PIRATES came within a whisker of wrecking Wolverhampton’s 90th anniversary celebrations – but were denied by a bizarre and dramatic heat 15.

In a clash between the top and bottom-placed sides in the SGB Premiership, Poole improbably led 43-41 heading into the final showdown but Brady Kurtz had to be replaced by reserve Kacper Woryna after touching the tapes.

And Linus Sundstrom started off 15m having returned to the pits before the restart – an infringement of the rulebook.

Rory Schlein and Jacob Thorssell made no mistake at the second time of asking and, by the skin of their teeth, the hosts had retained their 100 per cent winning record at Monmore Green with a 46-44 success.

Pirates powered away from the tapes in the opener but Kyle Howarth split the visiting duo on turn three, while Thorssell dropped out of contention after falling and remounting.

Wolves responded well with Nathan Greaves and Ashley Morris jet-propelled from the gate, Woryna not finding a way through despite straining every sinew.

Sam Masters lowered the colours of Josh Grajczonek as Wolves went 11-7 up but the fast-starting Woryna claimed the surprise scalp of Schlein, who has been in superb form this season. Morris, however, got past Richie Worrall on lap two.

Flying starts from Kurtz and Sundstrom set up a maximum which Masters could not prevent, levelling the scores.

Worrall had failed to register in his first outing but came charging back by taking the chequered flag in heat six. Poole reserve Mateusz Szczepaniak was passed for third by Thorssell, who overcame bike problems to fight back from an off-the-pace position.

A gutsy ride from the second-place Greaves was enough to keep Grajczonek at bay in heat seven, handing Wolves a second 5-1.

But the hosts gift-wrapped Poole a maximum when Morris was excluded in heat eight and Howarth went off 15 metres in the re-run, with Sundstrom and Woryna making no mistake.

Poole then took the lead for the first time since heat one as Worrall gated and Szczepaniak passed Cameron Heeps on the first turn of the final lap.

But Thorssell then roared into life in leading in Howarth from tapes to flag.

Still Pirates would not go away. Kurtz was rapid from the start and refused to let Schlein through, while Sundstrom found a route past Greaves on the second lap.

A costly fall for Morris in heat 12 handed Grajczonek and Woryna a maximum, with Wolves team boss Peter Adams’s protests that Woryna had been at fault falling on deaf ears.

Thorssell and Schlein struck back immediately with a 5-1 of their own but Woryna pulled out a thrilling back-straight pass on Masters in the closing stages of heat 14, giving Poole a two-point advantage.

But after Kurtz was thrown out of heat 15 and Sundstrom forced to start from 15 metres back, Wolverhampton held their nerve, much to the relief of a bumper home crowd.

RIDERS’ SCORES AND HEAT DETAILS

Wolverhampton 46: 1 Jacob Thorssell (0-1*-3-3-2*) 9+2, 2 Kyle Howarth (2-2-1-2*) 7+1, 3 Cameron Heeps (1-0-0) 1, 4 Sam Masters (3-1-2-2) 8, 5 Rory Schlein (2-3-2-2*-3) , 6 Nathan Greaves (3-2*-0-1-0) 6+1, 7 Ashley Morris (2*-1*-fx-0) 3+2.

Pirates 44: 1 Brady Kurtz (1-3-3-0-tx) 7, 2 Linus Sundstrom (3-2*-3-1-0) 9+1, 3 Josh Grajczonek (2-1-0-3) 6, 4 Paul Starke (0-0-1) 1, 5 Richie Worrall (0-3-3-1) 7, 6 Mateusz Szczepaniak (0-0-1) 1, 7 Kacper Woryna (1-3-2*-1-2*-3-1) 13+2.

HT 1: Sundstrom, Howarth, Kurtz, Thorssell (fell/rem), 54.81 (2-4)

HT 2: Greaves, Morris, Woryna, Szczepaniak, 56.69 (7-5)

HT 3: Masters, Grajczonek, Heeps, Starke, 55.24 (11-7)

HT 4: Woryna, Schlein, Morris, Worrall, 55.58 (14-10)

HT 5: Kurtz, Sundstrom, Masters, Heeps, 55.47 (15-15)

HT 6: Worrall, Howarth, Thorssell, Szczepaniak, 56.06 (18-18)

HT 7: Schlein, Greaves, Grajczonek, Starke, 56.19 (23-19)

HT 8 (re-run): Sundstrom, Woryna, Howarth (tapes 15m), Morris (fell/dsq), 56.26 (24-24)

HT 9: Worrall, Masters, Szczepaniak, Heeps, 56.58 (26-28)

HT 10: Thorssell, Howarth, Woryna, Grajczonek, 56.32 (31-29)

HT 11: Kurtz, Schlein, Sundstrom, Greaves, 56.63 (33-33)

HT 12: Grajczonek, Woryna, Greaves, Morris (fell), awarded (34-38)

HT 13: Thorssell, Schlein, Worrall, Kurtz, 56.61 (39-39)

HT 14: Woryna, Masters, Starke, Greaves, 57.17 (41-43)

HT 15 (re-run): Schlein, Thorssell, Woryna, Sundstrom, Kurtz (tapes/dsq), 57.45 (46-44)

ECHO STAR RIDER: KACPER WORYNA

A SHIFT to reserve paid immediate dividends for Kacper Woryna.

But it was not just his opposite number the young Pole was beating – he was on everyone's case.

Linus Sundstrom also scored very well, this time from a second string position.