PIRATES capitalised on a monsoon of misfortune for King’s Lynn as they took another stride towards to the Elite League play-offs with a terrific 65-25 triumph at Wimborne Road.

Poole have not racked up seven titles in the Matt Ford-Neil Middleditch era by being charitable to their rivals.

And they showed their well-renowned ruthless streak again as Chris Holder led the charge with a fantastic 14 paid 15-point maximum, while Brady Kurtz also starred on 11 paid 14.

The visitors turned up in Dorset without former world number three Niels-Kristian Iversen as he fulfilled racing commitments in Denmark. He was replaced by British star Chris Harris, who managed just five points.

Stars’ victory hopes suffered another blow when German Kai Huckenbeck was ruled out three hours prior to tapes up after being suspended by his national federation, the DMSB, having reportedly refused an international call-up.

With Huckenbeck due to race at number two, despite his 3.18 average being lower than that of reserves Lewis Rose and guest Ben Morley, Stars were only allowed to use their bottom pair to cover his rides.

With King’s Lynn facing such an uphill struggle, Pirates could have eased off the throttle and conserved their energy for the challenges ahead. Instead, they completed a clinical demolition job.

The hosts put King’s Lynn to the sword from heat one when Adam Ellis romped to a comfortable win, with Holder rounding Harris for second on bend two.

Poole enjoyed another slice of fortune when Morley came out for heat two wearing the wrong helmet colour, only to be excluded under the two minutes when he returned to the pits to change.

Bjarne Pedersen quickly hit the front for Pirates while his partner Kyle Newman passed Rose, before catching up with the Dane at the front to lead the maximum charge.

Stars hit back in race three with Troy Batchelor and Robert Lambert starting superbly. But the Aussie locked up badly on lap two, turn four, allowing Hans Andersen to hurtle around the outside for second.

The Poole skipper piled the pressure on Lambert but could not find a way past the Great Britain international as the visitors cut to six the deficit.

King’s Lynn rider Rory Schlein rounded Newman to win race four but Brady Kurtz battled his way past Rose to share the heat.

Pirates resumed their charge with a 5-1 from Ellis and Pedersen in heat five, prompting Stars to send Batchelor out for a tactical ride in race six.

But the move backfired after a superb start by Krzysztof Buczkowski was followed by a blistering charge between Harris and Batchelor by Kurtz on bend two. With Batchelor pressing hard, the Aussie champion kept the gas on to complete a superb move around his compatriot and deny him double points.

Holder barged past Schlein in heat seven to inflict more pain on the Stars and lead partner Andersen to a 4-2 – extending to 16 the gap.

Kurtz led another maximum charge in race eight with Newman scorching around Rose on bend two for second place, before holding off a spirited challenge from his fellow fast tracker.

Stars suffered another blow in race nine when Schlein’s bike packed up at the start. He was handicapped 15 metres for breaking the two-minute time allowance and then excluded for failing to get back on track in time. This left Pedersen and Ellis to cruise to a simple 5-1 over Morley.

Harris stemmed the flow by winning heat 10 ahead of Buczkowski and Andersen, with Rose pressuring them hard.

Holder powered clear to win race 11, while Batchelor and Lambert brushing off Ellis early on.

Newman and Pedersen left the Stars reserves trailing again in heat 12 and former world champion Holder took race 13 in style, showing lightening reflexes to cut back under Harris on turn two, before leading team mate Andersen home for a maximum.

Kurtz barged past Lambert beautifully on the back straight in heat 14 before Buczkowski stormed into second to complete a 5-1.

And Pirates rounded off a sublime display with a magnificent maximum from Holder and Kurtz in race 15.

Ward handed the club’s rider of the night prize to Kurtz in recognition of a great night’s work for his ex-housemate.

Pirates will face tougher challenges in the weeks and months ahead but confidence is high heading into their most crucial period of the season.

RIDERS' SCORES AND HEAT DETAILS

PIRATES 65: 1 Chris Holder (2*-3-3-3-3) 14+1, 2 Adam Ellis (3-3-2*-0) 8+1, 3 Krzysztof Buczkowski (0-3-2-2*) 7+1, 4 Brady Kurtz (1*-2*-3-3-2*) 11+3, 5 Hans Andersen (2-1-1*-2*) 6+2, 6 Bjarne Pedersen (2*-2*-3-2*) 9+3, 7 Kyle Newman (3-2-2*-3) 10+1

KING’S LYNN 25: 1 Chris Harris (1-0-3-1) 5, 2 rider replacement – Kai Huckenbeck, 3 Robert Lambert (3-0-1*-1-0) 5+1, 4 Rory Schlein (3-2-m-0-1) 6, 5 Troy Batchelor (1-1^-2-r) 4, 6 Ben Morley (0-0-0-0-1-1) 2, 7 Lewis Rose (1-0-1-1-0-0) 3.

Ht 1: Ellis, Holder, Harris, Morley, 61.34 (5-1)

Ht 2: Newman, Pedersen, Rose, Morley (15m, two mins), 62.21 (10-2)

Ht 3: Lambert, Andersen, Batchelor, Buczkowski, 62.21 (12-6)

Ht 4: Schlein, Newman, Kurtz, Rose, 61.16 (15-9)

Ht 5: Ellis, Pedersen, Rose, Morley, 61.59 (20-10)

Ht 6: Buczkowski, Kurtz, Batchelor (tactical), Harris, 61.00 (25-11)

Ht 7 (re-run): Holder, Schlein, Andersen, Lambert, 61.03 (29-13)

Ht 8: Kurtz, Newman, Rose, Morley, 61.31 (34-14)

Ht 9: Pedersen, Ellis, Morley, Schlein (dsq, two mins), 61.78 (39-15)

Ht 10: Harris, Buczkowski, Andersen, Rose, 60.97 (42-18)

Ht 11: Holder, Batchelor, Lambert, Ellis, 60.41 (45-21)

Ht 12: Newman, Pedersen, Morley, Rose, 62.41 (50-22)

Ht 13: Holder, Andersen, Harris, Batchelor (ret), 60.63 (55-23)

Ht 14: Kurtz, Buczkowski, Lambert, Schlein, 61.35 (60-24)

Ht 15: Holder, Kurtz, Schlein, Lambert, 61.53 (65-25)

ECHO STAR RIDER – CHRIS HOLDER

HAVING dropped just one point to an opponent in his past three meetings at Wimborne Road, the 2012 world champion is blazing back into red-hot form at the perfect time ahead of the Elite League play-offs.

Best friend Darcy Ward looked on from the pits and will have enjoyed seeing Holder display such sensational speed.

More of the same next month and Pirates have a great chance to defy the might of rivals like Belle Vue and Wolves and claim a fourth straight title.