PIRATES thumped Belle Vue 54-35 on an incident-packed night of SGB Premiership racing at Wimborne Road.

There were thrills and spills aplenty but a combination of rapid gating and some generous gifts from the visitors contributed to the Poole victory.

Further good news came when team boss Neil Middleditch reported Kacper Woryna had emerged unscathed from a heat nine spill which had forced him to sit out his final ride.

Poole were without the unavailable Nicolai Klindt so Nico Covatti guested, while Danish youngster Frederik Jakobsen made his debut at reserve.

Scott Nicholls stood in for Belle Vue’s Rohan Tungate and the Aces operated rider replacement for Jason Garrity.

With former Poole star Davey Watt among the interested spectators, captain Josh Grajczonek kicked things off with a victory in heat one. Craig Cook appeared set to sweep round everyone on turns one and two but Grajczonek held his ground.

Jakobsen’s first SGB Premiership race yielded a spectacular four-rider crash involving Covatti, Jye Etheridge and Damian Drozdz, with no rider penalised.

In the re-run, Jakobsen was gone like a shot and Drozdz charitably cleared the track after falling wide on bend two.

Nicholls was a man on a mission next and did not take him long to pass Woryna. But Richie Worrall proved too much to overcome, the home rider clinging on in a photo finish.

Swedish star Linus Sundstrom did not appear fazed by his new heat leader role as he kept Max Fricke at arm’s length, with Covatti’s third place handing the hosts a 17-7 lead.

A rocket start from Cook proved crucial to his heat five win but a 3-3 proved little use to the Aces, the same outcome following when Fricke tore home.

An early interval was taken to allow the sun to drop and when the action resumed, Nicholls did not need long to sweep past the fast-starting Sundstrom. At the seventh attempt, the Aces had their first heat advantage.

Covatti and Grajczonek quickly restored the 10-point lead and Cook then presented Poole with a gift by jumping the start and therefore going off a 15m handicap.

Pirates were on a 3-3 in the re-run but after Woryna suffered an untimely spill on turn two of the final lap, Belle Vue clawed back a couple of points and trailed 31-23.

Nicholls repeated Cook’s illegal start in heat 10 and went off 15m. This time the hosts made the most of their fortune, Kurtz and Grajczonek clearing off for a maximum.

A miserable night for Drozdz was compounded when he fell and his bike went cartwheeling down the back straight.

Cook blitzed through the tapes in the re-run and despite working his way into second from 15m back, fell as he pushed Sundstrom for top spot.

Covatti crowned his tremendous meeting with a second win, a result which secured overall victory, despite Jakobsen losing power and dropping a place in the final metres.

Kurtz outclassed Fricke in heat 13 and race 14 was shared. Fricke took the honours in the final contest but the result had long since gone.

Meanwhile, Pirates boss Matt Ford confirmed the running of next week’s Premiership fixture against Wolverhampton would depend on the exploits of the England football team.

If the Three Lions defeat Sweden on Saturday, they would face a World Cup semi-final against Croatia or Russia four days later (7pm).

And Ford told the Daily Echo he would not press ahead in that eventuality, preferring instead to reschedule the clash with Peter Adams’s side.

RIDERS’ SCORES AND HEAT DETAILS

Pirates 54: 1 Brady Kurtz (1-1*-3-3-2) 10+1, 2 Josh Grajczonek (3-2-1-2*) 8+1, 3 Kacper Woryna (1-2-f) 3, 4 Richie Worrall (3-1*-2-2) 8+1, 5 Linus Sundstrom (3-2-3-1) 9, 6 Frederik Jakobsen (3-0-2*-1-1*) 7+2, 7 Nico Covatti, guest (2*-1-3-3-0) 9+1.

Belle Vue 35: 1 Craig Cook (2-3-1-f) 6, 2 Jason Garrity r/r, 3 Dan Bewley (0-1-2-1-r) 4, 4 Scott Nicholls, guest (2-3-0-3-1) 9, 5 Max Fricke (2-3-3-2-3) 13, 6 Jye Etheridge (0-1-0-2-r) 3, 7 Damian Drozdz (f-0-0-0-fx) 0.

HT 1: Grajczonek, Cook, Kurtz, Etheridge, 59.34 (4-2)

HT 2 (re-run): Jakobsen, Covatti, Etheridge, Drozdz (fell), 60.38 (9-3)

HT 3: Worrall, Nicholls, Woryna, Bewley, 60.78 (13-5)

HT 4: Sundstrom, Fricke, Covatti, Drozdz, 60.15 (17-7)

HT 5: Cook, Woryna, Worrall, Etheridge, 59.39 (20-10)

HT 6: Fricke, Grajczonek, Kurtz, Drozdz, 59.78 (23-13)

HT 7: Nicholls, Sundstrom, Bewley, Jakobsen, 60.06 (25-17)

HT 8: Covatti, Bewley, Grajczonek, Drozdz, 60.13 (29-19)

HT 9 (re-run): Fricke, Worrall, Cook (tapes 15m), Woryna (fell), awarded (31-23)

HT 10 (re-run): Kurtz, Grajczonek, Bewley, Nicholls (tapes 15m), 60.59 (36-24)

HT 11 (re-run x2): Sundstrom, Jakobsen, Cook (tapes 15m and fell), Drozdz (fell/dsq), awarded (41-24)

HT 12: Covatti, Etheridge, Jakobsen, Bewley (ret), 61.15 (45-26)

HT 13: Kurtz, Fricke, Sundstrom, Etheridge (ret), 60.75 (49-28)

HT 14: Nicholls, Worrall, Jakobsen, Drozdz, 61.43 (52-31)

HT 15: Fricke, Kurtz, Nicholls, Covatti, 61.03 (54-35)

ECHO STAR RIDER: NICO COVATTI

He was a guest and a very welcome one at that.

The Italian international banked nine paid 10 on a fruitful trip to Wimborne Road with no Poole rider winning more races than him – two.

Covatti deserved his slot in heat 15, although he found the pace a little too hot to handle.

Debutant Frederik Jakobsen enjoyed an excellent night and Poole skipper Josh Grajczonek was an improved proposition having shifted to number two.

Linus Sundstrom also deserves plenty of credit for picking up nine points in a heat leader role.