ADVANTAGE PIRATES

POOLE are in the driving seat at the halfway stage of their Cab Direct Championship play-off semi-final against Edinburgh after a 57-33 win at Wimborne Road.

The Pirates didn’t have matters entirely their own way as a battling Monarchs side held them to a ten point advantage with five races remaining.

But the defending champions finished strongly with a hat-trick of 5-1s in Heats 11 to 13 to build the gap, and although the visitors clawed two points back in Heat 14, Richard Lawson and captain Zach Cook wrapped things up with maximum points in the last race.

Lawson raced to a 13+2 paid maximum from five rides with Cook beaten only once on his way to 12+2, whilst home reserves Kyle Newman and Slater Lightcap accounted for an impressive 15+3 total between them.

Paco Castagna (10) and Dan Thompson (9) both won two races for the Monarchs, who face a major recovery mission in Friday’s second leg at Armadale.

Cook said: “In knockout speedway every point is vital and it can come down to one or two points, like we saw last year in the Final.

“So it’s been a good night. It’s not over yet, we are only halfway, but definitely we hold a good lead and we’ve done well up there this season already.”

Monarchs boss John Campbell said: “I’m very proud of what the team did. It’s very hard for visitors to find the setup with the way the track is here.

“Our riders were so determined, and they’ve still got that determination. Of course it will take a superhuman effort on Friday, but their heads are not down and they believe they can still do something. You never know.”

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Photo credit: TONY HARTMAN