REACTION: PIRATES MAKE IT A GRIZZLY NIGHT FOR THE BEARS

It was no picnic in Poole for the Redcar Bears on Wednesday night as the Pirates moved into a two point advantage at the top of the league table, albeit at an early stage of the season, courtesy of a 51-39 victory.

The result was achieved alongside the early withdrawal of the impressive Anders Rowe, who missed his final programmed ride with a groin injury that also left him unavailable for heat fifteen.

Spearheading the Poole assault was the 'Rocketman' Richard Lawson, who at times defied Elton John's lyrics " I think it's gonna be a long, long time 'Til touchdown brings me 'round again" as he stormed round the Wimborne Road circuit in sub sixty seconds, to touchdown in the pits a clear race winner.

Lawson missed out on a maximum when he left himself just a little too much to do in heat fifteen against the returning Danny King, who, as his reception proved, is always appreciated at Poole.

Scooping the Rider of the Night award, Lawson said , [of missing out on a paid maximum in that nominated heat] "Good old Danny , you know he's a good racer and it's good to see him back here doing well, but every cloud has a silver lining, it's good for the average! My times were interesting tonight, there was a bit of dirt there on the outside and if you got in and were committed,  it would really pull you round but yeah, I just want to say it was a great performance by the lads again tonight."

"We've had some slow starts to meetings and this was always going to be a tough test. We said on the track walk that it doesn't get much tougher than this and in the end we really showed what we can do. We set ourselves a very high standard here at Poole and have done for years and years but it's been a kind of slow start for the team this year but this last week I feel we are beginning to hit top gear and its good to see it."

Lawson and Tobias Thomsen gave Poole the strongest start with a 5-1, a score that the reserves followed up with in heat two and it took a class ride from Danny King to prevent a third one being posted. But, arguably the best ride of the night came courtesy of Anders Rowe in heat four as he timed his pass of Erik Riss, a rider he pursued for a full four laps, and just swept by on the line.

Poole also thwarted a heat nine tactical ride, offered up to King, with the Bears trailing by ten points. Lewis Kerr and Zach Cook combined perfectly to lead home Riss and move fourteen points clear.

The Pirates might well have increased that, had it not been for Rowe's withdrawal as they had to cover heat thirteen with reserve Paul Starke, whilst Tobias Thomsen gained a rare heat fifteen nomination.

POOLE 51 ,Richard Lawson 13+1 (2',3,3,3,2) ,Lewis Kerr 10 (2,2,3,3) ,Tobias Thomsen 7 (3,1,3,0,0) ,Zach Cook 6+3 (1',1',2',2) ,Anders Rowe 6 (3,1,2,RS) ,Darryl Ritchings 5+1 (2',1,1,1) ,Paul Starke 4+1 (3,0,1',0,0)
REDCAR 39 ,Danny King 14 (3,3,0,2,3,3) ,Charles Wright 8+1 (1,3,3,1') ,Erik Riss 8 (2,2,1,2,1) ,Joe Thompson 5+2 (0,2',1',2) ,Ace Pijper 2 (1,0,0,1) ,Jake Mulford 2 (0,0,2,0) ,Sonny Springer 0 (0,0,TS,0)