REACTION: PIRATES LOSE FIRST LEG IN LAST HEAT DECIDER

The Wessex Marine Pirates almost secured a first leg victory in the BSN Series semi-final at Edinburgh on Friday, but a last heat 5-1 from the Monarchs gave them a two-point advantage to bring to Poole on June 10th.

After the final flag on the night it was the first time that Edinburgh had actually led in the meeting, as they fought back from being six points down after the first nine heats. 
Skipper Zach Cook, who was on the wrong end of that heat fifteen defeat,  led the scoring for the Pirates with a paid 12 score and admitted afterwards:

'We can't be upset with the final result. They are a strong team up here and it was a bit nip and tuck early on and they pulled back, what was it, a six-point lead? I think being two points down going into the second leg is not a bad position. The gates here were pretty crucial. There wasn't much off gate three there and we ended up with it in the last race and like I said these boys are good here and once they got in front it was hard to pin them back. Overall I enjoyed the meeting personally. It is a good track once you are out in front, it is just difficult to do anything if you are behind. So you have just got to sit and wait. I was happy with my own performance and I think throughout the whole team everyone did well. If we end up throwing away just a two-point deficit then I think something will have gone very wrong, especially given our previous home form, but that doesn't mean we can take our eye off the ball. We just need to go in as we have been all season and aim for that final.'

Cook and Richard Lawson had given the Pirates some breathing space after the Monarchs had wiped out the six point lead Poole had established, when they combined for an impressive heat 13 maximum, at the expense of Edinburgh's guest Chris Harris, but the home side claimed the final two heat advantages to edge the victory.
If riders were paid on effort alone then Kyle Newman would be a very rich man. He mustered just five points, but each and every one of them he worked tirelessly for, not least his efforts trying to get by Mitchell Cluff in a five-lap heat fourteen. 

A subdued Newman said,
 

'I just couldn't make a start tonight and that made it very difficult. I had a bit of an aggressive engine and to be honest, I like them like that, but I had to fight it a few of them. I was finding a good line off turn four plenty of times but not getting the points I really wanted. It is frustrating as earlier in the season I was making the starts and not finding the speed and now I feel I have got the pace but like I said I am not getting off the line like I need to do. To come away with just five points tonight and having worked so hard it just feels a bit like a robbery. 
But we've got a little bit of a break now, something like ten days, so I can look at the bikes and see what we can do. Work is a bit down for me now so I can get some fitness in and hopefully come back a bit sharper off the traps. 
Right now it feels like a bit of a kicking, having been six up and then losing the meeting. They delivered a sucker punch there in the end and that will make the long journey home not quite so enjoyable than if we had held on for the win. But we knew that Edinburgh is a bit of a tricky track and so whilst it is a shame to have lost, we can reflect that we have come away with a two-point loss which in cup semi-finals is a decent position after one leg.'

Scorers:
EDINBURGH 46 -Justin Sedgmen 12 (2,2,2,3,3) ,Jonatan Grahn 9 (3,0,3,3) ,Kye Thomson 8+1 (3,0,3,0,2') ,Mitchell Cluff 8 (2,2,1,0,3) ,Chris Harris 5+1 (0,2,2',1) ,Jordy Loftus 2+1 (1',1,0,RS) ,Michele Castagna 2+1 (0,0,1',1)
POOLE 44 -Zach Cook 11+1 (2,3,3,2',1) ,Richard Lawson 9+1 (1',3,2,3,0) ,Lewis Kerr 8 (3,3,FD,2) ,William Cairns 5+1 (3,1,0,1') ,Kyle Newman 5 (1,1,1,2) ,Tate Zischke 4+1 (2,1,1',0) ,Cooper Rushen 2 (0,FD,2,0)
Full Heat Details

Photo Credit: Jack Cupido