IN SPORT, you only tend to irk people when you’re winning.

So while off-track bun fights between Poole Pirates and Coventry have at times provided as much entertainment as anything on the shale, they have usually been fuelled by a sporting rivalry.

The adversaries have undeniably been the forces of speedway during the Elite League era, claiming a whopping 10 of the 14 championships since the play-offs were first introduced back in 2002.

Under Matt Ford, Poole had already started to signal their intent. They had agonisingly missed out to treble winners Peterborough in 1999 and were again runners-up two years later to the Oxford Cheetahs.

In 2003, their first top-flight triumph for nine years came at the expense of the Bees at a rammed Wimborne Road which hosted some 6,000 fans.

Poole had put one hand on the trophy a week before with a 45-44 victory at Brandon, despite the best efforts of 15-point maximum man Andreas Jonsson.

Fans began queueing as early as 1pm for the return leg, six-and-a-half hours before tapes up, and the bumper crowd was not disappointed.

Jonsson in particular helped Coventry stay on the coattails of their opponents until heat nine but Tony Rickardsson’s five race wins, an 11-paid-13 for Leigh Adams, Ales Dryml’s 12-paid-15 and a steady eight from Mark Loram sealed the deal 55-35 on the night and 100-79 on aggregate.

After seven different champions in seven years, nobody could have guessed what would follow.

Poole made it back-to-back crowns in 2004 with the swatted Bees finishing rock bottom, only for the pendulum to swing dramatically within 12 months.

Coventry sealed their first crown since the British League days with Pirates edged out of the play-off picture.

Poole’s dip continued with a seventh-placed finish in 2006 while their new foes missed out in the play-offs.

But it was only a matter of time before they came together again at the business end of the season and while 2007 marked a welcome return to the play-offs for Poole, it ended rather abruptly.

Bjarne Pedersen racked up an 18-point maximum in a one-legged semi-final on the road and Jason Crump did all he could with 11 but Ford was left to admit his inexperienced side had been “found wanting”.

The evidence was undeniable. Two days after that 55-38 reverse, Pirates lost 44-31 after 12 heats of a home Knockout Cup clash with the Bees, who went on to topple Swindon in the final for a second title in three years.

There was a sizeable gap to bridge and Ford’s decision to opt for a rebuild without Jason Crump raised a few eyebrows.

But the unproven side, reshaped with the likes of Davey Watt and Chris Holder, beat Lakeside in the 2008 final before a barren year.

Acquaintances were renewed in the grand final of 2010 when Coventry shocked their high-flying counterparts 101-79, despite finishing some 26 points shy of Poole in the final standings.

The curse of the crown continued as the Bees finished eighth in a pair of turbulent seasons, while the emergence of the Turbo Twins, Holder and Darcy Ward, saw Pirates lay down a marker.

Eastbourne arrived at Wimborne Road for the second leg of the 2011 final with an eight-point advantage but Holder’s 12-paid 13, which had followed a 12 in the away leg, and Ward’s 13-paid-15 maximum on the back of his 10 at Arlington not only delivered another championship but set a trend for years to come.

Alun Rossiter, who had led Coventry to their 2010 triumph, stole the Dorset club’s thunder with Swindon in 2012.

But Poole then embarked on a run of three straight titles with Coventry returning to the party over the past couple of seasons.

Gary Havelock’s side were in form ahead of the 2014 final but the weakened Pirates, shorn of the services of the banned Ward won a rain-affected meeting 37-34 after 12 heats and completed the job at home.

Revenge looked on the cards when the Bees won 50-41 at Poole in April 2015 and topped the table for a long time but Pirates came good at the right time, easing to a 103-76 semi-final victory having opted for Coventry in the last four.

Belle Vue, the last team to win three British titles in a row, were Poole’s victims in the final.