PIRATES fans must be wondering if their luck will ever change.

Under-strength Poole were well on their way to a crushing defeat at Lakeside when Przemyslaw Pawlicki was sent out on a damage limitation mission, taking the visitors’ second tactical ride as early as heat seven.

But with the luck as it is for the Wimborne Road outfit, it came as no surprise when the Pole fell and suffered a suspected broken leg. And as if the speedway gods weren’t frowning enough on Pirates, the heat was awarded to ex-Poole favourite Davey Watt to add insult to yet another injury.

To their credit, the Pirates fought to the bitter end, securing their own 5-1 through Maciej Janowski and Chris Holder in heat 13 before both riders won to ensure parity in the final two races.

But the damage had been done much earlier, rendering any late flurry insignificant on a night to forget for the Poole faithful.

As soon as Dawid Stachyra somehow managed to go from first to last within the first lap of heat two, the writing was on the wall.

Pawlicki fought hard to win heat three but rider replacement Rohan Tungate’s second blank maintained a six-point deficit that was quickly added to when Watt won while Janowski retired.

Boss Neil Middleditch immediately reached for an early lifeline, handing a tactical ride to captain Holder, but despite a brave chase by the Aussie world champion, Piotr Swiderski held on to win.

Janowski’s blip on turn four saw Poole ship their third 5-1 inside the first six heats, while Lewis Bridger and Richard Lawson dominated heat eight for the hosts as the gargantuan gap grew between the sides.

And although Janowski opened his account in heat nine, just holding off Swiderski, it wasn’t enough to prevent Pirates falling further behind.

Leigh Lanham replaced Pawlicki with Stachyra in as rider replacement as the tale of woe continued with Peter Karlsson and Bridger securing another maximum. The deficit peaked at 32 points with the Hammers’ sixth maximum arriving in heat 12 with Seb Ulamek and Lawson wrapping up the points.

Middleditch was knocked sideways by the thrashing, but refused to lay into his team.

The Poole team manager told the Daily Echo: “If it had been a fight you’d have stopped it after eight or nine heats but at least the lads didn’t give up.

“Przemyslaw thinks he may have broken his leg and that is causing some concern. There is a lot of swelling and he will return to Poland to get it checked out.”

Hammers 60: 1 Peter Karlsson (3-3-3-0) 9, 2 Lewis Bridger (1-2*-3-2*-2) 10+2, 3 Seb Ulamek (1*-1-3-3-1*) 9+2, 4 Piotr Swiderski (2-3-1-2) 8, 5 Davey Watt (3-3-3-1) 10, 6 Kevin Doolan (2*-1-1-1*) 5+2, 7 Richard Lawson (3-2*-2*-2*) 9+3. Team manager: Neil Vatcher.

Pirates 32: 1 Chris Holder (2-4^-2-2*-3) 13+1, 2 Rohan Tungate (0-0-0-0-0) 0, 3 Przemyslaw Pawlicki (3-f^) 3, 4 Rider replacement for Robert Miskowiak, 5 Maciej Janowski (0-0-2-3-3-r) 8, 6 Dawid Stachyra (0-1-0-1-r) 2, 7 Leigh Lanham (1-1-2-1-0-1-0) 6. Team manager: Neil Middleditch.

Referee: Phil Griffin.

League points: Lakeside Hammers 3, Poole Pirates 0.