REACTION: WE ARE HERE TO WIN TROPHIES SAYS SKIPPER DANNY KING

Poole Pirates secured the first leg of their targeted treble as they retained the Knockout Cup and after lifting the trophy for the second year in succession, proud skipper Danny King, nursing a damaged finger admitted "We are here to win trophies and we've done the best part of that tonight and it doesn't stop now. 
 

King continued, "You know we have got a league title to win next week and I will do whatever I have to if it helps the side. If I need to lend Drew (Kemp) an engine again then I will. Whatever needs to be done will be done by me because I am here to win trophies and that's what we are all about. But tonight I really have to say a big thank you to Ben Cook. Me and Ben have such a great understanding on track and I love riding with him and I think he feels the same. We just always seem to know where each other is, but I have to thank him tonight, because I was struggling out there. My hand was not great and I was struggling to hold on and he pretty much looked after me all night I would say. I take my hat off to him and I think he deserves a big round of applause for what he did."

King, who had damaged his finger in heat fifteen of the first leg at Redcar spent the evening strapping his fingers up and felt that by the end of the evening had just about got the right amount of strapping to make his racing life easier, whilst off track it was he who had been the one doing the helping as he provided team-mate Drew Kemp with one of his motors for this second leg of the Knockout Cup final, a gesture that Drew was quick to acknowledge. "I started the season off really well and I had one engine that was going particularly well until it went in for a service and it has never been the same since. That has left me lacking a little bit of speed, I think everyone out there can see that I am riding my absolute hardest but I just seem to be going nowhere so Danny saved me a bit and said I could use one of his engines. He broke the Kent track record on it last year and I have found it a lot better. Obviously I set it up right by the end and I certainly had a lot more speed, I just had to change a few things after the first couple of races and, like I said, I got there in the end."

The Pirates, whilst not reaching the dizzy heights of another sixty-point Wimborne Road score, were rarely troubled by the Redcar Bears and gradually built on their first leg seven point lead to sew the tie up after Richard Lawson and Zach Cook combined to inflict a 5-1 over Erik Riss and Kasper Andersen in heat eleven. That was Lawson's third win of the night, but the only victory he could manage in the end over Riss, despite having the clear beating of him in heat fifteen only for the race to be re-run after Bears' guest Kye Thomson took an awkward fall on the fourth bend of his second lap. Lawson was well into his third lap, clear of Riss when the race was stopped and referee Chris Gay ordered a re-run, from which Riss made a sharp get away to secure his second victory of the night, and the Bears' third.

Lawson was the Pirates top scorer on the night with thirteen from five and one of three Pirates to be paid for double figures, the Cook brothers the other two as Zach amassed paid ten from six rides, and Ben paid twelve from five which included Poole only other two 5-1 heat results, on both occasions being partnered by skipper King.

Scores
POOLE  52 - Richard Lawson 13 (3,3,3,2,2) ,Ben Cook 9+3 (3,2',1,2',1') ,Zach Cook 9+1 (3,1,3,2',0,0) ,Steve Worrall 9 (3,3,0,3) ,Drew Kemp 6 (1,0,2,3) ,Danny King 6 (0,3,3,RS) ,Nathan Ablitt 0 (0,0,RS,0) 
REDCAR 38 ,Erik Riss 11 (2,2,1,3,3) ,Kyle Newman 6 (2,0,1,2,1) ,Lewis Kerr 6 (2,1,3,XE) ,Jason Edwards 4+2 (1',1',0,2) ,Kasper Andersen 4+2 (1',1',2,R) ,Jordan Jenkins 4+1 (0,2,1,1') ,Kye Thomson 3+1 (2,0,0,1',FD)
 

Match Report and full heat details