DANNY THE KING OF ALL TRADES

Poole's number one Rory Schlein flagged home his team captain in heat 15 to celebrate Danny King's inch-perfect second successive maximum around Wimborne Road.

King made it a total of eighteen unbeaten rides from his last twenty outings around the Poole circuit, but it wasn't just his riding prowess that was on show for this Bank Holiday weekend meeting between two traditional Wednesday night sides.

The Poole skipper played a leading role when remedial track repairs were called for after a hole had opened up on the south bend turn early in the meeting; a hole that had caused Birmingham's James Shanes to come to an abrupt halt when he hit it during heat three. The appearance of the hole came as considerable frustration to the management, track staff, riders and attending supporters, particularly after considerable work had been done on the circuit after it came under fire during the recent meeting against Newcastle. 

But, as Poole boss Dan Ford stated just after racing was able to resume some forty minutes after the meeting went into its early interval 
"I can only apologise to everyone for the delay we have experienced. We all know that we have had problems with the track for several years and we have been working really hard to try and sort things out, but the hole, which is about the size of a kitchen table, had shown no signs of being there before today. I share in everyone's frustration but I can give our assurance that we will continue to strive to improve the track."

After Poole had seen off Birmingham 57-33, without giving them so much as a heat advantage to celebrate, 2021 top scorer Steve Worrall praised the fans for their patience shown. 
"First and foremost" he said after backing up King's maximum with twelve points of his own from five rides, "I would like to thank everyone for bearing with us as the track staff worked hard to get those emergency repairs done. It was then good to go on and get the job done and pick up more league points. I have to admit that the atmosphere in the pits is relaxed and I feel comfortable here at Poole, as for trying to relieve Rory of his number one jacket, well, I am not too bothered. I don't really worry about that so much. I like riding with Stefan (Nielsen) and that is the way things are at the minute."
Worrall dropped his only points to the Brummies' number one Erik Riss, the German heading him home twice. When they first met in heat five Riss whistled round Worrall very stylishly on the opening lap to become one of just three race winners for the visitors - Chris Harris in heat six and Jack Thomas a surprise, but deserved, winner of heat eight being the other two. 

But the afternoon belonged firmly to the jack of all trades, King who confessed "I took a few meetings this season to get dialled in but I am happy with the way things are going right now. I feel really confident on the starts and that makes a difference. I would just like to offer up a big shout out to the track staff and they deserve a pat on the back for all their hard work. 

Although the meeting was marred by the lengthy delay early in the proceedings, once the repairs were completed with King himself doing a considerable amount of rake work throughout, the track held up well but Ford acknowledged "whilst we were able to get things sorted for the last twelve heats we will not be resting on our laurels and we will be working overtime again to ensure that we can provide an improved surface for our crucial clash with Glasgow this coming Friday."

Scorers: 
POOLE 57, R.Schlein 8+1 (3,1',3,1), B.Basso 5+2 (0,2,1',2'), S.Worrall 12 (3,2,3,3,1), S.Nielsen 5+2 (2',1',1,1), D.King 15 (3,3,3,3,3), B.Cook 8+1 (3,2',0,3), D.Hume 4 (1,1,2,0)
BIRMINGHAM 33, E.Riss 9 (2,3,2,0,2), V.Grobauer 1+1 (1',0,0), J.Shanes 1 (XD,1,XD), A.Morris 2 (1,0,1,0), C.Harris 8+1 (0,3,2,1',2,0), M.Castagna 4 (2,0,0,2), J.Thomas 8+1 (0,2,3,1',2)
 

Match report Here