PIRATES duo Chris Holder and Bjarne Pedersen narrowly missed out on Elite League Pairs glory as they finished runners-up behind Coventry at Ipswich tonight.

The Poole Castle Cover pair won three of their qualifying races 7-2 to storm into the semi-finals in second place with 23 points behind Bees duo Krzysztof Kasprzak and Chris Harris, who got 26.

Holder and Pedersen beat Lakeside 7-2 in the last four, while Coventry defeated Peterborough 7-2.

The Pirates, who had been comprehensively beaten 7-2 by the Bees in heat 10, were unable to gain revenge in the final.

Kasprzak got out of the gate in front, with Pedersen second, Harris third and Holder last coming off the second turn.

But Harris blasted outside Pedersen on the back straight to join Kasprzak on a 7-2.

And, despite Holder and Pedersen snapping at Harris’ back wheel for the remainder of the race, they were unable to pass the Great Britain star.

So it was Kasprzak and Harris who defeated Poole 7-2 as the defending champions from 2009 (Holder and Hans Andersen won it for Pirates then) were toppled.

Earlier, Holder had made the gate with Daniel King second and Bjarne Pedersen third in heat one when Scott Nicholls fell while at the back on the first turn.

Nicholls, who’d gone off gate three, felt he’d been nudged by Pedersen, but referee Christina Turnbull ruled the former Grand Prix star had gone down on his own and excluded him.

Holder and Pedersen both outgated King in the re-run and then stuck like glue, the Dane on the outside, the Aussie on the inside, as Pirates scorched to a 7-2 triumph over hosts Ipswich.

Pedersen got out in front in race four, and with Holder sweeping outside Ricky Kling on the second turn, Poole’s pair gained a convincing 7-2 over Eastbourne, with Cameron Woodward finishing third after Kling retired on the last lap while ahead of his Eagles team-mate.

The Dorset side’s riders, supported in the pits by team manager Neil Middleditch and non-riding captain Davey Watt, had gleaned the maximum 14 points from their opening two outings, but had a long wait until heat 10 for their next ride.

Coventry’s duo of Harris and Kasprzak, lying joint second on 12 points, provided the opposition.

And they stormed out of the favoured gates one and three in first and second spot to inflict a 7-2 over Pedersen and Holder, who relinquished their overall lead to the Bees pairing 19-16.

With Peterborough having completed their four qualifying outings on 20, it was imperative Pirates got back to winning ways in their last qualifying race, heat 14, against the Wolves duo of Nicolai Klindt and Joe Haines, in for the injured Fredrik Lindgren (concussion) and Tai Woffinden (concussion).

Holder and Pedersen did so in style, jumping out in front of Klindt and sticking tight, the Aussie on the inside, Pedersen on the outside, to grab their third 7-2 and take their tally to 23 and progress into the semi-finals.

They met luckless Lakeside, who lost Jonas Davidsson to a cruel injury blow just after he had crossed the finish line as race winner in heat 17 in a 7-2 victory over Swindon.

Davidsson sustained damage to his thumb after falling on the wind down lap and had to withdrew from the meeting, with young Joe Jacobs, the meeting reserve, joining forces with Adam Shields to go out against Holder and Pedersen.

The Pirates duo outgated the Hammers pair with Holder and Pedersen comfortably holding off Shields to grab a 7-2 and book their place in the final against Coventry, who defeated Peterborough 7-2 in the first semi after Harris and Kasprzak both overtook early leader Kenneth Bjerre.

Belle Vue duo Hans Andersen (hand) and Peter Karlsson (shoulder) both pulled out of the competition through injury and were replaced by James Wright and Filip Sitera.

Swindon pair Leigh Adams (unavailable, attending a funeral in Poland) and Simon Stead (ill) were replaced by Mads Korneliussen and Grzegorz Zengota.

Elite League Pairs’ Championship at Ipswich Qualifying: 1 Coventry 26 (Krzysztof Kasprzak 3-3*-4-4 14/Chris Harris 2*-4-3*-3* 12), 2 Pirates 23 (Chris Holder 3*-4-0-4 11/Bjarne Pedersen 4-3*-2-3* 12), 3 Lakeside 22 (Adam Shields 4-3-2*-3* 12/Jonas Davidsson 3*-0-3-4 10), 4 Peterborough 20 (Kenneth Bjerre 4-4-2*-exc unfair riding 10/Niels-Kristian Iversen fell-3*-3-4 10), 5 Swindon 18 (Mads Korneliussen 3*-2*-0-2 7/Grzegorz Zengota 4-3-4-0 11), 6 Ipswich 17 (Scott Nicholls fell exc-2-4-2 8/Danny King 2-4-3*-0 9), 7 Wolves 15 (Nicolai Klindt 2-4-2-4 12/Joe Haines 0-0-0-3* 3), 8 Eastbourne 13 (Ricky Kling ret-2-3-4 9/Cameron Woodward 2-ret-2*-fell exc 4), 9 Belle Vue 8 (Filip Sitera 2-0-0-0 2/James Wright 0-2-2-2 6).

Referee: Christina Turnbull.

Ht 1: (re-run) Pedersen, Holder, King, Nicholls (fell excluded), 58.6.

Ht 2: Bjerre, Kasprzak, Harris, Iversen (fell), 58.3.

Ht 3: Zengota, Korneliussen, Sitera, Wright, 59.5.

Ht 4: Holder, Pedersen, Woodward, Kling (retired), 58.9.

Ht 5: Bjerre, Iversen, Klindt, Haines, 58.7.

Ht 6: Shields, Davidsson, Wright, Sitera, 59.7.

Ht 7: Harris, Kasprzak, Kling, Woodward (retired), 58.4.

Ht 8: Klindt, Zengota, Korneliussen, Haines, 59.0.

Ht 9: King, Shields, Nicholls, Davidsson, 60.1.

Ht 10: Kasprzak, Harris, Pedersen, Holder, 59.7.

Ht 11: Zengota, Iversen, Bjerre, Korneliussen, 59.7.

Ht 12: Nicholls, King, Wright, Sitera, 59.8.

Ht 13: (re-run) Iversen, Kling, Woodward, Bjerre (excluded unfair riding), 59.9.

Ht 14: Holder, Pedersen, Klindt, Haines, 60.5.

Ht 15: (re-run) Kling, Davidsson, Shields, Woodward (fell excluded), 60.0.

Ht 16: Kasprzak, Harris, Wright, Sitera, 60.2.

Ht 17: Davidsson, Shields, Korneliussen, Zengota, 60.7.

Ht 18: Klindt, Haines, Nicholls, King, 60.2.

Semi-finals Ht 19: (re-run) Harris, Kasprzak, Iversen, Bjerre, 60.1.

Ht 20: Holder, Pedersen, Shields, Jacobs, Davidsson (non-starter, injured) 59.5.

Final Ht 21: Kasprzak, Harris, Holder, Pedersen, 60.3.