DAKOTA North admitted his occasional jogging had not prepared him for a “Usain Bolt” dash to clear the path to a third straight Elite League title for Pirates.

North and Kacper Gomolski needed only a shared race in heat 14 to seal the club’s third straight championship last night but with his team-mate in front, the Aussie suffered a spill.

But Poole’s number three defused the drama just in time, plucking himself from the airfence quickly enough to allow Gomolski to ride on to cap a memorable 46-44 victory.

North told the Daily Echo: “I had to get up. Kacper had done such a good job to get out in front off gate two.

“The track was slick, I went in a bit wide, it was like marbles and I went down. I just got up and ran as quickly as I could before the referee put on the lights.

“Every now and then I go for a run but that was more of a sprint, a Usain Bolt!”

On the victory, he added: “We are all good mates and I think that really helped. It was a team effort all year, when someone wasn’t riding well, someone else was.”