BUSY WEEKEND FOR PIRATES UP NORTH

Poole 'Wessex Marine' Pirates prepare for a busy weekend that will culminate in a special occasion for number one Richard Lawson.
 

The Cumbrian born 38 year old will celebrate his Testimonial meeting at Wimborne Road on Sunday (5pm) just over 24 hours after riding for the Pirates in his home county as they face Workington in the second leg semi-final of the BSN series. That meeting, itself, comes less then twenty fours after Poole are due to sign off their regular league campaign knowing a victory at Edinburgh is needed to really keep the pressure on top-spot hopefuls Oxford.

Should Poole collect that victory at Armadale then, Edinburgh would remain bottom of the table with just one further opportunity to lift themselves off the basement, whilst Poole would finish their league fixtures with 34 points, the maximum that Oxford can achieve should they gain wins at Plymouth, Scunthorpe and Glasgow. The side that finishes first will then face the team finishing fourth in the play-off semi-finals, the second and third teams also meeting each other.

Looking ahead to the schedule Dan Ford said "As we head north, the fixture against Edinburgh is absolutely pivotal. A win is essential to keep the pressure on Oxford as we fight for that all-important top spot in the league standings. We can't afford any more slip-ups. Moving on to Workington, we’ve set ourselves up nicely with a strong performance at home in the first leg. Our riders have already proven they like the track, so the focus is on closing this one out and securing our spot in BSN Series Final.”

Vinnie Foord has been doing everything possible to try and get back from his shoulder injury and given the fact that on Poole's league visit to Workington the youngster scored an impressive paid eight from four rides , the Pirates would no doubt have wanted to welcome him back for this mini-Northern tour. However, more recent scans have indicated that the shoulder needs more healing time, and so the Pirates will continue to use guests for him, with Paul Starke coming in on Friday and Ben Trigger taking the duty on Saturday, as Starke lines-up for his present Championship club.

Both opponents over the weekend have injury problems of their own with Edinburgh losing the services of Justin Sedgmen who came back from a lay-off only last week but after two winning rides suffered a crash that has ended his season, and they received further news of further problems when Kye Thomsen was injured in Sweden recently. The Monarchs draft in Drew Kemp and Troy Batchelor as guest replacements. As for Workington, they have already lost the services of impressive Australian Tate Zischke and have had Claus Vissing sidelined with a broken hand and shoulder injury. Jye Etheridge will replace Vissing and Jason Edwards will do likewise for Zischke.

The date for Poole's second leg of the KO Cup semi-final has now been scheduled, with the Pirates travelling to Scunthorpe on Friday September 6th holding a thirty-one point lead as they seek to fulfil their fourth cup final appearance in as many seasons.

Teams:
Edinburgh: (TM John Campbell] 1 Josh Pickering 2 Kye Thomson 3 Lasse Fredriksen 4 Michele Castagana (Capt) 5 Guest 6 Max James 7 Connor Coles
Poole (TM Dan Ford/Gary Havelock) 1 Richard Lawson 2 Sam Hagon 3 Ben Cook (Capt) 4 Zach Cook 5 Tom Brennan 6 Tobias Thomsen 7 Paul Starke (Guest)
Workington: (TM: James Denham] 1 Craig Cook (Capt) 2 Guest 3 Antti Vuolas 4 (Guest) 5 Troy Batchelor 6 Sam McGurk 7 Paul Starke
Poole (TM Dan Ford/Gary Havelock) 1 Richard Lawson 2 Sam Hagon 3 Ben Cook (Capt) 4 Zach Cook 5 Tom Brennan 6 Tobias Thomsen 7 Ben Trigger (Guest)