A BARRAGE of maximums helped Pirates step up their SGB Premiership play-off bid with a 58-32 victory over basement battlers Leicester.

Scintillating Poole reeled off no fewer than seven straight 5-1s as they left in the dust their shell-shocked visitors, who had been just two points adrift after heat seven.

It was a magnificent team effort but Pirates’ bottom two, Frederik Jakobsen and Nicolai Klindt, dealt a Danish pasting in scoring 19 paid 21 in contrast to their Leicester reserve counterparts’ six paid seven.

The Dorset side were unchanged from Monday’s narrow loss at King’s Lynn, with new signing Chris ‘Bomber’ Harris making his home debut.

Leicester arrived at Wimborne Road having made no fewer than four team changes the previous week, Scott Nicholls, Josh Auty, Stuart Robson and Connor Mountain all coming in.

Brady Kurtz kicked off with a flying start from the outside gate which proved enough for victory but backmarker Josh Grajczonek could not make headway on Lions skipper Hans Andersen.

Leicester were chasing shadows in heat two after Jakobsen and Klindt stormed out of the traps and firmly engaged cruise control.

Riders from both teams seemed unsure on a bumpy first turn early on and Kacper Woryna was no exception, the Pole trailing at the back as team-mate Richie Worrall took the chequered flag ahead of Auty.

Three-time British individual champion Harris was off the pace next as Nicholls spearheaded a first heat advantage for the visitors, closing to 13-11 the gap.

Lions seized the initiative when Andersen swooped from the outside in the first turn and was joined at the front by Charles Wright. They were never under threat from Woryna and Worrall.

Nicholls then came out on top in a tremendous dust-up with Kurtz, the visiting rider charging up the inside of the Australian in the closing metres of lap two.

But Poole went into the second track grading 22-20 ahead when Jakobsen secured his second win, shielded well by Harris as Auty vainly attempted to stop the maximum.

After a 20-minute pause to let the sun go down and visibility to improve, Klindt clocked a handy 59.87 seconds in combining for a 5-1 with Grajczonek, which had been on the cards from the word go.

Nicholls, who had two wins from as many races, pirouetted and fell as he chased leader Worrall in heat nine, leaving the scoreless Connor Mountain as Leicester’s sole representative in the re-run. Woryna and Worrall duly banged in a third successive maximum.

Poole had a 10-point lead, prompting Andersen to take a tactical substitute ride in heat 10. But the move did not pay off.

Kurtz edged out the Dane in the first corner and then skipper Grajczonek pulled out a stunning inside-lane pass on Andersen and Auty on turn four.

The trademark never-say-die attitude of Harris was on full display in heat 11, the British charger chasing down Andersen and nipping inside him with two turns to go.

That forced Andersen wide and allowed Jakobsen to roar through and maintain his record of going unbeaten by an opposition rider.

Klindt and Woryna blitzed to another 5-1 from the gate and Harris and Kurtz made it seven in heat 13 in similar fashion as Leicester’s challenge was reduced to rubble.

The Lions finally ended the onslaught in heat 14 with a maximum of their own in an awarded contest.

But normal service was restored in the final showdown when Harris and Kurtz powered past the fading Nicholls.

RIDERS’ SCORES AND HEAT DETAILS

Pirates 58: 1 Brady Kurtz (3-2-3-2*-2*) 12+2, 2 Josh Grajczonek (0-1*-2*-2*) 5+3, 3 Kacper Woryna (0-1-3-2*) 6+1, 4 Richie Worrall (3-0-2*-f) 5+1, 5 Chris Harris (0-2*-3-3-3) 11+1, 6 Frederik Jakobsen (3-3-2*-1) 9+1, 7 Nicolai Klindt (2*-2-3-3) 10+1.

Leicester 32: 1 Hans Andersen (1*-3-1-1-1) 7+1, 2 Charles Wright (2-2*-0-0) 4+1, 3 Josh Auty (2-1-0-1) 4, 4 Ricky Wells (1*-r-3) 4+1, 5 Scott Nicholls (3-3-f-0-1) 7, 6 Connor Mountain (0-0-1-0) 1, 7 Stuart Robson (1-1-1-2*-0) 5+1.

HT 1: Kurtz, Wright, Andersen, Grajczonek, 59.16 (3-3)

HT 2: Jakobsen, Klindt, Robson, Mountain, 60.10 (8-4)

HT 3: Worrall, Auty, Wells, Woryna, 61.06 (11-7)

HT 4: Nicholls, Klindt, Robson, Harris, 59.72 (13-11)

HT 5: Andersen, Wright, Woryna, Worrall, 60.35 (14-16)

HT 6: Nicholls, Kurtz, Grajczonek, Mountain, 60.32 (17-19)

HT 7: Jakobsen, Harris, Auty, Wells (ret), 61.16 (22-20)

HT 8: Klindt, Grajczonek, Robson, Wright, 59.87 (27-21)

HT 9 (re-run): Woryna, Worrall, Mountain, Nicholls (fell), 61.35 (32-22)

HT 10: Kurtz, Grajczonek, Andersen (tac), Auty, 60.87 (37-23)

HT 11: Harris, Jakobsen, Andersen, Wright, 61.13 (42-24)

HT 12: Klindt, Woryna, Auty, Mountain, 61.34 (47-25)

HT 13: Harris, Kurtz, Andersen, Nicholls, 61.52 (52-26)

HT 14: Wells, Robson, Jakobsen, Worrall (fell), awarded (53-31)

HT 15: Harris, Kurtz, Nicholls, Robson, 61.54 (58-32)

ECHO STAR RIDER: CHRIS HARRIS

Bomber recovered brilliantly from a scoreless opening outing to deliver a string of fine rides.

His heat 15 pass on old rival Scott Nicholls was the icing on the cake of a superb home debut.

In truth, any one of a number of Poole riders were worthy of being named rider of the night.

Danish duo Nicolai Klindt and Frederik Jakobsen were magnificent at reserve and there were also plenty of good signs from Josh Grajczonek and Kacper Woryna.