Magnus magic fires up Poole

From the Echo, first published Thursday 16th Oct 2003.

MAGNUS Zetterstrom teamed-up with Antonio Lindback to reinforce Pirates' superiority in heat nine of this semi-final, second leg, clash as they progressed into a two-legged final against Eastbourne.

Belle Vue, who never really had a hope of pulling back an eight-point deficit from their home leg, had taken advantage of a race eight crash which saw Davey Watt sustain a suspected broken scaphoid by grabbing a 5-1 in the re-run.

Watt, in second place, had been on a comfortable 3-3 with his Poole team-mate David Ruud behind leader Jason Crump when the Australian fell heavily at the end of the second lap.

He hit the safety fence at high speed and was lucky to escape even further serious injury.

Rory Schlein joined Crump on a 5-1 over Ruud in the re-run to drag the hardworking Aces back to only 25-23 adrift going into heat nine.

That's when Zorro, as Zetterstrom is known, and his Swedish compatriot Lindback produced a bit of magic to stretch Poole's advantage at just the right time.

Jason Lyons had already won his opening two heats convincingly, showing Ruud, Bjarne Pedersen, Craig Boyce and Watt his back wheel.

So it was something of a surprise when Lindback outgated the Ace and as he held Lyons tightly behind him by the white line, Zetterstrom swept outside both of them on the second bend to take the lead.

Zorro and Lindback then team-rode superbly to peg Lyons behind them as they got a Pirates 5-1 that propelled them 30-24 ahead.

If that wasn't already enough, Zetterstrom, just like in 1999 with Matej Ferjan, then seduced Lindback into joining in with a celebratory John Travolta-style dance in front of the main grandstand crowd that pumped up the volume in Poole Stadium.

Ruud popped out first in heat 10 and was joined by Boyce, who roared outside and past Craig Watson and Neil Collins on the second bend to join his Pirates team-mate on another 5-1 that stretched their lead to 35-25.

And, even though Crump outgated Pedersen to help grab a Belle Vue 4-2 in heat 11, the Zetterstrom-Ruud combination in heat 12 got a Poole 4-2 that sealed their aggregate success and a place in the final.

Belle Vue, who must still be kicking themselves for messing up in their home leg, weren't finished though.

They forced a last-heat decider on the night after Crump and Lyons had combined for a comfortable 5-1 over Boyce and Pedersen in heat 13 and Lyons and Schlein got a 4-2 over Lindback in the penultimate race.

Genuine surprise among the Wimborne Road faithful met the announcement that Boyce and Pedersen would represent Pirates in heat 15 against Lyons and Crump as Poole still needed two points to secure victory on the night.

With Crump unbeaten by a Pirates rider and Lyons also in superb form, it looked like Pirates might pay the penalty by letting Belle Vue cap their sterling fight back by snatching a draw with a 5-1.

But Pedersen, who up until then had been a little bit hit and miss, was having none of it. Lyons was out in front first, with Boyce and Pedersen just behind him as they went into the second corner.

Crump, however, soon got past Boyce and the Dane was left as the meat in the sandwich between the two Aces.

Pedersen, though, expertly hung on to second place, despite Crump's four-lap bid to find a way past him, and Pirates snatched a two-point home win over the Aces for the second time this season.

Earlier, Poole had hit Belle Vue hard with two 5-1s in the opening three races to end the battle for aggregate success.

Crump had easily triumphed in heat one before Ruud took the chequered flag in the second race.

He was followed home in second place by his team-mate Scott Pegler, who dived under James Wright on the first bend into third place and then moved hard under Luke Priest into second spot on the third bend.

Pirates co-promoter Matt Ford today confirmed their team for the two-legged Knockout Cup final against Coventry is: 1 Leigh Adams, 2 Bjarne Pedersen, 3 (guest) Mark Loram, 4 Antonio Lindback, 5 Tony Rickardsson, 6 Ales Dryml, 7 Davey Watt (if fit).

Coventry had hoped Mikael Max could guest for them in both legs, but he is unable to ride for the Bees at Poole because of a prior engagement in his homeland of Sweden.

HEAT DETAILS

Pirates: 1 Craig Boyce (2-2-2*-1-0) 7+1, 2 Davey Watt (1*-1*-fell exc) 2+2, 3 Magnus Zetterstrom (3-2-3-3) 11, 4 Antonio Lindback (2*-0-2*-2) 6+2, 5 Bjarne Pedersen (1*-3-2-0-2) 8+1, 6 Scott Pegler (2*-0-0-0) 2+1, 7 David Ruud (3-2-1-3-1) 10. Team manager: Neil Middleditch. Belle Vue: 1 Jason Crump (3-3-2*-3-3-1) 15+1, 2 Rory Schlein (0-1-3-1-1) 6, 3 Craig Watson (1-2-1-2) 6, 4 Neil Collins (0-1*-0) 1+1, 5 Jason Lyons (3-3-1-2*-3-3) 15+1, 6 Luke Priest (0-0-0) 0, 7 James Wright (1-fell-0) 1. Team manager: John Perrin. Referee: Richard Williams. Ht 1: Crump, Boyce, Watt, Schlein, 59.49 (3-3). Ht 2: Ruud, Pegler, Wright, Priest, 60.30 (8-4). Ht 3: Zetterstrom, Lindback, Watson, Collins, 59.83 (13-5). Ht 4: Lyons, Ruud, Pedersen, Wright (fell), 60.42 (16-8). Ht 5: Crump, Zetterstrom, Schlein, Lindback, 59.78 (18-12). Ht 6: Lyons, Boyce, Watt, Priest, 60.53 (21-15). Ht 7: Pedersen, Watson, Collins, Pegler, 60.38 (24-18). Ht 8: (re-run) Schlein, Crump, Ruud, Watt (fell excluded),60.62 (25-23). Ht 9: Zetterstrom, Lindback, Lyons, Priest, 60.90 (30-24). Ht 10: Ruud, Boyce, Watson, Collins, 60.77 (35-25). Ht 11: Crump, Pedersen, Schlein, Pegler, 60.12 (37-29). Ht 12: Zetterstrom, Watson, Ruud, Wright, 60.88 (41-31). Ht 13: Crump, Lyons, Boyce, Pedersen, 60.17 (42-36). Ht 14: Lyons, Lindback, Schlein, Pegler, 61.27 (44-40). Ht 15: Lyons, Pedersen, Crump, Boyce, 60.90 (46-44).