SOMERSET 47 PIRATES 43

The VOLVO CARS POOLE PIRATES dropped their first Premiership points of the season in the second slice of Good Friday action when they visited the Oak Tree Arena.

With another replacement guest rider needing to be sought after their morning guest Nick Morris (a late replacement for Danny King) was forced to pull out of the second booking due to a lack of machinery, Poole promoter Matt Ford was left with few options. He did secure the services of Jason Garrity but it was a trip with few memories for the Redcar rider who is still seeking a Premiership berth after the closure of Coventry.
A tapes offence in the opening heat was start of a bad night and despite putting in real effort Garrity failed to trouble the scorers all night and left the Pirates scraping for points from other quarters.
Skipper Hans Andersen was in good form, on only his second visit to the Somerset venue and his two wins across heats 13 and 15 were valuable in Poole scrounging a league point from this meeting.
The Rebels rapidly built up an advantage as they resolved to make up for their morning disappointment and although Kurtz, back on his former stomping ground, stormed to a heat 3 victory, backed up by Kerr's point, the Pirates had little to cheer in the early exchanges.
Trailing by 8 after 5, the Danish duo (Andersen and Klindt) duly delivered in heat 6 to halve the deficit and were able to cling on to the relatively small four point deficit through until heat 10.
Grajczonek and Allen then sprung a 5-1 in heat 11 and Poole were in dire need of an instant response. Jake Allen failed to negotiate the first turn and crashed out earning a disqualification and in the re-run Kerr and Klindt combined for the urgently needed maximum heat advantage to again slice the deficit in halve. With Hougaard beating Kurtz in heat 14 and Allen taking third place the Pirates were in danger of leaving the OTA pointless but Captain Hans came to the rescue and stormed to the win, Kurtz ensuring the visitors closed out with a heat advantage as he finished clear of backmarker Hougaard

SOMERSET 47
R. Tungate 3,1,3,1'=8+1
P. Starke 2',0,1',0=3+2
C. Wright 0,3,1',1=5+1
P. Hougaard 2,2',2,3,0=9+1
J. Grajczonek 3,3,3,2,2=13
J. Allen 3,2,2',FD,1=8+1
J. Graversen 0,1,0=1
POOLE 43
J. Garrity 0,0,0=0
J. Holder 0,1,3,1=5
L. Kerr 1,1',1',3=6+2
B. Kurtz 3,2,2,2,1=10
H. Andersen 2,2',3,3,3=13+1
N. Klindt 1,2,3,0,0,2'=8+1
J. Shanes 1',0,0=1+1

Ht 1 R. Tungate P. Starke N. Klindt J. Holder 5-1 (5-1) (57.53)
Ht 2 J. Allen N. Klindt J. Shanes J. Graversen 3-3 (8-4) (57.67)
Ht 3 B. Kurtz P. Hougaard L. Kerr C. Wright 2-4 (10-8) (57.35)
Ht 4 J. Grajczonek H. Andersen J. Graversen J. Shanes 4-2 (14-10) (58.09)
Ht 5 C. Wright P. Hougaard J. Holder J. Garrity 5-1 (19-11) (58.81)
Ht 6 N. Klindt H. Andersen R. Tungate P. Starke 1-5 (20-16) (58.63)
Ht 7 J. Grajczonek B. Kurtz L. Kerr J. Graversen 3-3 (23-19) (58.91)
Ht 8 J. Holder J. Allen P. Starke N. Klindt 3-3 (26-22) (58.72)
Ht 9 H. Andersen P. Hougaard C. Wright N. Klindt 3-3 (29-25) (58.97)
Ht 10 R. Tungate B. Kurtz L. Kerr P. Starke 3-3 (32-28) (58.59)
Ht 11 J. Grajczonek J. Allen J. Holder J. Garrity 5-1 (37-29) (59.07)
Ht 12 L. Kerr N. Klindt C. Wright J. Allen (Fell d/q) 1-5 (38-34) (59.25)
Ht 13 H. Andersen J. Grajczonek R. Tungate J. Garrity 3-3 (41-37) (59.09)
Ht 14 P. Hougaard B. Kurtz J. Allen J. Shanes 4-2 (45-39) (59.41)
Ht 15 H. Andersen J. Grajczonek B. Kurtz P. Hougaard 2-4 (47-43) (58.4)

Referee Craig Ackroyd
Gates: Somerset won toss and took 1&3. Poole took 1&3 in heat 15
SOMERSET 3 league point POOLE 1 league point
Rider of the Night: Hans Andersen