Poole Pirates – Poole Speedway

Poole Pirates – Poole Speedway Team History

1948
The history books record the year of 1948 as the first that post war year that saw a major new influx of teams into League racing. League racing first began in Great Britain in 1929 but was effectively shelved during the war years until it was re-launched in 1946 with a National League and Northern League, both consisting of 6 clubs. A year later the leagues were restructured to provide a 3-Division National League of 7 Division 1 teams, 8 Division 2 sides and an equal number in the third division.1948 began with over thirty applications for new licences but the Speedway Control Board of that era limited the number of new clubs to Edinburgh in Division Two (with Wigan moving to nearby Fleetwood) and Coventry, Hull, Yarmouth and POOLE all being granted entry into the 3rd Division.

1949-1951
1949 saw Cyril Quick and Fred Pawson head the Poole attack whilst a local lad ‘Ticker’ James became a household name as Poole climbed the table to finish 6th with their 27 league wins outnumbering the 21 defeats.

The progress continued in 1950 and the runners-up slot was attained behind local rivals Oxford. Strangely enough in each of their first three seasons Poole riders had been involved in dead-heat finishes in a race, a remarkable feat.
Charlie Hayden was the 1950 leveler but there were two names in the line-up that season that were to play a major role in Poole speedway over the years. Ken Middleditch and Tony Lewis were to become synonymous with the Pirates race-bib and family connections were later to extend that link.

Sustaining that heat-sharing sequence fell again to Hayden in 1951 as the Pirate’s progress was maintained and the first league title secured, under the new promotional team of Len Matchan and Geoff Bravery. Just six defeats in 36 league encounters ensured that Poole speedway was rapidly becoming the Talk of the Town. Middleditch top scored, Lewis was again a revelation and the name Brian Crutcher, a sixteen year old, was introduced into British speedway in a big way.

1952-1954
That league title witnessed the end of the 3rd Division days for Poole when in 1952 they joined the ranks of Division 2 and the 3rd Division crumbled to be replaced by the Southern League. Crutcher was phenomenal and raced to 379 race points and steered the Pirates to a back-to-back league title winning 31 matches, drawing once and losing just 12 of the 44 league fixtures. They also had an extended foray into the National Trophy and were to be considered as possibly the strongest side in British speedway. One point denied the Pirates a hat-trick of league titles in the Coronation Year when they finished runners-up to Coventry and many felt that the decision to release Crutcher to Wembley had a major impact on that final result.

The team that every supporter wanted to see , Poole were to win 18 and draw 2 of their 32 league matches, the 12 defeats all occurring on their travels. Poole were the bridesmaids again in 1954 when Bristol took the 2nd Division title and this year saw no fewer than THREE Poole rides being involved in half-point scores – Middleditch, Jimmy Squibb and newboy Norman Strachan.

1955-1959
The league title was restored to Wimborne Road in 1955 when Poole dominated the 2nd Division with Middleditch scoring over 400 race points as he once again led the way but the celebrations were dampened as they reflected the tragic death of Johnny Thompson that occurred in May of that year. At last, in 1956, Poole joined the echelons of the top league and their first season in Division One was satisfactory by anyone’s standard, although five of the 7 strong clubs finished above them. Jackie Biggs took over the role of top scorer (225) , despite him protesting at the SCB’s decision to allocate him to Poole, as the Pirates won 9 and drew 2 of their 24 matches.

The introduction of petrol rationing left Poole sticking to the threat of not operating in 1957 although league racing was not lost entirely in the town as Rayleigh staged two of their ‘home’ meetings on the Wimborne Road circuit, losing both of them. This precipitated the move of Rayleigh to ride under Poole banner and guidance of Vic Gooden in 1958 although again it was a struggle for Gooden’s side to stay clear of the bottom slot in the National League. Ken Middleditch was ‘loaned’ back to Poole by his new club Swindon and in a bizarre event he had the misfortune to hit a stray dog. Just 6 wins in 18 meetings left Poole languishing although they did finish a remarkable 9 points clear of fellow strugglers and wooden-spoonists, Ipswich. Things improved somewhat in 1959 with the 16 league fixtures ending in an equal number of wins and losses and a mid-table finish. Ray Cresp was the new ‘hero’ along with Jack Unstead and pin-up boy Jack Biggs.

1960
1960 witnessed the evolution of the new Provincial league, which took it’s place behind the restructured National League. Poole opted for Provincial status, although action did not materialise until June of that year and by the end of October they found themselves finishing at the top of the pile on level points, ironically with, newly revitalised, Rayleigh. Despite though being granted a walk-over when Bradford missed out on a visit to Wimborne Road, the Pirates still finished 87 race points adrift of Rayleigh. The year saw the return of Lewis after a five year absence and that signaled the renewing of acquaintances with Middleditch. Ross Gilbertson and Geoff Mudge became Australian imports and it was solid performances by all of these that steered Poole to that runners-up position.

1961-1964
Under the excellent management of Ron Hart in 1961 success was returned to Poole by a convincing 7 point margin after 15 wins, one draw and just 4 defeats, with a set-up very similar to that of the previous season.They retained the title in 1962 despite a foot injury to Lewis , but Geoff Mudge assumed the captaincy role and continued his rise in the sport, securing the number one spot. One year later their grip on the title was wrestled away by Wolverhampton and the Pirates, scoring over 1000 race points had to settle for third place as Stoke outpointed them by one draw. The season saw Pete Smith gain rave reviews as a mere rookie and he was soon to become a loyal and long serving servant of the club. 1964 can best be described as mediocre for the club, 10 wins, one draw and 11 defeats leaving the Pirates in a mid-table berth in the last of the Provincial league seasons.

1965-1969
For 1965 saw the next major re-structure of the sport in Britain with the dawn of the new British League.Poole took their place in the newly formed British league, in which they were to stay for 30 years. 10th place in 1965 was improved upon the following year when they moved up to 6th place. The successes of those years in the Provincial league and old Division 2 seemed a long way off, when they equaled that sixth place standing in 1967, before sliding to 17th place overall in 1968. Although there had not been a major significant change in personnel, success was dramatically restored in 1969 when a league title was brought back to Wimborne Road for the first time in 7 years.

1970-1973
It was hard work trying to defend that title in 1970 as the Pirates slipped to 5th place and as they had done in each of the preceding seasons stumbled at the 3rd round stage of the Knockout Cup. Mudge, Smith, Fossengen and debut boy Mike Cake were all ever-present the first three all returning solid 7 point plus averages, along with Gordon Guasco. Two Norwegians headed the way in 1971 when Reidar Eide teamed up with Fossengen at Wimborne Road. Swedish rider Bo Wirebrand, later to become team manager of his country and the colourful and temperamental John Langfield both joined the Poole ranks but the Pirates had to settle for an 11th place finish and early cup elimination. A climb to 7th in 1972 was assisted by Swedish rider Christer Lofqvist who came South when the doors closed at West Ham. He and Smith finished with 8 plus averages and a year later the Swede was to further improve on that figure by taking it over the 9 point margin despite the Pirates slump to 14th.

1974-1976
A major change in personnel in 1974 saw Northerner Eric Broadbelt, Malcolm Ballard, Richard May, Colin Gooddy, Phil Herne and Oyvind Berg all make the Pirate debuts along with the son of one-time Poole hero Ken Middleditch. Neil rode three league matches that year as the Pirates couldn’t pull away from 14th but was to become as popular a rider as his father had over two decades previously. Poole reached the cup semi-finals that year but were comfortably eliminated by eventual cup winners Sheffield. The Pirates looked for improvements in 1975 and took the bold bid of signing Malcolm Simmons from King’s Lynn. “Super Simmo” as he was to be affectionately known was on the verge of becoming one of the most consistent England individuals and was to play a major role in the National sides fortunes. In his first season for Poole he returned 15 Full and one paid maximum and was to become the first Poole rider to secure a 10 point average since the advent of the British League (notwithstanding Gote Nordin’s one unbeaten performance in the first meeting of 1968 before quitting these shores to return to Sweden to pursue his business interests).

1977-1979
There they stayed in 1977 a year which was tragically overshadowed by the April death of Kevin Holden in a track crash at Wimborne Road and there was no change in league position in 1978. Also Simmons’ consistently broke the 10 point barrier both seasons. So it was something of a failure when, in 1979 he could only record an average of 9.03. American Ron Preston made an impressive debut but the Pirates had to settle for 12th place, and mourn the death of Christer Sjosten who was killed just before Christmas whilst racing in Australia.

1980-1984
The eighties were to change things slightly. 9th place in both 1980 and 1981 before the lowest ebb in the Poole history was about to dawn. Just three wins and three draws were all the Pirates were able to earn in 1982 and that left them clinching the wooden spoon. A somewhat better performance the following year when 1980 World Champion Michael Lee linked up with the Pirates, saw them elevate to 13th. That season (1983) they discovered future World Champion Sam Ermolenko and it was these two riders that led the way in 1984 for the Pirates, in what was to be the Dorset club’s final year in the British league, although no league placing improvement came about.

1985-1987
Financial problems hit the Pirates hard that year and were forced into liquidation, but for the townsfolk of Poole a saviour was on the horizon in the guise of Betterment (Leisure) – under the direction of Mervyn Stewkesbury and Peter Ansell. They uprooted from Weymouth to take over the licence at Wimborne Road and it proved to be an inspired move for that promotional team. Runners-up to Ellesmere Port by a solitary point in the National League in their first season at Wimborne Road gave them a taste for success. The title was conceded the following season (1986) to Eastbourne and by their standards 1987 was a bitter failure with the Pirates faltering into 8th place. An influx of promising young Australian riders were preparing to ply their trade on these shores and Poole’s team manager was the influential Australian team manager Neil Street who had been keeping a close eye on his country’s proteges. This was to be the recipe for future success.

1988-1989
In 1988 a young rookie Craig Boyce was introduced to the Poole fans, as too were Tony Langdon and his brother Steve. Gary Allan, a New Zealander was also captured and Poole rapidly rose to runners-up spot again in 1988. But valuable experience was gained that year and with the introduction of inspirational club captain Alun Rossiter in 1989 Poole swept all aside and took the 1989 National League title.

1990-1991
Speedway fever was flourishing in the town and one year later, the first of the ’90’s Poole made it their year winning a league and cup double. Behind the scenes Mervyn Stewkesbury had been working on a blueprint for the future of British speedway. His fellow promoters liked his proposals so much that they precipitated the introduction of his ideas a year ahead of his original target. This saw the amalgamation of the two bodies that ran league racing in Britain and Poole were invited to join the First Division. This they did and signed Marvyn Cox from Oxford – the club Craig Boyce had joined not realising that Poole would be part and parcel of the top flight when he asked to be released from his National League contract. Steve Schofield was re-called from a loan arrangement that had saw him ride for Hackney and it was these two that that did the lions share of the scoring in 1991. Lacking a real third heat leader Poole struggled in the league, finishing 10th of 13th, lost out to Reading in a re-run Premiership and were comfortably beaten by Bradford in the final of the BSPA Knockout cup.

1992-1996
1992 saw Boyce re-establish his links with the club and this elevated the Pirates to 3rd in the table whilst in 1993 a young Norwegian by the name of Lars Gunnestad entered the Poole scene and became an instant hit. League-wise Poole could only finish 10th from 11 clubs. Things were vastly different the following year (1994) when young Australian Jason Crump was signed. Along with Boyce and Gunnestad Poole had a frightfully strong heat leader trio and with Steve Schofield weighing in with a valuable contribution they were able to record a league and National Fours double.Since then the Stewkesbury success story began to dry up.

1997
In the weeks preceding the commencement of the Pirates 50th season there was a passionate air of optimism emanating from Wimborne Road. The envy of many of their peers, it seemed as though Messrs Stewkesbury and Ansell had pulled together a team capable of sweeping all and sundry aside. Boyce, Gunnestad were joined by the ever popular Marvyn Cox providing a statistically impressive heat leader trio. Steve Schofield something of a veteran also earned his contract and after a number of years of trying Mark Lemon was given his break with the Dorset club. Completing the side was British Under 21 Champion Savalas Clouting.

All began well for the Pirates with several impressive performances in the Speedway Star KO Cup, a competition that they eventually finished runners-up in. But, as far as the Elite league was concerned, they inexplicably could not drum up the sort of performances that the whole league initially feared and despite twice beating eventual champions Bradford away from home the Pirates languished at the base of the table. Even a change of personnel with a temporary dropping of Cox in favour of Armando Castagna and the parting of the ways with Steve Schofield in July (after he became the all time top scoring Pirate – a record weeks later surpassed by skipper Boyce) to be replaced by Ben Howe, could not significantly arrest the decline and by the end of the season, the 13th of Stewkesbury and Ansell’s promotion, the world famous Poole Pirates collected the Elite League Wooden Spoon

1998
For much of 1998 it looked as though that Wooden Spoon would adorn the office walls for another winter as the Pirates endured another miserable season. A record number of rain-offs, a serious injury to Marvyn Cox, and a third successive season of a slump in form for Gunnestad, and a record home thrashing by champions-elect Ipswich (27:63) did little to offer the Poole faithful belief that they could lift themselves out of the basement. With skipper Craig Boyce also out-of-sorts for much of the campaign it was not until Sussex neighbours Eastbourne did the Dorset club a favour by releasing the services of Gary Havelock, did the Poole season turn around. Havelock, his career in jeopardy after a disappointing run with the Eagles added an extra dimension both on and off track and had his spell with the Pirates been longer would surely have won the Rider of The Year Award.

1999
During the latter months of the 1998 season Stewkesbury’s enthusiasm for the sport waned and he required no second offer from club sponsor MATT FORD to sell the promoting rights. Ford needed additional financial backing and he was successful in tempting long time Poole fan and local businessman MICHAEL GOLDING into a joint partnership. Their first task was to tie up the deal with Reading to bring Lee Richardson back to the club. It was a series of drawn out negotiations which almost failed, but Poole stood firm and eventually were able to include the best young Englishman in their ranks.

Out too went Boyce – loaned to Oxford, while only Magnus Zetterstrom was the only rider who began the 1998 campaign to survive the club clear out. Havelock was installed as club captain and he was joined at Wimborne Road by former Bradford team-mate Mark Loram, who had struggled at Wolverhampton the previous year. It was to be a change of environment that would shoot Loram well up the World rankings as he enjoyed the best ever season of his career, being crowned British Champion, winning the Overseas title and sensationally becoming the first ever wild card to win a Grand Prix event when he won the Swedish round.

It proved a highly successful first year venture for the two ‘rookies’. Their choice of number 7, Martin Willis, suffered as the inbalance of fixtures allowed other clubs to strengthen at the bottom, and the pressure took it’s toll on Willis who failed to resume racing after a wrist injury. Indeed the 1999 season was ruined only by crucial injuries to Scott Nicholls, signed on loan from Ipswich, who earlier in the year had won the British U21 Championship. Scott’s injury coincided with the loss of showman Magnus ‘Zorro’ Zetterström with a broken left leg, witnessed by many on Sky Television during the league encounter at Peterborough.

2000
If their first season in charge was something of a dream for Golding and Ford, year two rapidly turned into a nightmare. A winter long dispute over the continued employment of World U21 champion Lee Richardson concluded with the youngster getting his wish to move to Coventry, the Poole promoters then tempted Newport’s Craig Watson to Wimborne Road, the Australian targetted by a number of Elite league clubs.
Watson was joined in Dorset by Emil Lindqvist who boldly decided to make the step up in grade after a chequered debut year at Premier. With Loram, Nicholls and Havelock safely back in the fold it was believed by many that the key man to the season’s fortunes would be Lars Gunnestad, making comeback after a season’s sabbatical.

The investment in Watson soon became an expensive one. Crashing in his fourth ride in his debut meeting seeking his first points of the night, Watson sustained a broken arm and scaphoid and an extensive period out of the saddle – long enough for him to return home to Australia whilst the Pirates sought a replacement. Waiting in the wings was former club captain Alun Rossiter, in favour with the Poole promoters who generously agreed to give up a Wednesday night to allow ‘Rosco’ to stage his long-awaited (twice postponed) Testimonial.

2001
But during the winter of 2000/2001 there was near anarchy amongst the Poole faithful when they heard the talk of speedway nomad Mark Loram would be on his travels again. No deal could be organised between the Poole promotion and Loram’s management team and those rumours soon became fact. To soften the blow Golding and Ford acted in the best possible way, they agreed terms with a certain three times world champion Tony Rickardsson, reputedly the highest achieved rider still racing competitively. It wasn’t long before the Swede was being won over by the passionate Pirate supporters, along too with a couple of relatively unknown foreigners, Dane Hans N Andersen and Pole Krzysztof Cegielski.

Towards the last few weeks of the 2000 campaign Golding and Ford had brought across the quietly spoken Grzegorz Walasek, who just missed out on a qualifying spot for the GP series, and he had shown sufficient promise to earn a 2001 team place. Havelock was retained and announcing Lars Gunnestad as another retainee it was confirmed that the Norwegian would receive a Testimonial campaign. So, with Watson recovered the team was complete. Most pundits predicted another lower league echelon finish, in truth the promotion were also cautious, describing the side as ‘one with potential’. That potential rapidly shone through. Cegielski was a revelation and was soon making a mockery of his 4.50 assessed average, finishing the year as a heat leader.

Andersen too was making excellent progress until his season was heavily interrupted with a broken thigh, the result of a Wimborne Road crash with that ‘golden boy’ Loram. To cover for the Dane’s absence Poole were given permission to recall Zetterstrom. Walasek was given an unexpected chance to show his ability on the world stage, as he deputised for three different riders during the course of the GP. His call-up provided a watershed in an upturn in form and by the end of the season he was the pride and joy of the Poole public, scooping the Away Rider of the Year.

2009
Experience has shown that defending titles is far from an easier task but the Pirates chances were delivered a massive blow when they lost the services of two of their selected 8 riders even before having the opportunity to be introduced to the press and media. Jason Doyle – on who Matt Ford was faithfully pinning hopes of being the ‘special ingredient’ – and number 8 Craig Watson both suffered injuries at Newport in an early season challenge meetings. Trying to replace Doyle was to prove a massively difficult task but an avenuue that Ford was forced down when Canadian Kyle Legault was forced to sit out much of the season as his pinned broken leg needed further medical attention after just one competitive meeting for the Pirates.

2010
Arguably the hottest property in British Speedway, world U21 champion Darcy Ward, found himself Wimborne Road-bound from Premier league club King’s Lynn, a move that allowed the young teenager to team up with his off-track pal Chris Holder. Those two bright young prospects formed just 50% of the Australian contingent as talisman Davey Watt found himself returning to his local track, just a few miles from his Upton base, together with the captain’s title, whilst Jason Doyle had persuaded Matt Ford that he had fully recovered from his rotunda cuff injury sustained at the start of the previous season to bag a place in the Pirates side once again. With a brace of Danes – Bjarne Pedersen and Leon Madsen – being joined by young Artur Mroczka, the Pole having been an end of season trialist in 2009, the blend and potential of the side had the Pirates installed as title favourites from the very off.

2011
A winter of discontent left the Elite League in early turmoil and shrouded in doubt following Coventry and Peterborough threatening to seek an injunction against the BSPA, after conference talks broke down.

At later than the 11th hour common sense seemed to prevail and the Elite league was increased to 10 clubs, Birmingham and King’s Lynn joining, whilst Ipswich were dropping down to the Premier league. The fixture list was tweaked which meant that each team would ride four teams just once home and away, and five sides twice home and away.

2012
It transpired that the Pirates were able to retain both Holder and Ward and whilst that consumed a fair amount of the points limit, Matt Ford cleverly pulled together a side with immense potential.

Capturing Adrian Miedzinski fom Swindon was an inspired move, even though the Pole harboured a want to agree a temporary deal. Backing up his inclusion was a strategic decision to bring in Sam Masters still on an assessed average but just a single home meeting short of a sub 4 point average that would have seen him assured of a reserve berth and thus allowing the Pirates the opportunity to call back Mateusz Szczepaniak to further bolster the bottom end of the side.

2013
As season’s go there could be few more turbulent than 2013 as the Pirates were hard hit with injuries for much of the campaign. Only three members of the original declared seven found their names still in the final septet, and one of those (Rohan Tungate) missed the glory of an amazing fifth Elite league title for the Pirates. Promoter Matt Ford was building and re-building his side relentlessly, and whilst some lesser spirited promoters may well have thrown in the towel, Ford still managed to pull off one of British Speedway’s major coups as he enticed two-times world champion Greg Hancock back to regular UK racing.

That was the only positive from a sickening Friday night at the beginning of July when reigning world champion Chris Holder, only recently re-united his with fellow box office showman Darcy Ward, had his season ended.

2014
The 2014 championship was predicted to be a two-horse race between the King’s Lynn Stars and the Pirates – who were boasting their youngest ever team. As things turned out, the pundits weren’t too far wrong as the two sides dominated in a year that saw Birmingham close it’s doors mid-season and Eastbourne confirm that it would be their last in the top-flight for the foreseeable future.

Both the front-runners were to lose their respective number ones, the Stars having Niels-Kristian Iversen ruled out through a GP injury sustained in Gorzow just days after Poole captain Darcy Ward had been dealt an indefinite ban by the FIM from all speedway having provided a positive breathalyzer on the day of the deferred Latvian meeting, which was dramatically switched from Riga to Daugavpils due to safety issues.

Partners

We are working together with three amazing partners. If you and your company are interested in collaboration with us, send us a message and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible. When you become a partner of this unofficial Pirate Poole website and our team, your company gets introduced on our site and have visibility in various different events and other platforms. Currently we are working with Rahapelit Netissä, Uusimmat Nettikasinot, HeyYouuMedia and Infinity Rocks.

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Rahapelit Netissä

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We have plans to work together further in the years to come. The plans include a Poole Pirates game that we would produce in co-operation with this partner company. To us it seems like a natural next step in keeping the Poole Pirates brand alive and well, also in the future.

Uusimmat Nettikasinot

Uusimmat Nettikasinot is a modern and fun company that produces an affiliate marketing site for the European markets. It’s part of a bigger group of affiliate sites and has been around for almost a decade. We have been partnering up with this channel for a couple of years now and are extremely happy. We believe our partnership will continue for years to come. Currently we are creating new channels to support out co operation.

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HeyYouuMedia

HeyYouuMedia is a small media company focused on social media platforms. We have been working together for a year now. This company has a lot of young, enthusiastic and talented people in their pay roll, which means means new ways to create social media strategies and advertising. If you are in a need of a structured and innovative touch to your company’s social media strategies, contact these guys.

Infinity Rocks

Infinity Rocks is a local bar that has helped us to organize all sorts of fan events over the past few years. We have new stuff planned, so stay tuned!