REACTION: PIRATES TAKE POINT OFF LEAGUE LEADERS

Poole 'Wessex Marine' Pirates rocked league leaders Scunthorpe on Friday night when they became the first team this season to take an SGB Cab Direct Championship league point away with them, following a dramatic but well-deserved draw at the Eddie Wright Raceway.

An inspired choice of guest to cover the injured Fraser Bowes saw Edward Kennett perform well beyond expectations, scoring paid 14, which included setting up a vital heat fourteen 4-2 advantage with Cooper Rushen that took the closely fought match into a last-heat decider, with the scores level.

Although the Pirates weren't able to pull off victory, skipper Zach Cook battled hard and with intense determination to hold off Luke Harrison and back up Richard Lawson in the concluding heat of the night, as Josh Pickering completed a paid maximum for the league leaders.

Speaking of his guest appearance, Kennett said, 

'You know, I'm so happy and proud of myself. I mean, I've been through a lot of stuff over the last four years, not riding, and it just makes me feel proud when I go and do that. I still believe in myself. That I can still go out there and win races and beat some good riders. And it's nice to be back wearing a Poole jacket, you know, because I've always got a lot of time for the fans down there and the management. You know, they always look after me. So it's nice, and hopefully I can get a few more guest bookings if Matt wants me, and especially if I could come down to Poole again and ride some more. But on a personal note, in myself, I feel happy, and I'm just enjoying riding my bike again.'

Kennett had ridden the same track just a week ago for his current club, Oxford, so had he learnt anything from that experience?

'Like last week, I didn't score in two of my rides because I was having bike problems, but I probably felt the same on the bike last week as I did tonight. I had a win and a second last week but, what was it, three wins and a paid one plus a paid third. I mean, I've always had good meetings here, and it's a track that I actually quite like riding.'

Skipper Cook, who scored paid nine, admitted, 

'We knew it wasn't going to be easy. They're dialled in here, especially their young boys. They're pretty good around here. I think a lot of people probably underestimate them, and no, they stuck it to us. We knew it was going to be tough to get a win, and I think all the boys should be proud for getting a draw, and it sets us up nicely for the bonus point. Going into that last heat, we knew Picko was going to be hard to beat if he got out in front, so the main focus was to make at least second and third places. We couldn't afford a last, and we did that. The track was better tonight than the last time we were here but, like I said, these Scunny boys are good around here, so I think we can be proud to get the draw. It's kick-started our season, and we go to Workington tomorrow. It seems like forever since we were there last year. It's another good track; I don't think anyone would hate that place. So we're looking forward to it and, hopefully, putting on another good performance and some more points on the road.'

Poole led four times against the Scorpions, but there were never more than two points between the two sides throughout the night. Two vital and convincing race wins were recorded by William Cairns, his first being achieved in the fastest time of the night, 57.04 seconds—a performance from the youngster that caught the eye of team manager Gary Havelock.

'Overall, that was a proper Poole performance, so different from our last meeting when we were at Berwick. That heat fourteen result was impressive, but everyone turned in a shift for us tonight, from one to seven. Everyone chipped in. Will had two last places but, come on, the two he won were phenomenal. It's different for us now, having him and Cooper in the main body of the team. We can't just throw them in when we want to. That might hinder us a bit, but when the team comes together as they did tonight, then we have shown we can do. I mean, looking at Cooper's score tonight, it might not look like the best, but every second of every lap he's giving it 110% and, you know, that's what we love about him.'

SCUNTHORPE 45 – Josh Pickering 14+1 (3, 3, 3, 2', 3), Luke Harrison 11+1 (1, 3, 1', 3, 3, 0), Nathan Ablitt 9+1 (1, 2, RS, 2', 2, 0, 2), Ryan Ingram 6 (0, 3, RS, 1, 1, 1, 0), Dan Gilkes 4 (3, 1, 0, 0, RS), Michael Palm-Toft 1 (0, 0, 1, RS)

POOLE 45 – Edward Kennett 12+2 (3, 1', 2', 3, 3), Richard Lawson 9+1 (2, 2', 2, 1, 2), Zach Cook 8+1 (2, 2, 3, 0, 1'), Lewis Kerr 6+1 (2, 0, 2, 2'), William Cairns 6 (0, 3, 3, 0), Cooper Rushen 3+1 (1', 1, 0, 1), Kyle Newman 1 (1, 0, 0, RS)

Heat Details of meeting

Photo credit: Ian Rispin