Poole Coastal Aluminium Pirates have confirmed that club asset Kyle Howarth will share the doubling-up role with Australian Todd Kurtz, with Howarth making his first appearance tonight (Friday 4th May) at Lakeside.

Pirates' boss Matt Ford claims "Kyle is one of the nicest young lads on the circuit and shows a lot of potential. That is why I signed him in 2010 as I could see he was a good prospect.
"This year he was snapped up on a loan deal by King's Lynn but once Mateusz Szczepaniak became available as we could not accommodate him in our team plans - they chose to redeclare, dispensing with the doubling up option of Kyle and Dakota North.

"With Todd (Kurtz) having secured a Premier league berth with Plymouth it makes sense for us to bring in our own asset to share the role and Kyle fits the bill perfectly.

"As with Todd there is no pressure on Kyle to score big, he can just go out there and give it his best shot.

"You know with Kyle that you will get 100% effort every time he leaves the pits. He just loves to race speedway and I feel that the experience of riding for us will put him in good stance for the future.

The 18 year old first became a club asset when Poole boss Matt Ford snapped him up for the Bournemouth Buccaneers side in 2010 and he was duly nominated the Buccaneer's Rider of The Year. He gained Premier league experience with Somerset and last year was offered the number 8 berth with his local club Belle Vue where he also rode for their Colts side. In addtion, he represented Premier league outfit Edinburgh before joining Workington Comets for this term, where he has achieved a 5.11 average (that converts to 3.07 Elite) and also claimed 3rd place in this year's British U21 Championship.

Howarth is excited about the prospect of representing the Pirates, admitting "Its good to be called up by Matt. I have total respect for the guy. He always has time to keep in touch with me and it was an unbelievable gesture that he helped me during the winter with the cost of going to Australia. That is something I can't thank them enough, perhaps I can repay them with some good results for Poole.

The prospect of making his debut at Lakeside holds no fears for the young Mancunian "If I can make some decent gates down there then I think it might be alright. Its a place where if you make the start you have a good chance of scoring. I'm looking forward to it especially as it is also a chance to make a further impression on Neil Vatcher, one of the England youth bosses. I know I am in the squad for the U21 side and I desperately want to make the team. As the semi-final is at Lakeside next month the timing couldn't be better really for me to go there and show them what I am capable of."