SWINDON 49 PIRATES 44

(Poole won 102-85 on aggregate)

PIRATES' Polish star Grzegorz Walasek ran riot at Swindon last night but his sensational gating let him down when it mattered most.

The Wimborne Road outfit's search for an away league win in 2006 goes on after they were pipped 49-44 at Blunsdon.

But had Walasek and his partner Jonas Davidsson out-gated Lee Richardson and Renat Gafurov in race 14, things could have been dramatically different.

Going into the heat, Pirates were trailing 41-40 but Walasek must have fancied his chances against the struggling Richardson.

The Brit notched just eight points from five rides and was enduring a wretched evening.

There is no doubting this man's capability, though, to produce the goods when the chips are down.

He outgunned GP Greg and Davidsson to lead his team-mate Gafurov to an all-important 5-1 and break Poole hearts.

Ultimately, a heat advantage would have been enough to hand Pirates the points as they drew the final race 3-3.

A gutted Davidsson who bagged five paid seven points said: "Greg and I made some really bad starts in heat 14 and it was such a shame to lose like that.

"A 4-2 or 5-1 would have probably won it for us because our riders only had to beat Leigh Adams' partner in race 15.

"Unfortunately, I got three zeros and this was not good for the team.

"But Grzegorz was fantastic and the track obviously suited him well.

"So it was a shame to see him miss out like that at such a crucial time.

"We know this was another one of those meetings where we should have won away.

"The team would have done it if Krzysztof (Kasprzak) was here because rider replacement just didn't do the job.

"Six points from the extra rides didn't match his average, which is much higher.

"It's always better to have a full team and with Krzysztof it would have been a different story."

Pirates' heat leaders Bjarne Pedersen and Antonio Lindback, meanwhile, both endured challenging nights at the office.

Lindback found himself under the air fence in heat one after slipping on a slick surface while holding second place.

But the Swede had no intention of staying down and team manager Neil Middleditch quickly enlisted him for a rider replacement outing in heat three.

The Rio Rocket duly obliged as he snatched the first of three successive heat victories.

After his opening race spillage, awesome Aussie Adams was the only opposing rider to lower Lindback's colours.

Meanwhile, his skipper Pedersen also suffered a tough start to his evening.

There are few riders who will defeat the world number six on a regular basis these days.

But Swindon's red-hot reserve Gafurov managed it twice in heats four and six.

In a sensational display around the Blunsdon boards, the Russian rocket passed the Dane an incredible three times over the two heats.

This only served to rile Pedersen, though, and Middleditch sent his angry captain out for a heat nine tactical ride.

Brilliant Bjarne made no mistake here as he shepherded his partner Davidsson around before sweeping for victory on the final turn.

The maximum 8-1 race advantage took the scores from 29-19 to 30-27 and put the visitors back in contention.

By the end of heat 12, the Dorset side were just one point behind their Wiltshire hosts at 38-37.

But without the injured Kasprzak, Pirates were always going to have a tough task to claim victory at Swindon.

And with inept reserve Shaun Tacey failing to score, Poole did not have the manpower to convert their brave comeback into points.

Pirates, however, did pick up the bonus 102-85 on aggregate.

PIRATES v SWINDON Swindon 49: 1 Leigh Adams (3-3-3-3-3) 15, 2 Rider Replacement for Adrian Miedzinski, 3 Sebastian Alden (0-0-1) 1, 4 Lee Richardson (1-1-3-ret-3) 8, 5 Sebastian Ulamek (3-1*-2-0-0) 6+1, 6 Mads Korneliussen (1-3-2-1*-1) 8+1, 7 Renat Gafurov (2*-2*-2*-2*-1-0-2*) 11+5. Team Manager: Alun Rossiter.

Pirates 44: 1 Antonio Lindback (fell exc-3-3-3-1*-1*) 11+2, 2 Craig Boyce (2-2*-1-0-0) 5+1, 3 Rider Replacement for Krzysztof Kasprzak, 4 Grzegorz Walasek (2*-3-2-3-1-2) 13+1, 5 Bjarne Pedersen (1-1-6-2) 10, 6 Jonas Davidsson (1-0-0-2*-2*-0) 5+2, 7 Shaun Tacey (0-0-0) 0. Team Manager: Neil Middleditch.

Referee: Jim McGregor (Glasgow).

  • Ht 1: (re-run) Adams, Boyce, Korneliussen, Lindback (fell excluded), 66.46 (4-2).
  • Ht 2: Korneliussen, Gafurov, Davidsson, Tacey, 68.30 (9-3).
  • Ht 3: Lindback, Walasek, Richardson, Alden, 67.24 (10-8).
  • Ht 4: Ulamek, Gafurov, Pedersen, Tacey, 67.70 (15-9).
  • Ht 5: Lindback, Boyce, Richardson, Alden, 66.92 (16-14).
  • Ht 6: (re-run) Adams, Gafurov, Pedersen, Davidsson, 66.39 (21-15).
  • Ht 7: Walasek, Korneliussen, Ulamek, Davidsson, 68.14 (24-18).
  • Ht 8: Richardson, Gafurov, Boyce, Tacey, 68.21 (29-19).
  • Ht 9: Pedersen (tactical rider, double points), Davidsson, Alden, Richardson (retired), 67.34 (30-27).
  • Ht 10: Adams, Walasek, Gafurov, Boyce, 67.15 (34-29).
  • Ht 11: Lindback, Ulamek, Korneliussen, Boyce, 67.96 (37-32).
  • Ht 12: Walasek, Davidsson, Korneliussen, Gafurov, 67.62 (38-37).
  • Ht 13: Adams, Pedersen, Lindback, Ulamek, 66.27 (41-40).
  • Ht 14: Richardson, Gafurov, Walasek, Davidsson, 68.92 (46-41).
  • Ht 15: Adams, Walasek, Lindback, Ulamek, 66.42 (49-44).

Southern Area League Swindon 21: 1 Nathan Irwin (3-3-3-1*) 10+1, 2 Ben Reade (0-1-1*) 2+1, 3 Kyle Hughes (2-2*-2-2) 8+1, 4 Olly Gay (1*) 1+1. Team Manager: Malcolm Holloway.

Poole 15: 1 Rob Smith (2-2-3) 7, 2 Bob Charles (1*-0-0) 1+1, 3 Jordan Frampton (3-fell exc-3) 6, 4 Marc Andrews (fell exc-1-0) 1. Team Manager: Neil Middleditch.

  • Ht 1: Irwin, Smith, Charles, Reade, 71.15 (3-3).
  • Ht 2: Frampton, Hughes, Gay, Andrews (fell excluded), race awarded, no time (6-6).
  • Ht 3: Irwin, Hughes, Andrews, Charles, 71.67 (11-7).
  • Ht 4: Irwin, Smith, Reade, Frampton (fell excluded), race awarded, no time (15-9).
  • Ht 5: Frampton, Hughes, Irwin, Charles, 71.78 (18-12).
  • Ht 6: Smith, Hughes, Reade, Andrews, 71.83 (21-15).