PIRATES READY FOR A ROYAL OCCASION

Wednesday night's visitors, the Kent Kings, may well carry the regal title but the Pirates will be keen to produce a crowning performance as speedway returns to Wimborne Road after a three week break.

Track time has been lacking for both sides, Kent having been further frustrated on Friday night when their trip to Redcar was called off, whilst it will be have been more than a week since the Pirates last assembled with an away victory in the first leg of the Knockout cup tie against Plymouth.

Kent are experiencing their first season of racing at Championship level, the highest league they have ridden in since the club was launched in 2014. From their five meetings to-date they ran out winners in their most recent fixture, beating Plymouth 49-41 at their Central Park stadium but have suffered two heavy defeats on the road  - at Glasgow in the league and Eastbourne in the Knockout cup.

For Poole's number one, Rory Schlein, it will be his first opportunity this season to ride in front of his home fans, having missed the Pirates only other home meeting due to injury. The Aussie who is in his swansong season, is keen to get more racing under his belt, despite not being a full 100 percent fit. 
"The leg is getting better every day, but I definitely felt it on Tuesday at Plymouth. It was tightening up in my last couple of rides  and I was a bit sore the following morning but I am looking forward to riding in front of a home crowd at Poole for it has been a very long time coming. 
"Obviously the way things are currently in the UK it has been a bit tricky for the lads to get too many laps in and , as riders we all want to keep busy, but that is especially the case for the young Aussie guys like Ben (Cook) and Zane (Keleher) who are hungry to be out on their bikes and riding all the time. The way things are going then that could well be the case as we catch up on fixtures". 
We've got a meeting coming up this week and when you look at the Kent side they are a side that on paper looks like they could do something so you have to respect them for that. Scotty (Scott Nicholls) is in very good form this season and there is no doubt that they will be going out there to make things as difficult as possible for us. 
"That said, for us, we have just got  to do what we are all capable of doing. We have a strong top three and the other lads are beginning to get amongst the points so the signs are good. But to be brutally honest, and I had this conversation with Middlo on Tuesday night, I look at us as being something of a slow burner but we will be picking up momentum the more fixtures, especially home meetings,  we get under our belts"

The Kent side includes former Poole riders Scott Nicholls, Paul Starke and Paul Hurry. The latter will be making his first Wimborne Road appearance for close-on 11 years. Ben Morley and Rising Star Dan Gilkes complete the Kings who will be operating rider replacement for Tom Bacon who has chosen to step back from racing.

Whilst crowd numbers remain limited to comply with the social distancing measures in place under the Covid-19 restrictions, tickets can still be purchased on-line, with the club keen to make it clear that this remains an advanced ticket only purchase event. Promoter Dan Ford admitted "The take up for tickets since we launched them this week has been excellent. They are going fast and so we would encourage anyone who wishes to attend to go on to the ticket office of our website and purchase now, before it is too late."

The meeting will also be live streamed, passes for which can also be purchased from poole-speedway.com/pirates-tv 

Teams:
Poole: Rory Schlein; Zane Keleher; Steve Worrall; Stefan Nielsen; Danny King; Ben Cook; Danyon Hume. Team manager: Neil Middleditch

Kent: Scott Nicholls; Paul Hurry; Paul Starke; Rider Replacement for Tom Bacon; Cameron Heeps; Ben Morley; Dan Gilkes. Team Manager: Chris Hunt