REACTION: CAPTAIN COOK PLEDGES 'MORE TO COME' AS PIRATES MOVE TOP OF THE TABLE

Poole 'Wessex Marines' Pirate's captain, Ben Cook, was full of praise for his team's performance and claimed there was 'more to come' , as they moved to the top of SCB Cab Direct Championship with a twenty point victory over south west rivals Plymouth.

"It was a good performance tonight from all of the boys and a little bit better for myself as well" claimed the diminutive skipper who has a huge racing heart. "You can't complain at all, the boys dug in deep and showed what we can do around here [Wimborne Road] and I think we are going to keep getting better as well. I am benefitting from getting more meetings. The busier you are the more you can learn and the better you get, I guess. To be honest, I have spruced up a bit of equipment here and it was the first time tonight that I felt I had some speed and that was nice and so we just got to keep it going."

The Pirates stretched away from the Gladiators with a solid mid-meeting phase, picking up twenty points to Plymouth's ten between heats six and ten, after just four points separated the two sides from the opening set of five races.

With Plymouth having two riders withdraw from their final rides, both former Pirates in Nico Covatti and Kyle Newman, the Pirates looked as if they might rack up a sixty plus return but Gladiators' guest Drew Kemp (covering for Dan Thompson who was injured riding for his country in the SON2 in Manchester last Friday) once again returned to Wimborne Road and thwarted the Pirates' plans.

Kemp, a member of Poole's 2022 double winning side, had a none-too auspicious start to the night but finished strong, dropping just one point in his last four rides and denying both Richard Lawson and Tom Brennan maximums on the night.
Poole fans enthusiastically welcomed a 5-1 from Tobias Thomsen and Vinnie Foord in heat eight, both riders having recently come back from injury and it was evident to see just what the result meant to both of them. For Thomsen it was one of two race wins and he scooped the Rider of the Night award to crown his good night's work.

The Pirates now head for Redcar on Friday night as league leaders and but only have a four point advantage in the quest for what would prove to be a vital aggregate bonus point.

Scorers:
POOLE 55 ,Tom Brennan 12+2 (3,3,3,2',1') ,Ben Cook 12+1 (2',2,3,3,2) ,Richard Lawson 10+1 (2',3,2,3) ,Zach Cook 8+2 (3,1',2',2) ,Tobias Thomsen 8+1 (3,1,3,1') ,Sam Hagon 3+1 (1,F,2',0) ,Vinnie Foord 2+1 (0,0,2',0)
PLYMOUTH 35 ,Drew Kemp 12+1 (R,1',3,2,3,3) ,Ben Barker 6 (2,2,1,1,R) ,Jacob Hook 5+1 (3,1',0,0,1) ,Nico Covatti 4 (1,3,R,NS) ,Joe Thompson 3+2 (2',0,0,1') ,Kyle Newman 3 (1,2,FD,TS) ,Alfie Bowtell 2 (0,0,1,1)

Photo credit: Tony Hartmann

Full heat details available here