In one of the most dramatic and thrilling climaxes to a speedway meeting ever at the Place of Pace, the Poole Castle Cover Pirates protected their unbeaten home league record of 2011 by a single point against play-off pushing Lakeside Hammers.
Facing the prospect of losing to Lakeside, Chris Holder produced an absolutely incredible ride to pass both the Hammers, Robert Mear and Lee Richardson to deny the visitors what surely would have been a match winning 5-1 in heat 13. Just how Holder managed to stay aboard and find the speed and room to blitz by was sensational and had the whole stadium rising as one to applaud the brilliance. When questioned Holder admitted "well it couldn't have been impossible because I am stood here talking about it, but it was a bit tight. I'm just stoked that I pulled it off and then me and Watty were able to ride the last race as though it was a final".
Indeed it was a final as the Pirates entered the heat trailing by three points, after Renat Gafurov timely chose his moment to open his points account with a winning heat 14 ride, against the odds,and so nothing other than first and second places would assist the Pirates cause at the top of the table, especially as nearest rivals King's Lynn were beating Eastbourne in Norfolk.
The responsibility fell jointly on the shoulders of Holder and skipper Dave Watt who had endured a controversial and slow start to the meeting. He was harshly disqualified in an eventful heat three when Peter Ljung ran him out to the fence, after Kauko Nieminen had fallen first time of asking. That left Renat Gafurov and Ljung in a third attempt match race but the run of bad luck that has recently struck the Pirates was out in force when Gafurov clipped the fence and went down leaving Ljung as the only finisher and a rare 0-3 heat score in Lakeside's favour. Watt was then on the wrong end of 1-5's in his next two rides as Lakeside began to take control of the meeting despite losing the service of Piotr Swiderski after his fall in heat 4.
Without the calming influence of regular boss Neil Middleditch who had been called away during the meeting on urgent personal business, it was down to former Bournemouth Buccaneer manager Garry May to try and influence the Pirates' recovery, and the two Aussies responded in the most dramatic of fashions. A battle royale was being played out as Watt and Richardson were trading places with nothing more than a tyres breadth between them at times, but then some distance behind Ljung fell forcing the heat to be stopped. Adding to the tension, referee Barbara Horley appeared to delay the decision to disqualify Ljung from the re-run and once she did the pressure immediately switched to Richardson who knew he just had to split the Pirates to take the league spoils.
Again Watt rose to the occasion and quickly established a lead and the stadium erupted as Holder was urged on to make the pass. Sensationally Holder delivered and the Pirates snatched the meeting 44-43.
Scorers Poole 44: C.Holder 14+1 (0,3,3,3,3,2'), D.Andersson 12+1 (3,3,2',3,1), D.Watt 11 (FDq,1,1,3,3,3) , R.Gafurov 3 (F,R,R,0,3), G.Havelock 3 (2,0,0,1,0), I.Bondarenko 1 (0,1,0,) Rider replacement operated for Darcy Ward Lakeside 43: P.Ljung 11+1 (3,3,2,2,1',FDq), L.Richardson 9+4 (2,2',2',1',1',1), R.Mear 8+1 (3,0,2,1',2), K.Nilsson 8 (1,2,1,2,0,2), K.Nieminen 7+2 (1',FDq,3,1',2),P.Swiderski 0 (Fx) withdrew from the meeting. Rider replacement operated for Adam Shields
