SOMETIMES you can’t win, even when you do.

For leading lights such as Poole Pirates, a home clash with beleaguered Leicester is never an enviable task.

The home crowd, indeed speedway aficionados across the land, promptly set about trying to fathom how big the margin of victory will be before the tapes fly up for the first time.

But Lions had not read the script and it took some steely resolve from Grand Prix star Maciej Janowski alongside a resurgent Chris Holder to eventually put clear blue water between Pirates and their plucky adversaries.

Leicester debutant Sam Masters had the temerity to gate first and hold off Holder as the visitors took the opener 4-2, while reserve Paul Starke had a mechanical problem which forced his retirement from heat two, although Kyle Newman won to ensure parity.

The rough start continued as Dakota North fell with nowhere to go coming out of bend two but Janowski cruised to an all-too-easy victory in the re-run which ultimately set the tone for the evening.

Kacper Gomolski led from the off in heat four and a superb move from Newman to pass Simon Lambert round the outside nudged Poole in front with a first maximum of the night.

Holder made light work of heat five but ex-Pirate Jason Doyle gated to swiftly return the favour for Lions.

But once Janowski had flown out of the traps to make it two out of two, with Watt eventually bagging a heat advantage from a nip-and-tuck battle at the back with Symon Wozniak, the hosts gradually began to seize control.

Controversy followed in heat eight when Newman received a warning but no penalty for jumping the start.

The re-run saw Masters commit the same offence but by the time referee Chris Gay halted proceedings, Newman had ripped the tapes and was ordered to start attempt three 15 metres back.

Fired up by the injustice, Newman passed Masters who subsequently retired from a race won by the in-form Charles Wright.

Back-to-back maximums then gave the bulk of Wimborne Road what they were waiting for as Holder glided round with Newman in support in heat nine before North gated with Janowski to move 12 points in front.

Holder burst from the back to take second behind Davey Watt and rubbish Morris’s tactical ride as matters simply drifted away from Leicester.

Referee Gay upset the crowd again in heat 13, disqualifying Janowski for a spill which saw Doyle hit the air fence. Leader Lawson was awarded victory.

The penultimate race was quieter by comparison with North and Gomolski teaming up behind Morris to guarantee Leicester would not escape with their first away point of the campaign.

Janowski was excluded for a fall in the nominated heat with Morris plunged into the fence but that man Holder took to the track on his own, pocketing a morale-boosting three points to finish matters in style. 

  • Pirates are straight back into the action tomorrow night with a trip to play-off rivals King's Lynn. 

Poole name a full one-to-seven but the Stars will be without injured duo Rory Schlein and Kenneth Bjerre.

Masters guests against the Dorset club for the second time in as many days with rider replacement for heat leader Bjerre.

PIRATES 52: 1 Davey Watt (0-1-3-2) 6, 2 Chris Holder (2-3-3-2*-3) 13+1, 3 Dakota North (fx-1*-3-2) 6+1, 4 Kacper Gomolski (3-2-2-1*) 8+1, 5 Maciej Janowski (3-3-2*-dq- fx) 8+1, 6 Paul Starke (r-0-2) 2, 7 Kyle Newman (3-2*-1-2*-1*) 9+4. Team manager: Neil Middleditch.

LIONS 38: 1 Jason Doyle (1-3-1-1) 6, 2 Sam Masters (3-1*-r-0) 4+1, 3 Nick Morris (guest) (2-2-1^-3-2) 10, 4 Szymon Wozniak (0-0-0-0) 0, 5 Richard Lawson (guest) (1*-0-0-3-1*) 5+2, 6 Charles Wright (guest) (2-2-3-1-3) 11, 7 Simon Lambert (1*-1-0) 2+1.

Team manager: Norrie Allan.

HEAT DETAILS

Ht 1: Masters, Holder, Doyle, Watt, 60.22 (2-4)

Ht 2: Newman, Wright, Lambert, Starke (retired), 60.07 (5-7)

Ht 3: (re-run) Janowski, Morris, Lawson, North (fell, excluded) 59.81 (8-10)

Ht 4: Gomolski, Newman, Lambert, Wozniak, 61.16 (13-11)

Ht 5: Holder, Wright, Masters, Starke, 60.47 (16-14)

Ht 6: Doyle, Gomolski, North, Lawson, 60.44 (19-17)

Ht 7: Janowski, Morris, Watt, Wozniak, 60.35 (23-19)

Ht 8: (re-run x2) Wright, Gomolski, Newman (tapes, 15 metres), Masters (retired), 60.87 (26-22)

Ht 9: (re-run) Holder, Newman, Wright, Wozniak, 60.90 (31-23)

Ht 10: North, Janowski, Doyle, Masters, 60.56 (36-24)

Ht 11: Watt, Holder, Morris (tactical ride), Lawson, 60.87 (41-25)

Ht 12: Wright, Starke, Newman, Lambert, 61.63 (44-28)

Ht 13: Lawson, Watt, Doyle, Janowski (disqualified), awarded (46-32)

Ht 14: Morris, North, Gomolski, Wozniak, 61.54 (49-35)

Ht 15: (re-run) Holder, Morris, Lawson, Janowski (fell, excluded), 61.03 (52-38)