WOLVERHAMPTON 55 PIRATES 38

Poole Ready Power Pirates were put to the sword by Wolverhampton and went down 38-55 and have crucially lost the services of inspirational reserve Kyle Newman for Wednesday's return fixture at Wimborne Road.

Newman was involved in a spectacular first turn incident in heat 12 when he became trapped by Josh Bates, high-sided over his machine and brought team-mate Lewis Rose crashing down in the process. The young Dorset lad aggravated an elbow injury and had to withdraw from the re-run leaving Rose the sole Pirate as the visitors were already facing an eleven point defict after conceding their fifth maximum heat defeat of the night when Swedes Jacob Thorssell and Freddie Lindgren led home North and the struggling Kacper Gomolski in heat 11.

Rose had no answers to either Blackbird and Bates and with the weather worsening the Wolves dampened Poole spirits even more by inflicting yet another 5-1 in the wet on the battled-scarred Pirates.

Poole, who were 10-2 down after two heats, however, didnt entirely throw in the towel as the impressive Dakota North burst through in heat 14 to share the heat with Musielak and Wells and then Chris Holder, who earlier had given Poole a small lifeline with a winning double point ride in heat 8,  battled hard to shrug off top Swedes Karlsson and Lindgren, the latter having pulled up well in advance of North falling on the final turn, which enabled the Poole man of the match time to pick his machine up off the slime, remount and cross the line for a consolation 4-2 in the Pirates favour.

After the perfect start for the home side the Pirates did their best to try and hold them to within striking distance, Holder an Rose picking up the first heat advantage in the fifth, but the Wolves' response was a Wells and Musielak 5-1 over Watt and Grajczonek, who had dashed up for Rye House to arrive just about an hour ahead of the Monmore start time.

Prior to Holder's tactical ride Dakota North had claimed a double scalp leading home Karlsson and Lindgren but the out-of-sorts Gomolski was finding the Wolves track very hard to come to terms with. Newman's efforts to back up Holder''s six pointer with a hard earned third place closed the deficit to 5 points but that was as good as it got for the Pirates. Blackbird and Thorsell clocked up another 5-1 for the home side, Watt responding with his best ride of the night to lead home Karlsson who worked his way by Holder in heat 10 before the meeting totally slipped out of the Pirates' grasp..

Wolverhampton 55
F. Lindgren 2',1',2',3,0=8+3
J. Thorssell 3,R,2',3=8+1
T. Musielak 0,2',0,2=4+1
R. Wells 3,3,2,1'=9+1
P. Karlsson 3,2,2,2',2=11+1
L. Blackbird 3,2,0,3,3=11
J. Bates 2',0,2'=4+2
POOLE 38
D. Watt 0,1,3,R=4
C. Holder 1,3,6,1,3=14
D. North 1',3,1,3,1=9+1
K. Gomolski 2,0,0,R=2
J. Grajczonek 2,0,0,1=3
L. Rose 1,1,1=3
K. Newman 0,1',1,1,0=3+1

Ht 1 J. Thorssell F. Lindgren C. Holder D. Watt 5-1 (5-1) (54.29)
Ht 2 L. Blackbird J. Bates L. Rose K. Newman 5-1 (10-2) (54.98)
Ht 3 P. Karlsson J. Grajczonek D. North T. Musielak 3-3 (13-5) (55.02)
Ht 4 R. Wells K. Gomolski K. Newman J. Bates 3-3 (16-8) (55.35)
Ht 5 C. Holder L. Blackbird L. Rose J. Thorssell (Rtd) 2-4 (18-12) (55.39)
Ht 6 R. Wells T. Musielak D. Watt J. Grajczonek 5-1 (23-13) (55.44)
Ht 7 D. North P. Karlsson F. Lindgren K. Gomolski 3-3 (26-16) (55.12)
Ht 8 C. Holder (TR) R. Wells K. Newman L. Blackbird 2-7 (28-23) (55.4)
Ht 9 L. Blackbird J. Thorssell K. Newman K. Gomolski 5-1 (33-24) (56.19)
Ht 10 D. Watt P. Karlsson C. Holder T. Musielak 2-4 (35-28) (55.85)
Ht 11 J. Thorssell F. Lindgren D. North J. Grajczonek 5-1 (40-29) (55.79)
Ht 12 L. Blackbird J. Bates L. Rose K. Newman 5-1 (45-30) (57.48)
Ht 13 F. Lindgren P. Karlsson J. Grajczonek D. Watt (Rtd) 5-1 (50-31) (57.11)
Ht 14 D. North T. Musielak R. Wells K. Gomolski (Rtd) 3-3 (53-34) ()
Ht 15 C. Holder P. Karlsson (Rtd) D. North F. Lindgren 2-4 (55-38) (59.69)

Referee Chris Durno
Gates:  Poole won the toss and took 1&3 in heat 1. Wolverhampton 1&3 in heat 15
Wolverhampton 3 league points - POOLE 0 league points