POOLE Pirates stormed to the top of the Elite League and ended Coventry’s four-month unbeaten home run with a remarkable performance at Brandon.

A threadbare line-up that included two guests and rider replacement for Darcy Ward charged to a 50-40 triumph against their play-off rivals and guaranteed at least second spot in the process.

Finishing top - and therefore earning the choice of play-off semi-final opponents – is still possible but King’s Lynn remain favourites given that they have a meeting in hand.

However, that is far from Pirates minds tonight after a patched-up side delivered one of the wins of the campaign in front of the Sky Sports cameras.

There were a number of superb individual displays, with Maciej Janowski’s three race wins between heats 10 and 13 particularly noteworthy.

The Pole racked up 13 points on the night and he was ably supported by a resurgent Josh Grajczonek and reserve Kyle Newman, who both hit double figures.

Pirates tracked Swindon’s Dakota North and Lakeside’s Richard Lawson as guests, while the Bees brought in Max Fricke to cover for the injured Ben Barker.

It took three attempts to get heat one finished and eventually it was Coventry that stormed to a 5-1 maximum courtesy of Hans Andersen and Jason Garrity.

A faller in the opener, Kyle Howarth then withdrew from the meeting but the Bees were soothed when Garrity took the chequered flag in the first reserves’ contest.

Janowski’s gutsy effort was enough to hold off Chris Harris for another shared heat, before Grajczonek and Newman levelled matters with a maximum.

Back came the hosts with a 4-2 spearheaded by Harris, although North gave the Great Britain international a scare in the early stages.

The visitors refused to go away and Grajczonek and Janowski procured a heat advantage before a North success ensured the score was locked at 21-21 after seven heats.

Grajczonek then fired to a third straight victory backed up by Lawson for a 5-1 that put the visitors in front for the first time.

The second reserves’ race was shared before Janowski cranked up the pressure with back-to-back victories that extended the Poole advantage to eight points.

Newman and Grajczonek piled on the misery for Gary Havelock’s troops with a maximum in heat 12 before Janowski racked up yet another win ahead of Harris.

The penultimate race, which was followed by an angry confrontation between North and Kenneth Hansen, was shared before the Bees grabbed a 5-1 in an academic final heat.

Pirates are due to complete their regular-season campaign at basement side Leicester on Wednesday.

Coventry Bees 40: 1 Hans Andersen (3-1-2-0-2*) 8+1, 2 Kyle Howarth (f) 0, 3 Max Fricke, guest (1*-0-1-0) 2+1, 4 Kenneth Hansen (1-2-0-0) 3, 5 Chris Harris (2-3-2-2-3) 12, 6 Jason Garrity (2*-3-r-2-2-0) 9+1, 7 James Sarjeant (0-1*-1*-fx-1-3) 6+2. Team manager: Gary Havelock.

Poole Pirates 50: 1 Darcy Ward r/r, 2 Josh Grajczonek (1-3-3-3-2*0) 12+1, 3 Richard Lawson, guest (r-0-2*-1-1-1) 5+1, 4 Dakota North, guest (0-2-3-1-2) 8, 5 Maciej Janowski (3-1-3-3-3) 13, 6 Benji Compton (1*-0-0) 1+1, 7 Kyle Newman (2-2*-3-3-1*) 11+2. Team manager: Neil Middleditch.

Ht 1 (re-run x2):  Andersen, Garrity, Grajczonek, North, 60.72 (5-1)

Ht 2: Garrity, Newman, Compton, Sarjeant, 62.30 (8-4)

Ht 3: Janowski, Harris, Fricke, Lawson (retired), 60.20 (11-7)

Ht 4: Grajczonek, Newman, Hansen, Garrity (retired) 61.33 (12-12)

Ht 5: Harris, North, Andersen, Lawson, 60.16 (16-14)

Ht 6: Grajczonek, Hansen, Janowski, Fricke, 61.17 (18-18)

Ht 7: North, Garrity, Sarjeant, Compton, 61.26 (21-21)

Ht 8: Grajczonek, Lawson, Fricke, Hansen, 60.86 (22-26)

Ht 9 (re-run):  Newman, Garrity, Sarjeant, Compton, 62.39 (25-29)

Ht 10 (re-run): Janowski, Andersen, Lawson, Sarjeant, (fell/dsq), 61.56 (27-33)

Ht 11: Janowski, Harris, North, Fricke, 61.58 (29-37)

Ht 12 (re-run x2):  Newman, Grajczonek, Sarjeant, Garrity, 62.75 (30-42)

Ht 13: Janowski, Harris, Lawson, Andersen, 61.50 (32-46)

Ht 14: Sarjeant, North, Newman, Hansen, 63.10 (35-49)

Ht 15: Harris, Andersen, Lawson, Grajczonek, 61.33 (40-50)