NEWLY-CROWNED world champion Ben Mould led Poole Comets to victory as they maintained their unbeaten home record by defeating Horspath Hammers 92-84 at the Harbourside raceway.

It was the Comets first match since the World Championship finals in Poland, and the long drive back across Europe could have been the reason for some of the team’s performances being below par.

But they still got over the line to victory, thanks in no small part to Mould’s 19-point haul.

However, there was one late disappointment when Ben Donohue suffered an injury which is set to rule him out of the reminder of the campaign.

The large crowd gave a great homecoming welcome to Mould, who got the match off to a cracking start with a stylish win in the opening race, and with Aaron Smith winning heat two, the Comets looked on course for another easy win.

But the fast-starting Oxfordshire side hit back with two race wins of their own to level the scores after the first four races.

Fraser Garnett, Jay Briggs, and Smith kept Poole in the hunt with some fighting race wins but the visitors refused to give in and kept the pressure on with a string of shared races to trail by a narrow two-point margin at the interval.

Poole started the second half in fine style with Smith, Mould and Garnett continuing to post race wins, but without the necessary support from their team mates which allowed the visitors to stay very much in the hunt for the points.

Heat 13 proved to be unlucky for Horspath with the Comets pairing of Garnett and Mildon racing home for a 7-3 maximum heat win to give Poole a nine-point advantage which they extended further in heat 15 when Briggs and Smith held off the Hammers pairing for Comets’ second maximum heat win of the match.

Mould made sure of the match points with another classy win in heat 17, but Comets’ joy was short-lived when Donohue suffered a badly broken thumb as a result of a heavy fall in the final race.

Team manager Colin Sutton said: “The month’s break from team racing didn’t do us many favours.

“Horspath proved worthy opponents and we stuttered our way to victory.

“It was good to have Jay Briggs back from injury and his two race wins helped enormously, while young Nathan Goulden continued to show that he is one to watch for the future.

“However, Ben Donohue’s injury is a nasty one which will keep him out of racing for the rest of this season.”

Poole: Ben Mould 19, Aaron Smith 18, Matt Mildon 12, Fraser Garnett 10, Jay Briggs 10, Wil Bristowe 7, Kyran Yeatman 6, Nathan Goulden 6, Ben Donohue 4.

Horspath: Lukasz Nowacki 13, George Horsley 13, David Leiberman 12, Zac Payne 12, Jack Ellis 12, Jake Neighbour 11, Owen Johnson 9, Andy Johnson 2.