PIRATES star Richie Worrall held off the challenge of holder Rory Schlein to take the Scottish Open at Edinburgh.

The Merseysider topped the scoring during the qualifiers, dropping his only point to Ricky Wells.

He led from the gate in his semi-final before prevailing in a thrilling final battle over Schlein, with Kevin Doolan completing the rostrum finishers.

Discussing the final, the 27-year-old said: “I was riding defensively and when you do that you slow down.

“I looked on the last corner to see where he (Schlein) was and when I changed my body position it made the bike grip and lift, which made it a real close finish! A bit too close for my liking.

“When I was driving there, I was thinking I wanted to put my name on that trophy.

“There's some real big names on there. And I want to keep on putting my name on the trophy as long as this meeting is on.”

Elsewhere, Nicolai Klindt totalled nine points from six rides for Danish outfit Holsted in their 46-41 victory over Region Varde.

Klindt told his official website: “I was very fast and the only guy to clock a time under 56 seconds, but my starts were too inconsistent."