POOLE romped to victory in their third Championship Jubilee League fixture over Birmingham, easing to a 59-31 against the beleaguered Brummies.

After a slow start in the first four heats, Pirates found their form, going on to dominate the remainder of the contest, with Ben Cook taking home a paid maximum.

The biggest talking point of the evening was the fact that the away side were without six of their usual seven, with a mixture of suspension and injuries taking their toll on the Brummies.

Already shorthanded when Poole visited Perry Barr on Wednesday, shoulder injuries sustained by skipper Ashley Morris and Stefan Nielsen during that reverse fixture added to the pre-standing absences of Claus Vissing (suspension), Josh Auty, James Shanes, and James Pearson (both injury).

Despite the air of inevitability surrounding a Pirates win, Justin Sedgmen began the meeting by taking first in heat one, ensuring the spoils were shared as Steve Worrall and guest Connor Coles secured second and third place.

A straightforward heat two saw the points split evenly again, with Ben Cook never looking like being caught after taking the lead with a strong start.

Pirates guest Coles battled with fellow draftee Ben Morley at the back for third, but in the end the Brummies guest held on to score a point.

In heat three Zach Cook held off the challenge of former Pirate Paul Starke to take second, combining with team captain Danny King to put the hosts into the lead with a maximum.

Brummies answered back in heat four when stand-in skipper Sedgmen won his second race of the evening, supplemented by guest Ben Morley who took third, sandwiching Richard Lawson in second for a 4-2 win.

Heat five came to a quick halt when Starke came flying off into the air fence between bends one and two, but fortunately for the injury laden Brummies, he was able to dust himself off for the re-run.

It seemed like it would be another Pirates 5-1 early on, but the clearly resilient Starke battled to take second before the end of the first lap.

He then pushed leader Zach Cook to the finishing line, eventually taking the heat by a tire length in a close 3-3.

Another re-run due to an unsatisfactory start followed in heat six, with Pirates number one Worrall warned for moving at the line.

A 4-2 followed as King took his second win of the evening, with Worrall kept out of second place after Brummies guest Lee Complin fought hard to retain his place after overtaking Worrall on the backstraight of lap two.

Pirates stretched their winning margin even further with a 5-1 in heat seven, Lawson leading the way with Ben Cook in tow to give Pirates a 25-17 lead at the second track grading.

Ben Cook returned for heat eight, breezing past Danno Verge and Morley.

Sedgmen again proved a thorn in Pirates’ side, interrupting a potential one-two between King and Zach Cook. King soared into an early lead, but Sedgmen was equally as unchallenged in second, leaving Zach Cook to take one point in a 4-2 Pirates win.

A second successive race advantage followed when Pirates took heat 10 by the same scoreline. Zach Cook again came third, with Worrall producing his third win of the evening as Starke again earnt points for the beleaguered Brummies.

Pirates began to pull away at the meeting neared its conclusion, with Lawson and Ben Cook combining to score 5-1 in heat 11.

Brummies continued to persevere, splitting the score 3-3 in heat 12. Skipper King took first for Poole, with Starke and Complin on hand to finish second and third for the away side.

Undeterred by the signs of life shown by the visitors, Pirates responded in heat 13 with a maximum. Lawson and Worrall cruised to first and second respectively, stretching Pirates’ lead even further.

Brothers Ben Cook and Zach Cook repeated the trick in heat 14, but only after a topsy-turvy battle between Zach Cook and Complin for second.

Worrall and Lawson came back out for the final heat to clean up another 5-1 race win, adding further gloss to the 59-31 scoreline.