READING BULLDOGS 51 RIAS PIRATES 42 (Poole win 100-85 on aggregate)

READING spearhead Greg Hancock hung out the white flag after only four heats as Pirates powered into the Knockout Cup semi-final at Smallmead on Friday night.

A 5-1 by Poole RIAS reserves Shaun Tacey and Jonas Davidsson in heat two and a storming from-the-back win by Bjarne Pedersen over Matej Zagar in race four was enough for Hancock to surrender a last-four place early.

The Bulldogs only led 14-10 at that stage after failing to get off to the flyer that they needed after losing 58-34 in the first leg at Wimborne Road on Wednesday.

That prompted Hancock, whose side are challenging strongly for the Elite League title, to tell a 1,200 crowd from the centregreen Tannoy: "Sometimes you need a kick up the backside.

"It shows you should never under-estimate any team, especially one like Poole."

Reading team manager Jim Lynch followed his star rider onto the Tannoy to add: "We're too far behind on aggregate to beat Poole.

"To be honest, we're already looking ahead to our league meetings away to Eastbourne (Saturday) and at home against them on Monday."

It was music to the ears of the small band of Pirates fans on the third bend, who saw their team peg their deficit back to 16-14 with a Craig Boyce-Antonio Lindback 4-2 over Sam Simota and Charlie Gjedde in heat five.

Despite a low-key night for the Swede, who only scored three points from five rides, Pirates were rarely troubled and had won the tie by the end of heat 12.

With their semi-final place already booked, Poole team manager Neil Middleditch sent out Davidsson and Walasek for the meaningless last heat, which they lost 5-1.

It means Pirates, cup winners in 2003 and 2004, join Eastbourne, Coventry and probably Belle Vue, who won 46-44 at Arena Essex in the quarter-final, first leg.

Reading 51: 1 Greg Hancock (2*-3-3-3-2*) 13+2, 2 Travis McGowan (3-3-1-2*-1-3) 13+1, 3 Rider Replacement for Janusz Kolodziej, 4 Charlie Gjedde (2*-0-1*-3-2) 8+2, 5 Matej Zagar (2-fell exc-2-1-1) 6, 6 (guest) Mathieu Tresarrieu (1-1-3-0) 5, 7 Zdenek Simota (fell exc-1*-2-3-0) 6+1.

Team Manager: Jim Lynch.

Pirates 42: 1 Antonio Lindback (1-1-1-0-0) 3, 2 Craig Boyce (0-3-2*-0-2) 7+1, 3 Rider Replacement for Krzysztof Kasprzak, 4 Grzegorz Walasek (ret-3-0-2-6-ret) 11, 5 Bjarne Pedersen (3-2-3-2) 10, 6 Jonas Davidsson (2*-0-1-2-1*-1) 7+2, 7 Shaun Tacey (3-0-0-1) 4. Team Manager: Neil Middleditch. Referee: Robbie Perks (Halesowen).

  • Ht 1: McGowan, Hancock, Lindback, Boyce, 58.84 (5-1).
  • Ht 2: Tacey, Davidsson, Tresarrieu, Simota (fell excluded), race awarded, no time (6-6).
  • Ht 3: McGowan, Gjedde, Lindback, Walasek (retired), 59.36 (11-7).
  • Ht 4: Pedersen, Zagar, Simota, Tacey, 59.90 (14-10).
  • Ht 5: Boyce, Simota, Lindback, Gjedde, 60.02 (16-14).
  • Ht 6: Hancock, Pedersen, McGowan, Davidsson, 59.71 (20-16).
  • Ht 7: (re-run) Walasek, Boyce, Tresarrieu, Zagar (fell excluded), 60.77 (21-21).
  • Ht 8: Simota, McGowan, Davidsson, Boyce, 60.02 (26-22).
  • Ht 9: Pedersen, Zagar, Gjedde, Tacey, 60.96 (29-25).
  • Ht 10: Hancock, Davidsson, McGowan, Walasek, 60.58 (33-27).
  • Ht 11: Tresarrieu, Boyce, Zagar, Lindback, 61.45 (37-29).
  • Ht 12: Gjedde, Walasek, Davidsson, Simota, 60.36 (40-32).
  • Ht 13: Hancock, Pedersen, Zagar, Lindback, 60.24 (44-34).
  • Ht 14: (re-run) Walasek (tactical ride, double points), Gjedde, Tacey, Tresarrieu (fell, remounted), 61.02 (46-41).
  • Ht 15: McGowan, Hancock, Davidsson, Walasek (retired), 61.02 (51-42).

Results, Friday night, Knockout Cup, quarter-finals, first leg: Arena Essex 44 Belle Vue 46.

Second leg: Coventry 56 Ipswich 40.

Fixtures, Saturday night, Elite League: Eastbourne v Reading.

  • KNOCKOUT CUP ROUND-UP First round: Reading 97 Swindon 43, Wolves 101 Oxford 83, Arena-Essex 96 Peterborough 92. Quarter-finals: Eastbourne 106 Wolves 79, Ipswich 88 Coventry 98, Pirates 100 Reading 85, Arena-Essex 44 Belle Vue 46 (after first leg).

THE Daily Echo has teamed up with Benfield Sports International, promoter of the Speedway World Cup, to give you the chance to win tickets to the race-off and final at Reading later this month.

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