RESULT: GLASGOW 52 POOLE 38

4/06/21

Poole Pirates were reduced to just six men before a race had been completed at Glasgow on Friday night, when number one Rory Schlein was taken to hospital with a leg injury, sustained in a first turn collision with his rival number Craig Cook. Needing the remaining six Pirates to dig deep, Steve Worrall heaped special praise on young Australian Ben Cook for his formidable performance.

As Poole lost 52-38, Worrall and Cook dealt up Poole's only maximum heat advantage when they combined in heat 12 to finish clear of Ulrich Ostergaard and Jack Smith, and the GB International admitted "Ben rode superb tonight. This was his first visit here and it seemed to really suit him. I didn't really see how he was able to support me on that 5-1. I managed to get by Ulrich (Ostergaard) and by all accounts so did Ben, it was a good performance from him. We obviously missed Rory and our thoughts are with him and hope that his injury wont be too serious."

Poole were able to keep the Tigers honest over the early exchanges of the meeting and after six heats only trailed by a couple of points, but back to back maximum scores from Sam Jensen and Ricky Wells followed by Broc Nicol and Jack Smith, saw the home side break free and, apart from that Worrall/Cook score in heat 12, the Pirates couldn't find any heat advantages to make an impact. The Tigers were well served by a rampant Craig Cook who delivered a fifteen-point maximum and a solid reserve score from Sam Jensen who was unbeaten from his programmed rides, suffering his only defeat in heat 15 when confronted by Worrall and Danny King.

Poole's Cook was kept busy by team manager Gary Havelock, the Aussie enduring a three-on-the-trot ride that yielded a paid seven return, his score for the evening being a creditable paid eleven. After a last place when covering Schlein's absence in heat one, skipper Danny King went on to top score for the Pirates with a paid fourteen return with Worrall the only other double figure scorer.

GLASGOW - 52: C.Cook 15 (3,3,3,3,3), S.Jensen 12 (3,3,3,3,0), U.Ostergaard 8 (2,3,2,1), J.Sedgmen 5+3 (1',1,1',2'), B.Nicol 5 (1,0,3,1), J.Smith 4+1 (0,2,2',0), R.Wells 3+1 (0,2',1,R)

POOLE - 38: D.King 13+1 (0,3,2,3,2,2,1'), S.Worrall 10 (3,2,0,0,3,2), B.Cook 8+3 (2,1',0,2,2',1'), D.Hume 3+1 (1',1,0,1), Z.Keleher 3 (2,0,1,0), S.Nielsen 1 (0,1,0), R.Schlein - Withdrawn
Match report and heat details here