Pirates Aiming for the Top Poole Castle Cover Pirates are facing up to the prospect that they could go to the top of the Elite league on Wednesday night if they maintain their current 100% home record. After back to back league wins on the road, at Peterborough last Thursday and against Eastbourne on Monday night, the Castle Cover Pirates lay just one point off the top of the table.
Swindon currently hold that position but with the Robins not in action until Thursday night, the Pirates could take advantage and leapfrog over the leaders for the first time this season. To do so, Poole need to overcome the Belle Vue Aces who have yet to claim an away win but have yet been far from disgraced on their travels. A six point defeat at Swindon was followed by a draw at Coventry, before coming close at Peterborough losing by just 2 points. Their last ventures resulted in a 10 point defeat at Eastbourne.
The meeting has additional interest as it sees the return of Jason Crump to Wimborne Road just days after the Aces purchased the former World champion back from the Pirates, whilst Poole fans will have the first opportunity to see Magnus Zetterstrom and Daniel Davidsson back in Dorset after Poole redeclared their team at the end of last week. Both riders made their season debut for Poole on Monday enjoying mixed blessings. Davidsson shed a chain when on a heat 2 maximum heat score with the impressive Adam Skornicki, Zetterstrom winning his first ride back in the Elite league after two campaigns with Somerset.
Wednesday night will see the Pirates go into league action with a full complement of riders for the first time this campaign as they welcome Davey Watt back from his successful world championship qualifying round in Abensberg on Monday, which forced him to miss the Pirates trip to Arlington, where he is something of a specialist.
Speaking ahead of the meeting Poole co-promoter Matt Ford paid tribute to the Pirates' performances of late: ""It's been a terrific six days and will be capped off if we win against Belle Vue tomorrow. I have nothing but admiration for the way in which the team have overcome adversity to get us into this position. The introduction of assets Magnus Zetterstrom and Daniel Davidsson into the side on Monday along with Krysztof Kasprzak last week has helped stabilise a side that was crippled with injuries to Bjarne Pedersen, Karol Zabik and Zibi Suchecki, plus an early season broken wrist to Adam Skornicki.”
"Even down to Craig Watson, who was outstanding in our win at Peterborough last week. They have all played their part and I know the team are all looking forward to coming home tomorrow night to race against Belle Vue. The team couldn't have done more than win at Peterborough and Eastbourne in the last five days to put us in this position. Of course, there is a long way to go, but the team has put the club in a great position. After the problems we've had, we have no right to be challenging for top place but we've got to keep the momentum going. I believe with the fans help we can do that tomorrow against the Aces."
Members of the Poole Speedway Internet Forum who clubbed together under the title DONUTS (which stands for Donations of Net Users Through Speedway) Fans will make a sponsorship presentation to Adam Skornicki ahead of the meeting which will be signalled by the raising of the Jolly Roger flag by the young winner of the 'Play Your Colours Right' run-around style quiz, hosted by meeting presenter Nigel Leahy.
Team News:
Pirates: Krzysztof Kasprzak; Freddie Eriksson; Chris Holder; Magnus Zetterstrom; Davey Watt; Daniel Davidsson; Adam Skornicki.
Aces: Jason Crump; Lukas Jankowski; Charlie Gjedde; Lewis Bridger; Joe Screen; Jonas Raun; Nick Simmons

Swedish Round Up (13th May)
Davey Watt's MasarnaAvesta side had no answers to Hammarby in Tuesday nights Swedish Elitserien meetings. Watt scored 6 points before suffering an exclusion in his fourth ride as the home side lost 44-52. It was a result that kept Hammarby joint top of the early standings because Rospiggarna also claimed an away win, by 1 point at Piraterna, 47-48. At the other end of the table Magnus Zetterstrom's Indianerna suffered a 56-39 loss at Vastervik (3rd in the league) with Zorro scoring paid 7 from 5 rides. Adam Skornicki netted paid 5 from four rides in Elit Vetlanda's home 53-43 win over Smederna for whom Krzysztof Kasprzak scored 12 points.

Second Away Win for Pirates

Poole Castle Cover Pirates claimed their second away win of the season in the space of four days as they overcame Sussex rivals in a closely contested affair. Stand-in skipper Adam Skornicki led the Pirates charge with a massive paid 18 from 7 outings whilst Magnus Zetterstrom settled back into the Elite league quickly with a superb heat 3 victory. Poole suffered two crucial engine failures in the early stages, Daniel Davidsson packing up in heat 2 when on a sure-fire 5-1 with Skornicki, then Chris Holder didn't even depart the start in heat 3. With Freddie Eriksson having a third bend fall it seemed as though Poole's luckless season was about to continue but they battled on regardless.
The misfortune though fell the way of the Eagles when Lee Richardson, already carrying a wrist injury, took a heavy fall in a near identical position to that of Eriksson. The further wrist damage ruled Richardson out of the meeting, after attempting one more ride. Lewis Bridger, when on a second 5-1 for the Eagles with Scott Nicholls also fell on that tricky third to fourth curve and the Pirates took full advantage. Skornicki and Zetterstrom ran out meeting winners with an impressive 5-1 in the 14th before Kasprzak claimed his only win of the night destroying Nicholls' maximum.
Final Score: Eastbourne 41 (Nicholls 13+1; Bridger 6+1; Richardson 2; Woodward 6+1; Bjerre 10; Gustafsson 2+1; Werner 2)
Poole 48 (Kasprzak 8; Eriksson 3+2; Holder 11+1; Zetterstrom 7+1; Rider Replacement; Davidsson 1+1; Skornicki 18+1
Full details here
Additional news: Davey Watt who missed tonights Elite league fixture against Eastbourne took top honours in the GP qualifying round in Abensberg. Other qualifiers were Rafal Dobrucki, Adrian Rymel, Edward Kennett, David Howe, Tobias Kroner & Mikael Max.

Belle Vue Snap Up Crump Belle Vue have extended Jason Crump's contract until the end of the 2009 season – and agreed an undisclosed fee to buy him back from Poole.
The two-times world champion is happily settled back in Manchester after a year in Dorset. He said: "This is a big commitment on Belle Vue's part and I'm glad they wanted to do it. I suggested a few weeks ago that I wanted to do this.

Video Replay Re-Run Productions who film at Poole each week have supplied their latest 'Clip of the Week' with action from Poole's home win over Swindon last month. To view the video click here

European GP report Krzysztof Kasprzak was only able to add a further 3 points to his 2008 GP tally as some hsrd pressed rides yielded him just three third places in his five starts. Kasprzak said afterwards "I used three different motors but still didn't feel competive enough and I am very disappointed with that. I know I need more racing in Britain to become sharper and a better rider so my call up to the Poole team could help me. I want to be winning races and I need to start soon." Leigh Adams won the event, the European Grand Prix, but picks up the same number of points on the night as Greg Hancock. The American is third in the standings, 3 points behind Tomasz Gollob and a further 2 behind defending world championship Nicki Pedersen. Pedersen was the victim of a controversial semi-final, for which Jason Crump was excluded. Pedersen went on to finish third in the final ahead of wild card Jaroslaw Hampel
Standings after 2 rounds (European scores in brackets):-
1. N.Pedersen DK 33 (16); 2. T.Gollob PL 31 (12); 3. G.Hancock US 28 (20); 4. L.Adams AU 25 (20); 5. A.Jonsson SE 21 (9); 6. H.Andersen DK 20 (6); 7. J.Crump AU 18 (8); 8. N.Iversen DK 18 (10); 9. F.Lindgren SE 14 (7); 10. C.Harris GB 12 (6); 11. L.Dryml CZ 11 (2); 12. S.Nicholls GB 9 (2); 13. R.Holta PL 9 (4); 14. K.Kasprzak PL 9 (3); 15. B.Pedersen DK 4 (DNR). Wild Cards: J.Hampel PL 16 (16); M..Zagar SI 7 (DNR)
1. Pedersen, Harris, Dryml, Tomicek (60.91)
2. Hancock, Hampel, Lindgren, Crump (60.82)
3. Jonsson, Adams, Kasprzak, Andersen (60.63)
4. Gollob, Iversen, Nicholls, Holta (59.44)
5. Adams, Tomicek, Lindgren, Holta (60.62)
6. Jonsson, Crump, Harris, Iversen (59.94)
7. Hancock, Pedersen, Nicholls, Kasprzak (60.10)
8. Gollob, Hampel, Andersen, Dryml (60.09)
9. Gollob, Crump, Kasprzak, Tomicek (60.47)
10. Andersen, Harris, Lindgren, Nicholls (60.85)
11. Hampel, Iversen, Pedersen, Adams (60.04)
12. Hancock, Holta, Jonsson, Dryml ()
13.Hancock, Iversen, Andersen, Tomicek (60.96)
14. Hampel, Holta, Harris, Kasprzak (60.48)
15. Pedersen, Lindgren, Gollob, Jonsson (60.45)
16. Adams, Crump, Dryml, Nicholls (60.19)
17. Hampel,Jonsson, Tomicek, Nicholls (60.08)
18. Adams, Hancock, Gollob, Harris (60.08)
19. Pedersen, Crump, Andersen, Holta (60.67)
20. Iversen, Lindgren, Kasprzak, Dryml (61.13)
SF1. Andersen, Hancock, Iversen, Jonsson (60.73)
SF2. Hampel, Pedersen, Gollob, Crump (exc) (60.19)
Final. Adams, Hancock, Pedersen, Hampel