TREBLE SEEKING PIRATES NEED TO WIN BY THREE FOR THIRD TITLE

Experienced campaigner Paul Starke believes returning to Poole this season was one, if not the, best moves of his career. Re-joining the Pirates seven years on from his very brief one meeting spell in May 2018, Starke came in on a 3.36 and has put nearly half a point on the figure for his Green Sheet average.

But his contribution to the side has been far more valuable than that, with a string of key third places gaining heat advantages or point share, particularly during the Pirates tough run in to the season where they have been picking up titles.

Starke said "From a personal point of view I don't think I have scored quite as well as I would have liked but it has been a great season and I have enjoyed being part of this team. Its often tough out there and I have tried my best but not always got the points I would have been happier with."

Starke has a chance to sign off the 2025 campaign on Wednesday as a treble winner adding to his 2015 Elite league title as well as the Elite Shield which Poole won that year. 

With the Pirates needing to turn around a two-point deficit from the first leg of the BSN Series Final at Redcar last Saturday, the goal is to achieve a unique back-to-back treble. 

Starke's team boss Neil Middleditch is optimistic but equally cautious as he aims to see the Pirates win their 34th trophy under his tenure as team manager. "The job's not done yet. Redcar can ride our track well and so they do pose a threat  but you can't complain about being just two points down. It is close enough at this stage but there is a lot of racing to come. Saturday was an off-night for Richard (Lawson), again perhaps,  after not winning a programmed race for the second night running, but how often can you say that about the guy. But everybody else pulled their weight and Zach was again very solid, Lewi Kerr great, Anders a good night with just one blib and even Toby and the reserves did their bit too. Havvy and I said to the boys at the start of the meeting, after that hype of last night we just had to reset and go again and I felt they applied themselves really well. They will have had a few more days for recovery and to enjoy the achievement of the season so far with the league and cup double and for sure they will have the taste for another title by Wednesday night. We will need to be on it from the get-go  as Redcar and that will very much be my job, although these boys know what is expected of them. 

Once again Poole go with an unchanged seven but Redcar have opted to go down the rider replacement route to cover the absence of the ill Erik Riss. It means that team boss Gavin Parr has plenty of options as all bar Charles Wright are eligible to take one of the four programmed rides, and they have also named Stene Pijper as their number eight.

Teams 
Poole  (TM Neil Middleditch) 1 Richard Lawson 2 Tobias Thomsen 3 Lewis Kerr 4 Zach Cook (Capt) 5 Anders Rowe 6 Paul Starke 7 William Cairns 
Redcar (TM Gavin Parr) 1 Charles Wright (Capt)  2 Rider Replacement for Erik Riss 3 Jason Edwards 4 Jake Mulford  5 Danny King 6 Jody Scott 7 Ace Pijper

Photo credit: Tony Hartmann