aces from replacing him.

Guest Joonas Kylmakorpi and skipper Hans Andersen overturned the narrow deficit with a heat 7 5-1 over Nicholls and Richie Worrall but when the Worrall brothers paired up two heats later for a 4-2 the meeting was delicately poised.

Zagar and heat one winner Max Fricke swung the meeting in the Aces favour with a 5-1 and Andersen had no response to Nicholls' tenacity in heat 11 after Bjarne Pedersen had fallen in the first attempt to get the heat going. The Aces opened up a six point lead and although in heat 13 the Pirate pair of Kylmakorpi and Andersen were quick away Andersen hit trouble as he got out of shape on turn four and impeded Zagar who took the brunt of the collision.

But the Aces number one rose to his feet and produced a determined blast in the re-run to effectively put the result beyond the Pirates, whilst a brilliant passing move by Nicholls put the visitors in line for maximum league points. The Pirates needed a 5-1 to prevent their visitors leaving Wimborne Road with all four points and whilst Andersen finished with a gallant race win Nicholls was too strong for Bjarne Pedersen and for the third time this season the Aces claimed a 4-league point victory.

Poole boss Matt Ford had warned that it was going to be a tough match, admitting "They are a resilient side and certainly they had the fire in their belly this evening and showed us a thing or two. Whilst it is disappointing to lose our unbeaten run and we were far from our best, the Aces are a good team and Lemmo has got them believing in themselves. It is a very even league this year and there is still a way to go. We must put this behind us and go again."

The Pirates who have ridden on three of the four Mondays of May so far and yielded just two league points are next in action on Bank Holiday Monday when they have the difficult trip to Swindon. What did the Boomtown Rats say?

POOLE 41
H. Andersen 2,2',2,Dq,3=9+1
B. Pedersen 1',3,2,FD,1=7+1
K. Newman 0,1',1,0=2+1
C. Holder 2,2,3,2=9
J. Kylmakorpi 1,3,0,2=6
B. Kurtz 3,Dq,0,2=5
A. Ellis 2',R,0,1'=3+2
BELLE VUE 49
M. Zagar 0,3,3,3=9
M. Fricke 3,2,1',2'=8+2
S. Nicholls 3,1,3,3,2=12
R. Worrall 1,0,1,1=3
C. Cook 2',Dq,1,1=4+1
J. Jacobs 0,1',0=1+1
S. Worrall 1,3,2,3,3,0=12

Ht 1 M. Fricke H. Andersen B. Pedersen M. Zagar 3-3 (3-3) (60)
Ht 2 B. Kurtz A. Ellis S. Worrall J. Jacobs 5-1 (8-4) (60.84)
Ht 3 S. Nicholls C. Cook J. Kylmakorpi K. Newman 1-5 (9-9) (60.69)
Ht 4 S. Worrall C. Holder R. Worrall A. Ellis (Rtd) 2-4 (11-13) (60.84)
Ht 5 B. Pedersen M. Fricke J. Jacobs B. Kurtz(D/Q) 3-3 (14-16) (61.41)
Ht 6 M. Zagar C. Holder K. Newman C. Cook(D/Q) 3-3 (17-19) (60.94)
Ht 7 J. Kylmakorpi H. Andersen S. Nicholls R. Worrall 5-1 (22-20) (61.19)
Ht 8 C. Holder S. Worrall M. Fricke A. Ellis 3-3 (25-23) (61.19)
Ht 9 S. Worrall B. Pedersen R. Worrall B. Kurtz 2-4 (27-27) (61.5)
Ht 10 M. Zagar M. Fricke K. Newman J. Kylmakorpi 1-5 (28-32) (62.03)
Ht 11 S. Nicholls H. Andersen C. Cook B. Pedersen (Fell d/q) 2-4 (30-36) (60.81)
Ht 12 S. Worrall B. Kurtz A. Ellis J. Jacobs 3-3 (33-39) (61.59)
Ht 13 M. Zagar J. Kylmakorpi C. Cook H. Andersen(D/Q) 2-4 (35-43) (61.19)
Ht 14 S. Nicholls C. Holder R. Worrall K. Newman 2-4 (37-47) (61.44)
Ht 15 H. Andersen S. Nicholls B. Pedersen S. Worrall 4-2 (41-49) (62.19)

Referee Jim Lawrence
Gates:  Belle Vue win toss and take gates 1&3. Poole  take 1&3 in heat 15