PIRATES eased to a 53-37 win over Yarmouth as their 70th birthday celebrations went off with a bang.

Josh Grajczonek, Linus Sundstrom, Brady Kurtz and Kacper Woryna all hit double figures in a rematch of the first fixture at Wimborne Road.

On a night which also saw doses of upright racing and tributes paid to riders of the past, a six-man Poole team had too much for their visitors, who made a meeting of it but ultimately fell short.

Pirates number one Kurtz was jet-propelled from the inside gate in the opening race. Behind him, Woryna swept into second early on and Pirates banked an easy 5-1.

Leader Grajczonek was under pressure from Jason Garrity in heat two but a messy bend four saw the Yarmouth man slip to third, with Mateusz Szczepaniak marooned at the back.

A first victory for the Bloaters arrived when Poole asset Nicolai Klindt powered away from Sundstrom following an even start.

Kurtz bettered his opening time in storming to heat four success in 59.53 seconds, Rohan Tungate roaring round Woryna on turn two but never getting close to threatening the man at the front.

Grajczonek won race five but the real battle was at the back, where Szczepaniak endured untold problems in failing to get past youngster Alfie Bowtell.

Fine work from Sundstrom allowed him to work his way past Troy Batchelor and Ricky Wells. Indeed, moments after the Swede had hit the front, Wells straightened up and came to grief, with the race awarded.

Kurtz missed the gate next and Woryna duly profited, with the second-place Klindt increasing to seven points from three rides his tally.

The winning run of Grajczonek was broken by Batchelor and Sundstrom was in cruise control in heat nine.

Before heat 10, weaths were laid by former shale stars Norman Strachan, Pete Smith, Mike Cake and Eric Broadbelt and there was a minute’s applause for Reg Craven, Johnny Thomson, Kevin Holden and Malcolm Flood – the four riders who lost their lives following crashes at Poole.

When the action resumed, Klindt got his second win and Garrity did the same in heat 11, with 16-year-old Mildenhall skipper Jordan Jenkins – a Poole rider for the night – doing superbly to keep Batchelor at the back.

Kurtz won heat 13 by a country mile after blasting away from the gate. Garrity, whose meeting had improved significantly, was untroubled in taking second.

Sundstrom eased to a closing win and try as he might, Szczepaniak could not find a route past Batchelor and Garrity, who blocked the Pole at every turn.

There was still time for Grajczonek to put the cherry on top of the birthday cake in heat 15.

RIDERS’ SCORES AND HEAT DETAILS

Pirates 51: 1 Brady Kurtz (3-3-1-1*-3) 11+1, 2 Kacper Woryna (2*-1-3-3-2*) 11+2, 3 Josh Grajczonek (3-3-2-2-3) 13, 4 Mateusz Szczepaniak (0-0-0-2-0) 2, 5 Linus Sundstrom (2-3-3-1-3) 12, 6 Jordan Jenkins (1*-1-0-1*-1) 4+2.

Yarmouth 37: 1 Troy Batchelor (1-2-3-0-2) 8, 2 Ricky Wells (r-f-1-r) 1, 3 Rohan Tungate (2-2-1*-2-r) 7+1, 4 Jason Garrity (1*-0-2-3-2-1*) 9+2, 5 Nicolai Klindt (3-2-2-3-1) 11, 6 Alfie Bowtell (0-1*-0-0-0) 1+1.

HT 1: Kurtz, Woryna, Batchelor, Wells, 59.72 (5-1)

HT 2: Grajczonek, Tungate, Garrity, Szczepaniak, 59.94 (8-4)

HT 3: Klindt, Sundstrom, Jenkins, Bowtell, 59.81 (11-7)

HT 4: Kurtz, Tungate, Woryna, Garrity, 59.53 (15-9)

HT 5: Grajczonek, Klindt, Bowtell, Szczepaniak, 61.03 (18-12)

HT 6: Sundstrom, Batchelor, Jenkins, Wells (fell), awarded (22-14)

HT 7: Woryna, Klindt, Kurtz, Bowtell, 60.46 (26-16)

HT 8: Batchelor, Grajczonek, Wells, Szczepaniak, 60.85 (28-20)

HT 9: Sundstrom, Garrity, Tungate, Jenkins, 61.16 (31-23)

HT 10: Klindt, Szczepaniak, Kurtz, Wells (retired), 61.12 (43-26)

HT 11: Garrity, Grajczonek, Jenkins, Batchelor, 61.49 (37-29)

HT 12: Woryna, Tungate, Sundstrom, Bowtell, 60.25 (41-31)

HT 13: Kurtz, Garrity, Jenkins, Bowtell, 60.18 (45-33)

HT 14: Sundstrom, Batchelor, Garrity, Szczepaniak, 60.97 (48-36)

HT 15: Grajczonek, Woryna, Klindt, Tungate (retired), 61.50 (53-37)

ECHO STAR RIDER: LINUS SUNDSTROM

IT HAS been a solid if unspectacular start to Linus Sundstrom’s Pirates career.

But the Swedish flier looked the real deal round Wimborne Road against Yarmouth.

He had bags of speed and appeared full of confidence, which bodes well for Poole’s SGB Premiership campaign.

Kacper Woryna was excellent as was captain Josh Grajczonek, with Brady Kurtz among the big points as well.