REACTION: PIRATES COME THROUGH TOUGHEST TEST SO FAR

League leaders Poole 'Wessex Marine' Pirates protected their unbeaten home league record with a hard fought victory over local rivals Oxford, the only visiting side to Wimborne Road this season that have overturned the Pirates in Dorset.

There were plenty of signs that the Cheetahs were intent on repeating their BSN visit, inspired this time by reserve Francis Gusts , but Richard Lawson closed out his home July matches in the same fashion as he had begun the month, by producing an infallible full five ride maximum, which he admitted was far from easy.
"Tonight was very tough. I think that has been the hardest match so far this season.  We had to work hard for it. We all just battled you know. It was one of those meetings that I knew was going to go down to heat fifteen and yeah, it is was just that, they ran us close but we got the win. I hadn't realised Francis Gusts had never been here before. He was flying and I think he rides this place better than he rides Oxford and that is saying something. But right throughout they had a solid team and like I said it was a tough evening and I am just glad we got through. Going into heat fifteen, Matt Ford came up to me and whispered in my ear and told me what we needed to get and when you are sandwiched between their two best riders I knew I had to make a good one. They out gated me in the initial run but in the second one Sam made a really good one and I just had to battle into that first turn and fortunately I got around."

In a close encounter throughout, Poole were able to generate a six point lead when Lawson and Tobias Thomsen battled for a 4-2 in heat ten to back up the previous maximum heat advantage that the mid-order pairing of Lewis Kerr and Zach Cook had secured. But Gusts and Masters hauled the Cheetahs right back into the meeting with a 5-1  over Anders Rowe and Paul Starke, that was to set up the tense climax to the match.

The first shared heat of the night came as late as heat twelve with Lewi Kerr claiming his third victory of the evening. Rowe made a telling pass in heat thirteen to get by Jonas Knudsen to double Poole's advantage to four points and Captain Cook emphatically saw off an intense early challenge from both Gusts and Mitch McDiarmid, establishing only the second shared heat and keeping Poole in the driving seat for victory. Lawson sensationally completed his maximum and Cook wasn't too far off from getting by Masters, the resulting 4-2 giving Poole six points to defend for the bonus point when they travel to Oxford on August 20th.

POOLE 48 - Richard Lawson 15 (3,3,3,3,3) ,Zach Cook 10+1 (1,3,2',3,1) ,Lewis Kerr 10 (3,1,3,3) ,Anders Rowe 6 (2,2,1,1) ,Tobias Thomsen 4+1 (1,2',0,1) ,William Cairns 2 (0,0,2,0,R) ,Paul Starke 1 (1,0,0,RS) 
OXFORD 42 ,Francis Gusts 12 (3,1,3,3,2,0) ,Sam Masters 10+1 (2,2,2',2,2) ,Luke Killeen 6+1 (2',1,1,2) ,Mitch McDiarmid 6+1 (2,3,0,1') ,Zaine Kennedy 4+1 (0,1,2,1') , Jonas Knudsen 3 (3,R,0,0) ,Cameron Heeps 1 (0,0,1,RS)
 

Heat Details

Photo credit Liam Cockwell