POLISH race ace Przemyslaw Pawlicki lit up Wimborne Road with an impressive debut display and then expressed his delight at his arrival in Dorset.

The new Pirates recruit delivered a 10-point haul as new-look Poole made a winning start to life since the club’s well-documented team changes.

Pawlicki looked one of the most accomplished riders on a tricky Poole Stadium surface – which made racing difficult and attracted criticism from both riders and supporters.

And Pawlicki’s effort – together with a true captain’s performance from Chris Holder – handed Pirates a morale-boosting victory over depleted King’s Lynn, although Poole were denied maximum Elite League points by the patched-up Stars as the most untimely of mechanical failures robbed Dawid Stachyra in heat 14.

Pawlicki, drafted in with Tomas H Jonasson as Pirates opted to replace Darcy Ward and Kyle Howarth, told the club’s fans that he was pleased to represent Poole.

The 21-year-old said: “I am very happy to be racing for this club. There are good guys and a good team here.”

Pirates, with two of their three wins prior to tonight coming against King’s Lynn, would have been hoping to rack up three league points against an injury-ravaged Stars outfit.

Captain Mads Korneliussen and Simon Stead were both ruled out, while David Howe was unavailable. But the guest booking of Kevin Doolan proved inspired as his 12+1 was pivotal in claiming an away point.

After off-track disputes, a controversial postponement and a troubled opening to the season, Pirates supporters would have been grateful to see a full-strength Poole side at Neil Middleditch’s disposal.

And although the meeting proved far from a classic in front of the Sky Sports cameras, it could yet prove to be a memorable moment if it signals the start of re-shaped Pirates fighting their way back into play-off contention.

In the build-up, much of the talk had centred on new riders but it was Pirates’ most familiar face, skipper Holder, who handed them a winning start with the most routine of tapes-to-flag victories.

Recalled Stachyra showed why many fans had questioned the initial decision to replace him as he rocketed from the gate to lead a heat advantage, backed up by slow-starting Jonasson in third.

Pawlicki then immediately lived up to his big billing by leaping from the traps to take a dominant heat-three success, although Robert Miskowiak’s retirement allowed the Stars to share the spoils.

With early entertainment lacking, TV viewers and Wimborne Road regulars were treated to some action when Jonasson carved under the busy Doolan to join impressive Maciej Janowski on a 5-1.

Miskowiak, who endured a nightmare evening, failed to finish again after hitting the deck on the opening turn before Niels-Kristian Iversen fought past Pawlicki to register Stars’ first heat victory at the fifth time of asking.

With the surface causing problems for both teams, Holder did well to hang on during a hot pursuit of Rory Schlein, which eventually proved fruitless in a shared sixth race.

Janowski cruised to his second successive win as he and Stachyra sandwiched guest Edward Kennett to extend Pirates’ advantage to 24-18.

But Seb Alden and Doolan hit back with a Stars maximum after leaving Jonasson and Rohan Tungate at the start-line.

Smooth Pawlicki again demon-strated his skills to take a tapes-to-flag win, although Miskowiak’s miserable night continued.

Leading by just two going into heat 10, Pirates were struggling to get away from King’s Lynn, despite claiming six of the nine race wins.

The diminutive Tungate produced a big performance in the race of the night to give Poole a cushion as he defiantly held off hard-charging Alden and Kennett to follow home Holder for an all-Australian 5-1.

With the meeting coming to life, Janowski completed his hat-trick with a masterful defensive display up front to remain ahead of Iversen in the face of immense pressure from the Grand Prix ace.

Pawlicki was left rooted in gate one and even the most rapid of recoveries could not make up the deficit as reserve Doolan just held on to cut the deficit to 38-34.

Janowski and Schlein were able to walk away after crashing hard into the first-bend air-fence following a terrible smash in heat 13. Janowski hurt his hip, while Schlein was left nursing a rib injury, but both men proved their bravery as they re-emerged for the re-run, which was dominated by Holder.

Jonasson blasted the long way round in front of the pits to join Stachyra on a potentially crucial 5-1 in the penultimate race, only for misfortune to strike as Stachyra suffered mechanical gremlins with the chequered flag in sight, turning a huge heat advantage into a 3-3.

That left Pirates 44-40 ahead going into a last-heat decider. And although Holder completed his fine performance with another convincing win, Pawlicki could not split Iversen and Schlein as the Stars took a deserved consolation point.

SCORES AND HEAT DETAILS

Pirates 47: 1 Chris Holder (3-2-3-3-3) 14, 2 Rohan Tungate (0-1*-0-2*) 3+2, 3 Przemyslaw Pawlicki (3-2-3-2-0) 10, 4 Robert Miskowiak (r-f-0) 0, 5 Maciej Janowski (3-3-3-0) 9, 6 Dawid Stachyra (3-1-0-r) 4, 7 Tomas H Jonasson (1-2*-1-0-3) 7+1. Team manager: Neil Middleditch.

Stars 43: 1 Niels-Kristian Iversen (1*-3-2-1*-2) 9+2, 2 Rider Replacement for David Howe, 3 Edward Kennett (guest) (2-2-r-1) 5, 4 Seb Alden (1*-0-3-1-1*) 6+2, 5 Rory Schlein (r-3-2-2-1*) 8+1, 6 Richie Worrall (r-1-0-1*-1*) 3+2, 7 Kevin Doolan (guest) (2-2-1-2*-3-2) 12+1. Team manager: Rob Lyon.

Referee: Chris Durno.

League points: Poole Pirates 2 King’s Lynn Stars 1.

Ht 1: Holder, Doolan, Iversen, Tungate, 59.78 (3-3)

Ht 2: Stachyra, Doolan, Jonasson, Worrall (retired), 61.97 (7-5)

Ht 3: Pawlicki, Kennett, Alden, Miskowiak (retired), 60.60 (10-8)

Ht 4: Janowski, Jonasson, Doolan, Schlein (retired), 60.44 (15-9)

Ht 5: Iversen, Pawlicki, Worrall, Miskowiak (fell), 59.81 (17-13)

Ht 6: Schlein, Holder, Tungate, Worrall, 59.97 (20-16)

Ht 7: Janowski, Kennett, Stachyra, Alden, 60.31 (24-18)

Ht 8: Alden, Doolan, Jonasson, Tungate, 60.47 (25-23)

Ht 9: Pawlicki, Schlein, Worrall, Miskowiak, 60.25 (28-26)

Ht 10: Holder, Tungate, Alden, Kennett (retired), 60.75 (33-27)

Ht 11: Janowski, Iversen, Worrall, Stachyra, 60.03 (36-30)

Ht 12: Doolan, Pawlicki, Kennett, Jonasson, 61.16 (38-34)

Ht 13: (re-run) Holder, Schlein, Iversen, Janowski, 60.25 (41-37)

Ht 14: Jonasson, Doolan, Alden, Stachyra (retired), 61.79 (44-40)

Ht 15: Holder, Iversen, Schlein, Pawlicki, 60.19 (47-43)