POWERFUL PIRATES DESPATCH DIAMONDS

Poole maintained their 100% home record with a clinical despatch of the Newcastle Diamonds and whilst the final score was not quite as great as the victory they inflicted on the Diamonds at Brough Park earlier this month, the 59-31 result still meant Poole had taken their race points tally against the Tynesiders to an astonishing 120!

The table-topping Pirates had the luxury of resting their top two, unbeaten, scorers in heat fifteen. Skipper Danny King was happy to watch on from the centre green in the knowledge that his full maximum was protected whilst paid maximum achiever Steve Worrall also had a rare early finish, completing his 11+1 tally at heat twelve when he and Danyon Hume banked Poole's fifth 5-1 of the meeting.

It was Hume and Rory Schlein who were invited to close out the match, Hume unable to add to his nine points as he took a fall on what had proved to be a bit of an inconsistent racing surface throughout. Afterwards the Pirates' rising star, who has recently been snapped up by Premiership club Sheffield admitted "I think I might have been trying a bit too hard. I was out there riding the outside line but just got into a bit of bother. The track was a bit inconsistent tonight and we had to cope with that, but it was great to have a full one to seven in the pits tonight."

That Sheffield contract means that Hume will be able to break up his journey to Scotland where the Pirates ride on Friday night at Edinburgh, as Sheffield host Ipswich on Thursday, so he will cross swords with his Pirates captain King.

King revealed that he was "pleased with his own performance" as he gained the Rider of the Night award, adding "I was making good starts tonight, that always helps" When challenged about the seemingly perfect start he made in heat four only to see it pulled back he shrugged, smiled and said "the referee is always right so that's all I can say." He went on to admit "all the team were firing tonight and that is important as we have a busy week ahead. I was particularly impressed with Benjamin (Basso, Poole's latest signing). He is fast and boy he can gate too. We just need to keep things going now."

Poole provided thirteen out of the fifteen race winners, the only success the Diamonds had came through Ben Barker. The first of those was as late as heat eight, but that was largely gifted to him as Basso was almost in a different postcode when he did an 'about turn' exiting the third turn and was left to scamper clear of the track in double quick time. It was to his credit that he did so and whilst Barker was able to go and take the win, Hume produced an excellent piece of riding to get by Adam Roynon and restrict the visitors to a 2-4. That left Poole with an 18-point lead and they were denied a chance of increasing that lead in heat nine after Stefan Nielsen was disqualified for a first turn incident that brought Connor Mountain crashing down. Barker then won his tactical substitute outing in heat 10, neither Schlein or Basso able to land a blow despite their early efforts before the race settled down into a shared heat.

But then the Pirates flexed their muscles once again, out-pointing their visitors 17-7 over the course of heats eleven to fourteen, the highlight being the excellent team riding between Hume and Worrall to secure the once maximum heat score in that sequence, leaving Schlein to signed off with his third unbeaten ride in five starts when he took victory in heat fifteen.

Although happy that the Pirates came through this with a victory Poole promoter Dan Ford was disappointed that the track did pose a problem for this meeting, admitting "we can only apologise to everyone that track conditions were far from ideal and did detract from the show tonight as it wasn't the most spectacular meeting. This is an area that we are working on. At the start of the season the track was fantastic but for the past few meetings we have struggled to get it right. It is well know that we have had issues with the track for years now and we are determined to try and resolve it as soon as possible."

Scorers: 

POOLE 59 R.Schlein 11+1 (3,2',2,1,3); B.Basso 4+1 (F,3,F,1'); S.Worrall 11+1 (3,3,3,2'); S.Nielsen 4+1 (2',1,XD,1); D.King 12 (3,3,3,3); B.Cook 8+2 (2',2',1,3); D.Hume 9 (3,1,2,3,F)

NEWCASTLE 31 B.Barker 16 (2,2,3,3,2,2,2); J.Wright 2+1 (1',0,1,0,0); M.Clegg 1 (1,F,0,0); C.Mountain 6+1 (2,1,2,0,0,1'); A.Freeman 1+1 (R,0,1'); A.Roynon 5 (1,R,1,1,2)

Full Match report Here