PIRATES’ busy week got off to the worst possible start as they were sunk 54-38 at struggling Belle Vue tonight.

The Wimborne Road side had their hopes of Elite League points effectively undone by 5-1 home maximums in heats 12 and 13.

Neil Middleditch will be hoping his team can bounce back as quickly as possible against the Aces on Wednesday, before an equally-important meeting against Swindon on Thursday.

And the team manager will be keenly aware that a big improvement is needed if his riders are to keep their play-off push firmly on track.

Poole were missing shoulder injury victim Kyle Newman, so Adam Ellis guested in his place, while for the hosts, Max Fricke deputised in the absence of Richie Worrall, sidelined with broken toes.

The teams were locked together in the opening stages, with every one of the first four heats being shared.

Pirates captain Darcy Ward romped to a customary win in the opener before Ben Hopwood claimed his first-ever second place on an away track in Poole kevlars.

The hard-charging Maciej Janowski lowered the colours of Scott Nicholls and Cardiff-bound Craig Cook, before race four again resulted in a 3-3.

A maximum from Cook and Matej Zagar and a 4-2 from Nicholls and Max Fricke allowed the Aces to open up a six-point lead, with Ward left limping following a fall in the latter race.

Heats seven and eight were shared but carnage ensued in heat nine as Ellis was excluded and Hopwood had to push his bike across the line for a point after packing up, preventing a 5-0 whitewash.

Shamek Pawlicki’s tactical only yielded a 5-3 win and Milik’s heat 11 success was counterbalanced by a surprise last place for Ward.

Belle Vue then stuck the knife in during heats 12 and 13, racking up maximums in both and ending Poole’s chances of a losing point in rapid fashion.

Milik – a rare bright spot for the away team - got his third win of the night in the penultimate race but fell twice in an academic heat 15 that took three attempts to get going.

Cook and Nicholls sandwiched Pawlicki and ensured the home septet took a comfortable 16-point win.

RIDERS' SCORES AND HEAT DETAILS

Aces 54: 1 Matej Zagar (2-2*-3-2*) 9+2, 2 Michael Palm Toft (1*-2-0-3) 6+1, 3 Scott Nicholls (2-3-r-2-1) 8, 4 Max Fricke, guest (2-1-3-2) 8, 5 Craig Cook (1*-3-1*-3-3) 11+2, 6 Stefan Nielsen (3-1*-3-2*) 9+2, 7 Lee Payne (0-1*-2*-0) 3+2. Team manager: Jason Attwood.

Pirates 38: 1 Darcy Ward (3-fx-0-1) 4, 2 Josh Grajczonek (0-3-1*-r) 4+1, 3 Shamek Pawlicki (0-1-2-4^-2) 9, 4 Vaclav Milik (0-3-3-3-0) 9, 5 Maciej Janowski (3-2-1*-0) 6+1, 6 Ben Hopwood (2-0-1) 3, 7 Adam Ellis, guest (1*-0-fx-1-1) 3+1. Team manager: Neil Middleditch. 

Ht 1: Ward, Zagar, Palm Toft, Grajczonek, 59.6 (3-3)
Ht 2: Nielsen, Hopwood, Ellis,Payne, 62.4 (6-6)
Ht 3: Janowski, Nicholls, Cook,Pawlicki, 60.0 (9-9)
Ht 4: Grajczonek, Fricke, Nielsen,Ellis, 60.4 (12-12)
Ht 5: Cook, Zagar, Pawlicki, Milik, 60.1 (17-13)
Ht 6 (re-run): Nicholls, Janowski, Fricke, Ward (fell/excluded), 60.5 (21-15)
Ht 7: Milik, Palm Toft, Payne, Hopwood, 60.8 (24-18)
Ht 8: Fricke, Pawlicki, Grajczonek, Nicholls (retired), 60.9 (27-21)
Ht 9 (re-run): Nielsen, Payne, Hopwood, Ellis (fell/excluded), 61.5 (32-22)
Ht 10: Zagar, Pawlicki (tactical), Janowski, Palm Toft, 59.9 (35-27)
Ht 11: Milik, Nicholls, Cook, Ward, 60.1 (38-30)
Ht 12: Palm Toft, Nielsen, Ellis, Grajczonek (retired), 60.4 (43-31)
Ht 13: Cook, Zagar, Ward, Janowski, 60.2 (48-32)
Ht 14: Milik, Fricke, Ellis, Payne, 61.2 (50-36)
Ht 15 (re-run x2): Cook, Pawlicki, Nicholls, Milik, 61.4 (54-38)