REACTION: SLENDER SIX POINT LEAD BUT PIRATES CAMP CONFIDENT FOR A GRAND FINAL PLACE

The Wimborne Road win machine, 'Rocketman' Richard Lawson once again prevailed with a faultless fifteen point maximum in the first leg of the SCB Cab Direct Championship Play-Off semi-final, which managed to get completed at the third attempt.

Lawson led by example but the resilient Redcar Bears will favour themselves to progress to the final after holding the Wessex Marine Pirates to a 48-42 score line, but the mood in the Poole camp is one of confidence.

Skipper Zach Cook who returned a paid nine score said "everyone was working hard in the pits tonight and there were no complaints. Redcar are a solid team and they thought they had it there for a minute and it didn't look good and so to have these six points we can be happy with that and we will just have to go there now and fight them at Redcar."
Poole fans will have felt they were a bit unfortunate to have Tobias Thomsen disqualified from heat ten after the referee initially adjudged faller Jason Edwards as being ineligible for the re-run. Thomsen had clearly moved at the start and when the referee looked back at the television footage it became apparent that Thomsen had not only moved, but touched the tapes in the process, which can only result in a disqualification, and, technically as that offence had occurred prior to Edwards' fall then the decision to disqualify Edwards was rescinded. In the re-start though Lawson managed to secure his third of five race wins, which now takes his home tally of unbeaten rides in 2025 to 59, of which 24 have been achieved in the last five home meetings.  

The Pirates held a slender two point lead after the first five heats with 5-1's being traded in the four of those, but were then held to an equal share of the points over the next five heats, during which time Redcar edged ahead through a 5-1 from Ace Pijper and Jake Mulford over Will Cairns and Thomsen, underlining their team manager Gavin Parr's view that his younger riders could well be the key to this tie. After the controversy of heat ten, the Pirates came out marginally the stronger side over the final five heats with a brace of 4-2 advantages falling either side of a string of three shared heats. 

The second leg of the tie is scheduled for Sunday 5th October, meanwhile the Pirates have two other key away semi-final legs to contest, at Glasgow in the KO Cup next Tuesday and more imminently in the BSN Series tomorrow (Wednesday) when they make the short trip up the A34 complete with a 26 point to face the Oxford Cheetahs, the Pirates again naming an unchanged seven.

Scorers:
POOLE 48 -Richard Lawson 15 (3,3,3,3,3) ,Lewis Kerr 9+1 (2',1,3,3) ,Anders Rowe 9 (3,3,3,0) ,Zach Cook 8+1 (3,0,2',2,1) ,Paul Starke 3+1 (1,FD,1,0,1') ,Tobias Thomsen 2+1 (2',0,0,XE) ,William Cairns 2 (0,1,1,0,RS)
REDCAR 42 -Danny King 9 (2,2,1,2,2) ,Charles Wright 7+1 (1,3,2,1',0) ,Nick Morris 6+2 (1,1',1',3) ,Ace Pijper 6 (3,0,3,0) ,Jason Edwards 6 (0,2,2,2) ,Jody Scott 4+3 (2',1',0,1') ,Jake Mulford 4+2 (0,2',2',0)
 

Heat Details and Meeting report

Photo Credit: Liam Cockwell