IT is advantage Poole Pirates in the Elite League play-off semi-final against King’s Lynn after a resolute display and flying starts proved pivotal on a sticky track.

Other than one slip, Poole’s favourite son Kyle Newman produced a heroic display, while Maciej Janowski maintained his top form round the Norfolk Arena this year to keep Pirates in the box seat with a slender 45-44 victory.

There was doubt over whether the meeting would go ahead following an afternoon of heavy rain but after much deliberation and tireless work on the stodgy surface, the action kicked off at 8.30pm.

In the opener, guest Danny King gated well but was soon reined in by the impressive Kenneth Bjerre as the honours were shared with Craig Cook in third.

Newman won a key battle in the first reserve heat of the night, taking the gate and maintaining a healthy lead over Lewis Kerr throughout.

Rory Schlein’s victory in heat three was rarely in doubt but Janowski gave a strong chase and Vaclav Milik kept sufficient distance between himself and Scott Nicholls to ensure another stalemate.

The deadlock was broken in the fourth race when Pirates took full advantage of an atrocious gate by Nicklas Porsing and Kerr with Cook taking the chequered flag ahead of Newman.

But the joy was short lived as Bjerre raced away with Schlein in the fastest time of the night for a 5-1 ahead of Pawlicki and Milik.

The tightest start of the night saw Janowski race away from Nicholls and Porsing on the second turn and hold on for victory with an assured ride in the sixth showdown.

A tremendous team display from Simon Lambert and Robert Lambert saw Stars secure their second maximum of the evening, just holding off the persistent pursuit of third-placed Pawlicki with Compton well behind.

As the track began to dry out the action got more interesting. Milik almost stole round the outside but veteran Nicholls surged away. Cook pounced on a second-lap slip from Porsing to share the heat for Poole.

Compton got in a tangle with Kerr and span into the air fence and got himself disqualified from the re-run of a heat Newman had again threatened to race away with but the Dorset charger withstood immense pressure to win at the second attempt.

With the meeting on a knife edge, Poole made a significant gain in heat 10 when Milik and Janowski shot out of the traps and slammed the door shut on Bjerre to take the maximum.

Poole produced the perfect gate in heat 11 with King out in front but Nicholls was all over Pawlicki like a rash and overtook the Pole. Pawlicki fell trying to regain his place but the result stood with King securing another 3-3.

Newman suffered a rare wobble on the first bend and fell but got up with Cook in the lead, however, the race was stopped when King’s Lynn’s Kerr suffered the same fate on the second lap.

Kerr was excluded and Newman couldn’t take part as he had already dropped out but Cook blasted past Robert Lambert and despite a close call on the third lap and Pirates nudged in front.

King got caught up in gate two but Janowski ripped through the shale for his second win of a near-perfect evening as the visitors maintained a one-point advantage with two heats to go.

Porsing stole a march on Pawlicki to take the win in heat 14 but Newman, who was drafted in for the out-of-form Compton, kept Simon Lambert at bay.

Schlein took the final heat but Milik breezed past Bjerre to keep Poole in front by one ahead of an intriguing clash at Wimborne Road next week.

King’s Lynn Stars 44: 1 Kenneth Bjerre (3-3-1-2-0) 9, 2 Robert Lambert (0-2*-1-2) 4+1, 3 Scott Nicholls (guest) (0-1*-3-2) 6+1, 4 Nicklas Porsing (0-2-0-3) 5, 5 Rory Schlein (3-2*-1*-1*-3) 10+3, 6 Lewis Kerr (2-1-2-fx) 5, 7 Simon Lambert (1*-3-1*-0) 5+2.

Team manager: Rob Lyon

Poole Pirates 45: 1 Danny King (guest) (2-0-3-0) 5, 2 Craig Cook (guest) ( 1*-3-1*-3) 8+2, 3 Vaclav Milik (1*-0-2-3-1*) 7+2, 4 Shamek Pawlicki (1-1-f-2) 4, 5 Maciej Janowski (2-3-2*-3-2) 12+1, 6 Benji Compton (0-0-fx) 0, 7 Kyle Newman (3-2*-3-fx-1*) 9+2.

Team manager: Neil Middleditch

HEAT DETAILS

Ht 1: Bjerre, King, Cook, R Lambert 62.38 (3-3)

Ht 2: Newman, Kerr, S Lambert, Compton 62.93 (6-6)

Ht 3: Schlein, Janowski, Milik, Nicholls 61.61 (9-9)

Ht 4: Cook, Newman, Kerr, Porsing 62.32 (10-14)

Ht 5: Bjerre, Schlein, Pawlicki, Milik 61.24 (15-15)

Ht 6: Janowski, Porsing, Nicholls, King 61.99 (18-18)

Ht 7: S Lambert, R Lambert, Pawlicki, Compton 62.57 (23-19)

Ht 8: Nicholls, Milik, Cook, Porsing 62.23 (26-22)

Ht 9: (re-run) Newman, Kerr, S Lambert, Compton (fell, excluded) 63.56 (29-25)

Ht 10: Milik, Janowski, Bjerre, R Lambert 63.68 (30-30)

Ht 11: King, Nicholls, Schlein, Pawlicki (fell) 62.63 (33-33)

Ht 12: (re-run) Cook, R Lambert, Kerr (fell, excluded) Newman (fell, excluded) 62.94 (35-36)

Ht 13: Janowski, Bjerre, Schlein, King 62.19 (38-39)

Ht 14: Porsing, Pawlicki, Newman, S Lambert 62.45 (41-42)

Ht 15: Schlein, Janowski, Milik, Bjerre 62.15 (44-45)

STAR MAN: MACIEJ JANOWSKI

LITTLE surprise this one.

Nicknamed Magic, he was again. Janowski put on near-faultless display having realised the increased importance of gating on a terrible track.

Second to Rory Schlein when it was nigh-on impossible to pass anyone through the early sludge, he produced the first pass of the night when he split Stars duo Nicklas Porsing and Scott Nicholls in heat six and went from strength-to-strength.

The Pole played to perfection hissupport role in Milik’s heat-10 success before trumping King’s Lynn’s top dogs Kenneth Bjerre and Schlein with ease to keep Poole on the front foot.

A true captain’s performance.