REACTION: PIRATES LOOKING HEALTHY AT HALFWAY STAGE

At half-time in the semi-final tie between the teams that finished second and third in the table, it is the third-placed side, Poole, that hold a very healthy thirty point advantage, having recorded their third successive 60-30 result at Wimborne Road. It is a lead that they need to defend at the weekend when they return to Ashfield on Saturday (October 1st).

Pirate Ben Cook had another outstanding meeting, recording a paid maximum for the second week running and since moving to the number two berth has only dropped two points in thirteen rides. He claimed "I have been feeling good out of the starts over the past two weeks and that therefore makes it a lot easier on track. You get to ride where you want to ride and not where they want to send you. So everything right now is going good and it is the right end of the season for it to be happening that way. I had a bit of bike trouble after the parade lap when the little plunger got stuck in my carburettor and I had to switch carburettors. They tried to start it up and it still wouldn't go, but I decided to take a bit of a risk. I jumped on the bike and it started, so that was a bit of a bonus and it all came good. We got a big lead and that is good. It was in the discussion on the track walk that we said we wanted a 60-30 and that proved to be the exact score so going up there with a thirty point lead it's definitely a nice feeling for sure. You don't really want to be there chasing a lead as they are good round their own track but I feel that we can go there and do just as good and even beat them again."

Just as they were when they demolished Leicester in the KO Cup last week, the Pirates were absolutely dominant recording thirteen race winners, achieving eight maximum heat advantages and conceding only one race, that the final heat when Craig Cook sprung out of the tapes to get the edge over Richard Lawson, which denied the Pirate his third successive home maximum and the truth of the matter is that the Pirates might well have been taking an even bigger lead with them had Danny King not suffered mechanical issues in his third ride.

POOLE 60 - Richard Lawson 14 (3,3,3,3,2), Zach Cook 13+4 (3,2',2',1',2',3), Steve Worrall 11 (3,3,2,3,0), Ben Cook 10+2 (2',2',3,3), Danny King 8+1 (3,3,R,2'), Nathan Ablitt 2+1 (2',0,RS,0), Drew Kemp 2+1 (0,0,RS,2') 
GLASGOW 30 - Craig Cook 9+1 (1',1,2,2,3), Paul Starke 5+1 (0,1,0,3,R,RS,1), Ben Basso 6 (1,2,1,1,1), Tom Brennan 4 (2,1,1,0,0), Broc Nicol 3+1 (2,1',0,XE,0), Connor Bailey 3+3 (0,1',0,1',1',RS)

Match report and full heat details here