REACTION: PIRATES SEE OFF PANTHERS AS BJARNE BIDS FAREWELL

Bjarne Pedersen took the track for the final time at Wimborne Road and then saw his beloved Poole Pirates secure a convincing victory over the club Pedersen won his fifth league title with, Peterborough Panthers.

Whilst the British weather did its best to try and rain on Pedersen's parade, the popular Dane never once lost the broad smile on his face and admitted "there would be no other place I would have wanted to say goodbye to British Speedway and my racing career than here at Poole. I rode ten seasons with them and have so many great memories, too many to single out any one in particular. But I wanted to be at Poole to say my farewells to the fans here as they have always been so supportive. "

The Pirates who fielded their 2022 side with the exception of Nathan Ablitt who was loaned to the Panthers for the night, had good solid showings from the Cook brothers, both of whom only dropped points in one heat a piece.

Zach completed his programmed rides unbeaten before running a last place in heat fifteen, whilst Ben ran a last place in his second outing but still accumulated 8+1. Those scores were backed up with a solid enough performance from skipper Danny King (10 pts) who raced to three wins  in his four outings, and paid ten returns from Richard Lawson (8+2) and Steve Worrall (9+1).

For the visitors Hans Andersen, who Pedersen was quick to proclaim that he really wanted to have riding in his British farewell as he had also ridden in Pedersen's 10 year testimonial thirteen years ago and his Danish Farewell meeting last season, top scored with 10+1 from five rides with Scott Nicholls weighing in with a 9+2 return from five rides, a score that included just one race victory. That win though was heat 13, designated the Gordon Day Memorial race and thus earned Scott a memento trophy.

POOLE - 55: Z.Cook 10+2 (3,2',3,2'), D.King 10 (3,1,3,3), R.Lawson 8+2 (3,2',2,1'), B.Cook 8+1 (3,0,2',3), D.Kemp 7+1 (0,3,1',3), S.Worrall 6+1 (1,1,2',2), K.Newman 3 (1,0,1,1)

PETERBOROUGH - 35: S.Nicholls 8+1 (1,2',2,3), H.Andersen 8+1 (2,2',1,3), J.Palin 5 (2,3,0,0), U.Ostergaard 5 (2,1,1,1), M.Palm-Toft 3 (0,3,0,0), A.Bowtell 2 (0,0,0,2), N.Ablitt 1+1 (1',0,0,0)

photo credit: Haggis Hartmann