PREVIEW: POOLE V PLYMOUTH

Poole 'Wessex Marine' Pirates' captain Steve Worrall believes that the arrival of the Plymouth 'Prow Park' Gladiators to Wimborne Road on Wednesday (April 19th) will be one of the toughest challenges that his side could face this season.

Looking ahead to the BSN Series Southern Group fixture Worrall claims "if I look down the list of teams, Plymouth is the one that worries me most. Compared to last year's side where they were, you know, patched up every week they look strong. 

"We know how good Kyle (Howarth) is around here. He was good here last year and I think he nearly 'maxed' out. Then there is Richie (the Poole skipper's brother). He used to ride for the Pirates and knows his way round here, he's very good and then they've got Ben Barker, and if his bikes are working well, then he could come here and score a hatful as well. Besides that top three they also have Dan Gilkes. One of the up and coming talents in British speedway. Sadly he got injured last year  but before that he was on an absolute mission and was cleaning up. 

"So if you just take them guys there are some good riders there straight away, but I do feel we have the edge on it. If you line them up they have their faults, just like we do to be fair, but I feel that we have the upper hand."

Worrall added that he feels the clash against the Devon side has taken on even more spice as a local derby. 
"They are one of our closest rivals and it is like anything , when you go against your close rivals then it gets spiced up a bit. But, going back to last year, and it wasn't just Poole as I think the majority of teams felt the same that because of the situation that Plymouth found themselves in (referring to their use of guests for Edward Kennett who only appeared once for them)  and how they took advantage of that situation, I think it just frustrated clubs and riders. I know personally I felt like they abused the system in a way and it does annoy you so that kind of sparked the fire even more to try and get one over them every time, and that has helped create this rivalry. 

"They are not in that situation this year, yet, and hopefully they don’t find themselves that way as we want all teams to stay together and make it a fair race meeting, but that rivalry is very much there and they've got some hungry riders who are not frightened to throw their weight about, so it will be a very interesting match."

The impact of the recent British weather means that it will only be the second time this season, providing their home fixture against Oxford on Tuesday goes ahead as planned, that the Gladiators will have ridden as a full unit, whilst the Pirates are looking to keep their 100% start to the campaign intact.

Poole: 1 Steve Worrall, 2 Anders Rowe, 3 Ben Cook, 4 Zach Cook, 5 Richard Lawson, 6 Kyle Newman, 7 Adam Roynon Team manager Neil Middleditch

Plymouth: 1 Kyle Howarth, 2 Dan Gilkes, 3 Paul Starke, 4 Ben Barker, 5 Richie Worrall, 6 Jake Turner, 7 Ben Trigger Team manager Garry May