PIRATES SLIP UP AS BEARS CLAW THEIR WAY BACK FROM EIGHT DOWN

Five points, a maiden win and the fastest time of the night succinctly summarises new boy Benjamin Basso on his club debut, but the Pirates once again allowed their opponents to fight back and end the meeting on top, leaving Poole promoter Dan Ford a man of mixed emotions.

"I am hugely disappointed with the final result. To be leading by eight points and them come away having lost by six is hard to accept. We thought we had the meeting under control at the halfway stage and again we just seemed to take our foot off the gas, and that is becoming something of an Achilles Heel for us at the minute especially on the road. We need to learn to press home that advantage and not allow points to slip away from us. In fairness, we knew it was going to be tough up here. After all, Redcar are play-off contenders and showed tonight why they are just that. On a more positive note we saw some real grit and determination from our new signing Benjamin Basso and he showed glimpses of what we are hoping he will bring to the team. He was nervous ahead of his first ride tonight and I think he was on the wrong set up but he saw to that and improved massively."

After conceding a 5-1 in the opening heat that saw Basso fail to score but far from off the pace, the Pirates clawed themselves back level within two heats and then set about establishing the advantage that left the home fans in despair. 

With Steve Worrall in scintillating form throughout and unbeaten in his first four rides and Danny King unbeaten in his first three, the support of Basso, Stefan Nielsen and Danyon Hume kept the Bears at bay. Such was Poole's dominance that Redcar even needed to deploy British Final rostrum finisher Charles Wright as a tactical substitute in heat nine. Danny King ably dealing with that threat. 

But, two heats later and the meeting began to swing back in favour of the Bears who went into the meeting trailing the Pirates by two points in the SGB Championship table. Michael Palm-Toft, an unfortunate victim of a heat four fall that many a time would have resulted in all four riders recalled, tore out of the tapes in heat 11, first time of asking a little too eagerly, but made it fairly second time around. He was unchallenged out front but largely because Basso was finding his route hampered by team-mate Rory Schlein. This allowed Anders Rowe the opportunity to take up second place and that one result rejuvenated the home camp. Wright and Palm-Toft combined for a match levelling 5-1 outcome to heat thirteen, inflicting King's first defeat of the night and the match evolved into a two-race shoot out.

Jake Allen proved to be the Bears' masterstroke. Taking the heat fourteen rider replacement outing and finding good speed to pass Nielsen early doors, Allen's win was backed up by Rowe's third place as Redcar edged their noses in front for only the second time on the night. That win certainly secured him the heat fifteen nomination and he didn't disappoint as he and Wright somehow managed to get by Worrall and King, both of whom had trapped well, by the backstraight and whilst Worrall did all he could to try and repass, the meeting ended as it had started with Poole on the wrong end of a 5-1 and wondering where it all went wrong.

REDCAR - 48: C.Wright 15 (3,2,2,2,3,3), J.Allen 12+3 (2,3,1',1',3,2'), A.Rowe 7+1 (2,0,0,2',2,1), M.Palm-Toft 7+1 (FD,2,3,2'), J.Sarjeant 5+2 (2',0,1',2,R), J.Jenkins 2+1 (0,1,1'), G.Blair DNR. 
POOLE - 42: S.Worrall 13 (3,3,3,3,1), D.King 10 (3,3,3,1,0), D.Hume 5+1 (3,2',F,0), S.Nielsen 5 (1,1,1,2), B.Basso 5 (0,2,3,0), R.Schlein 3+1 (1,1',1,R), B.Cook 1 (1,0,0,0) 

Heat details and report HERE