Poole Pirates 2010-2019 Review

With the advent of the twenty twenties and a new era for Poole Speedway comes time for a quick reflection on the "twenty teens", a period that brought the club five Elite titles, including a record equalling three in a row, reach the play-offs every season, (only failing to make the grand finals on three occasions), saw a world champion crowned but anguished the dark side of the sport as one of their own suffered a life-changing, life-threatening and career ending crash.

The Pirates looked set to launch the teens with a dominating campaign. They finished the regular league campaign 17 points of nearest rivals Wolverhampton but entered the grand final facing fourth-place finishers Coventry who remarkably had accumulated 26 points less than table-topping Poole. But the play-offs are there to be won and former Pirates captain Alun Rossiter fired up his Coventry Bees to produce one of the most incredible nights of speedway at Wimborne Road.  The void between the two clubs was reset and when, on September 27th the Bees picked up a 12-point advantage from the first leg, it was evident that the Pirates needed to deliver something special. Seven heats into that second leg and eight of those 12 points pulled back many sensed a Pirate victory, but few had bargained on the fact that Coventry's Chris Harris, a heat four faller, would bounce back in such a sensational fashion. Five unbeaten rides thereafter for the Cornishman, who incidentally was to produce even more memories eight years later as a home rider at Wimborne Road, masterminded a 10-point win for Coventry to take the title 79-101. 

Unabashed, a season on and the Pirates were again a dominant force, topping the league standings and disposing of both King's Lynn (semi-finals) and Eastbourne (final) in emphatic style. As in 2010, the Pirates claimed the KO Cup , beating Belle Vue in the 2011 final to complete a much deserved double.

Way back at the start of the previous decade Poole had, in 2000 enjoyed the sight of hailing home a world champion when Mark Loram became only the sixth Englishman to win the title. Twelve years on and the bunting was out again, this time for Australia's 5th world champion, Chris Holder who clinched the crown on a momentous  night in Torun on the 6th October. But sadly, the Pirates weren't able to make Holder's home coming a total success, for that guy Rossiter was in town again, this time as the Swindon Robin's helmsman and once again it was the Rosco smile that prevailed as the Wiltshire side resolutely defended their seven point first leg lead to hold Poole to a 45-44 Wimborne Road result that denied the Pirates the title but ended a 45 year drought for the Robins.

Turbulence was the vogue word of 2013 for Poole. Injuries wrecked all of the team building plans to such an extent that of the seven riders introduced on Press Day only three remained in the side the night the Pirates remarkably claimed their second title of the Teens, their fifth under Matt Ford's tenureship. Undisputedly the most serious injury was suffered by the reigning world champion Chris Holder. Trapped under the air-fence at Coventry the brilliant Holder sustained a broken hip together with a heel break and a broken shoulder. A devastating blow to Poole's aspirations but then came a masterstroke from Ford. If they couldn't have the world number one why not go for the world number three - Greg Hancock. 

In the face of adversity sprung optimism and it became no surprise to many that Poole once again found themselves hunting down the title. 

To further highlight the plight of that campaign, the Pirates even needed to cover for one of that rider trio, Rohan Tungate, who was forced to miss the end of season after sustaining a hand injury in a horror crash whilst riding for his second tier side Ipswich. 

Poole did enough to recover from a first leg semi-final defeat at Swindon to progress to the Grand Final with a 97-90 aggregate victory over the Robins which led them to a confrontation with first time finalists Birmingham. A resounding 21 point home win (51-36) on October 7th preceded a 47-43 away win at Perry Barr, Darcy Ward dropping just one point in his 10 rides in that Final, that to fellow countrymen and a future World champion Jason Doyle!

The following season brought more history to the club, with the Pirates representing the country in the first ever European competition, where they finished second behind Sweden's Piraterna in the World Speedway League, a competition that also featured Polish hosts Zielona Gora and  Danish side Esbjerg. That meeting, initially planned for the end of August, fell in between the two legs of the Pirates' Grand Final which saw them face Coventry. The first of those legs, held at Coventry, had been restricted to just 12 heats as the awful 2014 weather intervened and caused an early finish. Poole held a slender three point lead at the time and, fresh back from the Poland, went about confirming their back-to-back titles with a 53-37 home win. During that season they had to cover for the loss of services of Darcy Ward who had to serve an FIM ban after failing a breath test ahead of the hastily rearranged Latvian Grand Prix. That punishment also meant Ward was unavailable for the start of the 2015 season, which was to prove to be the darkest of all for the club, due to the events of Sunday 23rd August.

News began to reach the club early evening that Ward, although on loan at Swindon, had been taken to hospital after a crash in Poland and was in such a serious condition that Pirates' team manager Neil Middleditch, Ward's landlord, immediately rushed out to be with the 23 year old. Dark clouds hung over the club with Matt Ford admitting he was prepared to close the doors at Wimborne Road and end the season there and then. 

Ford was talked round and the season continued under the slogan "Do It For Darcy". And do it they did! The Pirates equalled Belle Vue's achievements of the seventies by winning three titles on the bounce, most fittingly beating Belle Vue in the final!.

It would be another three seasons before Poole lifted the trophy again as in both 2016 and 2017 the Pirates couldn't make it past their respective semi-final opponents of Wolverhampton and Swindon, both of whom went on to become title winners those seasons. 

In 2018 the Pirates place in the final was secured by that man Harris - the same one that had denied them the 2012 title - as he produced arguably the ride of the decade to reel in Somerset's Jason Doyle in the final heat of a dramatic semi-final that had been marred by the loss of two bright Australian hopes Brady Kurtz (Poole) and Jack Holder (Somerset, on loan from Poole). Those two had been victims of a heat four crash and the incident certainly turned things in Poole's favour. The Pirates strung four successive 5-1's between heats 8 and 11 together to put themselves back on course for the final, but still the aggregate scores were level going into heat 15. Doyle was leading the way out front and Harris had just one thing on his mind as he reeled him in, determined to get Poole to the final, where King's Lynn awaited.

Mission accomplished and the Pirates went on to claim the title with a four point aggregate cushion but that fifth title of the decade, the eighth under Matt Ford's ownership was tempered as no sooner had the medals been handed out then it was announced the club was up for sale - at the right price.

No winter buyers came forward and Ford, insistent that his intention was still to sell if he could, appointed son Danny and business colleague Anthony Tilley as co-promoters, as Matt himself was keen to progress other business ventures abroad that would consume considerable amounts of his time. 

But even  with a new(ish) team at the helm, things didn't change a great deal and just as the 2018 semi-final featured a string of maximum heat scores, so too did the 2019 version. Ipswich the visitors to Wimborne Road for the first leg and the Witches making life extremely difficult for the Pirates as they held a 10 point advantage after 10 heats. But Poole rallied and closed out the first leg with five maximum heat scores to give themselves a fighting chance a Foxhall Heath by holding a 10 point lead of their own.

But on a rare Saturday night final the Pirates didn't show and Ipswich swiftly wrote off the deficit, to lead on aggregate at the end of the 9th race. By the time the final curtain fell on the Teens for Poole, the Pirates had slipped to an aggregate defeat 86-94.

An incident packed period in the Teens with no fewer than 64 different riders of 11 different nationalities riding on contract for the Pirates during which the club won 219 matches, drew 20, lost 120 and had a further four victories expunged. 

Those statistics contributed to:
Five Elite/Premiership league titles (2011, 2013, 2014, 2015 & 2018),
Three Knockout cup successes (2010, 2011, 2012)
Six Elite/Premiership Shield conquests  (2012, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 & 2019)

The vision for 2020 will be much of the same - success, success and more success

2020 Season Ticket Available now!

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Wimborne Rd,
Poole
BH15 2BP

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