REACTION: PIRATES WEALTH OF TALENT IN CITY OF COMMONWEALTH

A merciless and clinical performance from the Poole Pirates made it a night to forget for the Birmingham Brummies, with the Pirates invading Perry Barr for the second time this season and came away with a victory by twenty or more points.

In the league visit back in May, Poole notched up a score of 55-35, this time around in the Championship Jubilee Trophy they went one better, claiming a 56-34 victory. 

The home side , looking to complete their home group fixtures with a 100% record suffered a mid-meeting double blow when skipper Ashley Morris and former Pirate Stefan Nielsen were both forced to withdraw after separate incidents left them with shoulder injuries.

By that time however, the Pirates were already in the ascendency, and throughout the evening Poole took the chequered flag first on fourteen of the fifteen heats, only Justin Sedgmen managing a race win for the Brummies.
"Obviously we feel for Birmingham and their problems" admitted Dan Ford afterwards, "they already had a heavy injury list but to then lose two more riders made it a tough task for them and we wish both Ashley (Morris) and Stefan (Nielsen) all the very best for a speedy recovery, but to be honest, our lads were really going well. Ben (Cook) had been unbeaten until the nominated ride and he worked really hard to try and complete the maximum in heat fifteen but just couldn't get by Jason (Edwards). Steve (Worrall) would also had an unbeaten tag had he not suffered engine failure when on a 5-1 in heat thirteen and of course we had Richard (Lawson) in scintillating form, just as he has been of late."

Both withdrawals came as a result of racing incidents. Morris tangling with Worrall in a tough first turn move that left the Brummies captain trapped under the air-fence in heat five and then, in the very next heat, Nielsen lost control mid-race as the Pirates were on a 5-1 and extending their meeting lead to ten points.

Whilst Lawson's performance was just sublime, the eye-catcher was Ben Cook who made some excellent moves on his way to five unbeaten rides that included two 5-1's with Lawson and one with Danny King, the Poole captain dropping just a single point, that when Sedgmen gated in heat seven and rode a determined effort to stay out ahead.
BIRMINGHAM 34 ,Jason Edwards 12+2 (1',2,RS,2,2,1',2,2) ,Justin Sedgmen 10 (2,3,1,2,2,0) ,James Pearson 4+2 (2,1',0,0,0,1') ,Lewis Kerr 4+2 (1,1,1',1') ,Kye Thomson 2+1 (0,1',0,1) ,Ashley Morris 2 (2,FN,NS,NS) ,Stefan Nielsen 0 (0,FD,RS,NS) 
POOLE 56 ,Richard Lawson 15 (3,3,3,3,3) ,Ben Cook 13+3 (3,2',3,2',2',1) ,Danny King 11 (3,2,3,3) ,Steve Worrall 8+1 (2',3,3,R) ,Zach Cook 5+1 (1,1',0,3) ,Drew Kemp 4 (3,0,1,FD) ,Nathan Ablitt 0 (0,0,RS,0)