Magnificent Pirates edge closer to final

From the Echo, first published Tuesday 14th Oct 2003.

POOLE'S magnificent Pirates stayed on course for the treble with a brilliant victory in the British League Cup semi-final in Manchester last night.

A brilliant display of gating saw them provide 11 of the 15 heat winners and dominate the match after taking the lead in the third race.

It leaves Pirates with a formality of booking a two-legged final against Eastbourne in tomorrow night's return leg at Wimborne Road.

Poole team boss Neil Middleditch said: "This was a good team performance and our gating on the night was excellent.

"Davey Watt was superb and so was Antonio Lindback who had never been to Belle Vue before.

"The only disappointment was Craig Boyce who would have been expected to have done better than score three points.

"But we aren't counting our chickens for the return even though we have got such a good lead.

"Speedway is a funny sport and the match is never over until it is over, especially as Jason Crump will be riding for Belle Vue in the return."

Pirates had looked set for a share of the points in heat one, won by Joe Screen, but young Aussie Rory Schlein passed Boyce at the start of the last lap to grab third place.

David Ruud sprinted out of the tapes to win the second and Poole swept ahead with maximum points in the next.

Magnus Zetterstrom and Lindback, making his first appearance at Belle Vue, held off a determined first bend challenge by Steve Johnston to stretch away for a comfortable win.

Bjarne Pedersen kept up Poole's winning sequence from the gate in the fourth and Watt took the next, overtaking Johnston on the back straight of the last lap after a thrilling chase.

Screen ended Poole's winning run by holding off Pedersen in heat six.

But Lindback then proved his liking for the Kirky Lane track by beating home star Jason Lyons convincingly to restore Poole's six point lead.

The Aces brought in Screen as a tactical substitute in the eighth, but his winning night was halted by the impressive Watt, who had an all-the-way win.

Pirates maintained their domination from the tapes with Pedersen and Zetterstrom winning the next two races comfortably.

Poole continued to pile up the heat wins, Watt beating Lyons in the 11th before Zetterstrom and reserve replacement Ruud teamed up for a maximum. Pedersen won heat 13 after a tight tussle with Lyons to take the Pirates to a match-winning 46 points with the luxury of two races to go.

Lyons ended a run of seven heat winners in a row for Poole by taking a thriller with Lindback in heat 14 in which they exchanged the lead twice during the best race of the night.

And the home side provided a much too late flourish in the final heat when Screen and Lyons took maximum points.

Belle Vue have confirmed they will be including Jason Crump, Jason Lyons, Neil Collins and Steve Johnston in their line up at Wimborne Road tomorrow.

If Poole win on aggregate they will visit Eastbourne in the final on Sunday and host the Eagles on Wednesday, October 29.

Pirates star Leigh Adams won the Michael Coles Testimonial at Exeter last night after beating runner-up Mark Lemon, third-placed Leigh Lanham and Chris Harris.

HEAT DETAILS Belle Vue: 1 Joe Screen (3-3-2-2-0-3) 13, 2 Rory Schlein (1-1-1*-1*-1) 5+2, 3 Steve Johnston (1-2-2-1) 6, 4 Neil Collins (0-0-1*) 1+1, 5 Jason Lyons (2-2-2-2-3-2*) 13+1, 6 James Wright (1*-0-0) 1+1, 7 Buzz Burrows (2-0-0) 2. Team manager: John Perrin. Pirates: 1 Craig Boyce (0-1-1-1) 3, 2 Davey Watt (2-3-3-3-0) 11, 3 Magnus Zetterstrom (3-1-3-3-1) 11, 4 Antonio Lindback (2*-3-0-2) 7+1, 5 Bjarne Pedersen (3-2-3-3) 11, 6 Wayne Broadhurst (0-0-0) 0, 7 David Ruud (3-1-0-2*-0) 6+1. Team manager: Neil Middleditch. Referee: Graham Flint. Ht 1: Screen, Watt, Schlein, Boyce, 60.4 (4-2). Ht 2: Ruud, Burrows, Wright, Broadhurst, 61.8 (7-5). Ht 3: Zetterstrom, Lindback, Johnston, Collins, 61.0 (8-10). Ht 4: Pedersen, Lyons, Ruud, Burrows, 61.9 (10-14). Ht 5: Watt, Johnston, Boyce, Collins, 61.1 (12-18). Ht 6: Screen, Pedersen, Schlein, Broadhurst, 61.3 (16-20). Ht 7: Lindback, Lyons, Zetterstrom, Wright, 60.8 (18-24). Ht 8: Watt, Screen, Schlein, Ruud, 61.2 (21-27). Ht 9: Pedersen, Johnston, Collins, Broadhurst, 61.2 (24-30). Ht 10: Zetterstrom, Screen, Schlein, Lindback, 61.0 (27-33). Ht 11: Watt, Lyons, Boyce, Wright, 61.2 (29-37). Ht 12: Zetterstrom, Ruud, Johnston, Burrows, 61.9 (30-42). Ht 13: Pedersen, Lyons, Boyce, Screen, 61.0 (32-46). Ht 14: Lyons, Lindback, Schlein, Ruud, 61.8 (36-48). Ht 15: Screen, Lyons, Zetterstrom, Watt, 62.4 (41-49).