REACTION: PIRATES MAKE HARD WORK OF ACHIEVING UNBEATEN GOAL

The Poole 'Wessex Marine' Pirates just about achieved their goal of remaining unbeaten at home in SCB Cab Direct Championship league campaign, but for the third successive meeting there were real signs of the fortress walls being breached.

Plymouth arrived without marquee signing Nicolai Klindt, had two guests at reserve, and lost the services of fighter Ben Barker in  his second ride, but still managed to restrict the Pirates to just six points in the final analysis.Poole's positives from this 48-42 victory was another sublime performance from Richard Lawson, the Rocketman dropping just a single point and since his uncharacteristically start at Redcar has only been beaten once in his past thirteen rides for the Pirates

It was Dan Thompson, standing in for Klindt, after getting out on the favoured outside line in heat thirteen,who inflicted that defeat on Lawson, the Poole number one admitting "it was my fault that I dropped that point. I was spinning at the start so I tried to run Dan deep into that first bend hoping that he might back out of there  , but he didn't, so fair play to him, he beat me straight up. [In fairness to Plymouth] they pushed us real hard, Scotty [Scott Nicholls] looked back to his best and it hasn't taken him long. I would have liked to have won by a bigger score but we've got the points on the board and that's what counts."

Anders Rowe had, by his very high standards a lowish return but provided one of the most stunning recoveries when he fended off Lasse Fredriksen for a mere point in heat eleven. He commented "Tonight wasn't the most fun I've ever had in my life, but it is one of those things. You can't win every race.  It's annoying and for some reason or another it just wasn't going my way today. So I just need to get out the starts better, which I am not doing here. Everywhere else I seem to manage it but not here right now . So it's back to the drawing board and figure that out. Heat eleven was tough. I did debate at one stage whether I wanted that one point or not but it was either that or me go into the fence so I chose the one point!" Rowe also dismissed internet speculation that his drop in form is related to an injury he sustained earlier in the season. "No, that is old news now and we are on a new thing now and just trying to get me off the start line as that is how you win races. It's not always so easy to pass so if you get off the start you can make life easier for yourself."

Poole were holding a six point advantage going into heat seven and Plymouth deployed Scott Nicholls as a tactical substitute to join Ben Barker in a bid to haul themselves back in the game. But Barker took a heavy fall trying to round Rowe between turns three and four and dislocated his shoulder in the process ending his night prematurely. But even with a man down, and reliant on their reserves to cover his remaining rides, Plymouth refused to give in and provided six of the nine race winners from the restart of heat seven to the conclusion of the meeting.Reserve Paul Starke had the broadest of smiles on his face when nominated as the Rider of the Night for his hard earned paid nine return and "we've been trying lots of things lately and you know, concentrating on the starts. That's the biggest one you know. and tonight I made a few and got a few points so let's keep it going. We will just keep pushing forward and hopefully get a few more wins under my belt."

Poole now travel to Plymouth on Saturday (August 9th 7pm) for their penultimate regular league fixture and hold a slender six point advantage in the chase for the bonus point.

POOLE 48 ,Richard Lawson 14 (3,3,3,2,3) ,Paul Starke 7+2 (2',1',2,2) ,Lewis Kerr 7+1 (3,0,1',3,0) ,William Cairns 6+1 (3,1',2,0) ,Zach Cook 6+1 (1,2,2,1') ,Anders Rowe 5+1 (2,2,1',0) ,Tobias Thomsen 3+1 (0,1,1',1) ,PLYMOUTH 42 ,Scott Nicholls 13+1 (3,2,3,3,1,1') ,Dan Thompson 13 (2,3,3,3,2) ,Lasse Fredriksen 5+1 (1',1,3,0) ,Darryl Ritchings 4+1 (1,0,RS,0,RS,2,1',0) ,Joe Thompson 3 (0,TS,0,3) ,Max Perry 2 (0,RS,0,RS,0,2,RS) ,Ben Barker 2 (2,FD,NS,NS)

MATCH REPORT AND HEAT DETAILS

Photo credit Tony Hartmann