SAM'S THE MAN AS HAGON CONFIRMED AS RESERVE

Nineteen year-old Sam Hagon has been confirmed as the second rider signed by the Poole Wessex Marine Pirates for the 2024 season.

The Essex born bright British prospect joins the Pirates after a debut SGB Championship season with Birmingham and will start the season on a 2.56 average. The youngster who was a National Development League winner with Mildenhall in 2021 was the 250cc British Youth Champion in 2019 and was a star of the Pirates' impressive win at Scunthorpe in August of this year, when his tigerish performance helped steer Poole to a 47-43 earned him accolades throughout the side, not least from team manager Gary Havelock. He also received considerable plaudits amongst the Poole faithful when he rode for a Swindon Select side at Wimborne Road in a May challenge fixture. 

Announcing the move from Birmingham, Poole promoter Dan Ford said, "it’s a pleasure to welcome Sam to the team for 2024, he caught our attention a few times last season and it was great to see him in a Poole team environment at Scunthorpe. The way he fitted into the team so seamlessly on that occasion, mixing with all the lads was great to see and the whole team were so impressed with him. So, when the reduced points limit was finalised Sam was one of our first ports of call as we realised we would be looking for someone with his kind of average at the bottom end of the side and fill a reserve berth. I have to say the deal was done quickly and very easy with Sam as he seemed so keen to come to Poole, which is highly encouraging. One thing about Sam is that he is on fantastic equipment, as you would expect being a member of the Hagon dynasty and that is always a positive. He is so full of enthusiasm and a real race and if we can just work with him on his gating skills throughout the year then he is going to be a real force, particularly down at reserve where he will be coming up against riders of a similar level of experience and it wouldn't surprise me if he became the best of them."

The enthusiastic Hagon claimed, "I was delighted to receive a call from Matt asking me to join Poole for the 2024 season. I have always wanted to ride for Poole as they are a great club and have a great history of winning. "
Turning to his personal targets, Sam, who has been given the opportunity to go down to Australia during the winter and get some meetings there under his belt, admitted "I would love to hit the ground running and be scoring consistently, with a view to working my way into the main body of the team by the end of the season"

Hagon will be one Pirate with racing knowledge of the Workington circuit, a track which he rode at on four occasions last season, including a fourteen point haul in the British U21 Championship semi-final, a competition in which he eventually finished in eighth place in the final at Glasgow.