WATT AN IN AND OUT PIRATE CAREER

He will always be regarded as a Poole icon, first being seen at Wimborne Road in action on 28th March 2001 when representing the Pirates in a challenge match against Team Denmark, but Dave Watt spent two seasons riding for Isle of Wight (2001) and Newcastle (2002) before making his official Poole debut in a challenge fixture against Peterborough on March 19th 2003.

Operating out of the reserve berth Watt scored paid four after an opening ride fall, but he doubled that score in his next appearance - at Ipswich on 27th March - in his first Elite league meeting, including a paid win with. Davey's first outright win for Poole was recorded in heat two of the Peterborough v Poole fixture on 11th April.

Watt's Poole's career was akin to the hokey-cokey. In 2004 he stayed in but was not to be back until 2008 and had to wait until 2010 before he could wear the skull and crossbones again, a spell that was to last two consecutive seasons. After three campaigns with Lakeside it was to be 2015 before Watt was a Pirate yet again, with his final year at Wimborne Road being 2016, a season before he finally made his last appearance in Britain.

Those years at Poole are all largely significant. The Pirates made the play-off final in each of them and Watt rode in the 2003, 2008, 2011 and 2015 winning finals, and also the 2010 defeat.

For most of his racing career Dave was based locally in Poole and always regarded the club as his home.  His last British appearance was at Rye House on 15th April 2017, a heat 9 fall ended his night without a points return and found himself being replaced in the Rockets' side by Ricky Wells two days later.

With a cv that shows him having ridden in five Grand Prix rounds and 22 world cup meetings, collecting three silver and one bronze medal, together with his talisman tally of Pirate titles and 1601.5 points for the Pirates (a total that places him in the all-time top 20), Dave, now aged 42, returned to Australia and explore opportunities to nurture future Aussie talent, knowing that he had given his best in Britain and won over many fans and friends during his lengthy career.