GARY Havelock rolled back the years to produce another vintage performance for Pirates as they crushed depleted Eastbourne last night.

The wily 41-year-old pulled off another master-class of white line riding to pile up a vital seven paid 10 as Poole Castle Cover won at a canter for the eighth time at home this season.

Havelock is the Dorset club’s number eight and may not be firing on all cylinders for his Premier League outfit Redcar.

But after being called up to replace ill Leon Madsen, who missed last night’s meeting with a viral infection, the 1992 world champion showed you’re never too old to return to the top level and perform at your best.

Havvy’s battling heat seven ride to pip Cameron Woodward for second summed up his seemingly never-ending genius on how to race a speedway bike, and was quite simply a joy to watch.

The Aussie youngster clearly had more speed than the ancient Britain.

It was Havelock’s cunning inside line riding, however, earned him second behind Davey Watt as Pirates grabbed the second of five consecutive 5-1s, which ruthlessly halted Eagles’ bright start.

Woodward had squeezed Havelock out on the second turn, relegating Poole’s man into third.

Havelock didn’t panic, he just kept his throttle on as he powered round the inside as the two riders exchanged places six times in the opening three laps.

In the end, the forty-something beat his 25-year-old rival, pulling clear on the final circuit to follow Watt home.

It was the second time Havelock has starred at Poole this year.

He’d got seven paid nine in a 54-39 hammering of Peterborough in April, and last night’s classy performance will have made up for his miserable three-point tally in Pirates’ 53-40 reverse at Lakeside on Friday.

At the other end of the age spectrum, Pirates’ 20-year-old Pole Artur Mroczka was at his spectacular best again.

Who says he doesn’t ride like Krzysztof Cegielski? King Artur definitely looked like Ceggy as he blitzed wide outside Ricky Kling by the pits on the third lap to salvage third in race four.

Mroczka bagged another impressive eight paid 11 as his assured bike handling continues to, perhaps, evoke memories of Britain’s two-times world champion, Peter Craven, Belle Vue’s fifties and sixties star who was the original ‘Wizard of Balance’.

Matej Zagar brilliantly blitzed past Bjarne Pedersen on the inside of the back straight in heat five to deny the Dane a maximum, and also memorably pipped Watt to the line to win the final race.

Pirates bring in Newport’s Craig Watson as a guest for Madsen at Swindon in the league tonight (7.30pm).

Swindon: 1 Adams, 2 Risager, 3 Korneliussen, 4 Zengota, 5 Stead, 6 Frampton, 7 Gathercole.

Pirates: 1 Holder, 2 Ward, 3 Pedersen, 4 Doyle, 5 Watt, 6 Watson (guest), 7 Mroczka.

Pirates 63: 1 Chris Holder (2-2*-3-2) 9+1, 2 Darcy Ward (1*-3-3-2*-1*) 10+3, 3 Bjarne Pedersen (3-2-3-3) 11, 4 Jason Doyle (1-1*-2*-3) 7+2, 5 Davey Watt (2-3-3-1*-2) 11+1, 6 Gary Havelock (2*-2*-1-2*) 7+3, 7 Artur Mroczka (3-1*-2*-2*) 8+3. Team manager: Neil Middleditch.

Eastbourne 29: 1 Matej Zagar (3-3-4^-3-3) 16, 2 Simon Gustafsson (0-0-0) 0, 3 (guest) James Wright (2-1-0-0-1-0) 4, 4 Cameron Woodward (0-1-0-1-0^) 2, 5 Rider replacement for Joonas Kylmakorpi, 6 Ricky Kling (1-0-ret-1-0-0) 2, 7 Dawid Lampart (0-3-1-0-1) 5. Team manager: Trevor Geer.

Referee: Phil Griffin.

League points: Poole 3 Eastbourne 0.

Ht 1: Zagar, Holder, Ward, Gustafsson, 58.46 (3-3).

Ht 2: Mroczka, Havelock, Kling, Lampart (fell, remounted), 59.00 (8-4).

Ht 3: Pedersen, Wright, Doyle, Woodward, 60.43 (12-6).

Ht 4: Lampart, Watt, Mroczka, Kling, 60.19 (15-9).

Ht 5: Zagar, Pedersen, Doyle, Gustafsson, 59.41 (18-12).

Ht 6: Ward, Holder, Wright, Kling (retired), 60.10 (23-13).

Ht 7: Watt, Havelock, Woodward, Wright, 60.61 (28-14).

Ht 8: (re-run) Ward, Mroczka, Lampart, Gustafsson, 59.95 (33-15).

Ht 9: Pedersen, Doyle, Kling, Woodward, 60.38 (38-16).

Ht 10: Holder, Ward, Woodward, Wright, 60.16 (43-17).

Ht 11: Watt, Zagar^ (tactical rider, double points), Havelock, Lampart, 60.47 (47-21).

Ht 12: Pedersen, Mroczka, Wright, Kling, 60.59 (52-22).

Ht 13: Zagar, Holder, Watt, Kling, 59.92 (55-25).

Ht 14: Doyle, Havelock, Lampart, Woodward^ (tactical rider), 60.84 (60-26).

Ht 15: Zagar, Watt, Ward, Wright, 60.40 (63-29).

Fixtures, tonight, Elite League: Coventry v Wolves, Ipswich v Eastbourne, Peterborough v Belle Vue, Swindon v Pirates.

Tomorrow, Challenge: Weymouth v Bournemouth.