PIRATES GO FIVE CLEAR

POOLE extended their lead at the top of the Cab Direct Championship to five points with a 55-35 home win over Berwick.

Richard Lawson competed a 13+2 paid maximum for the Pirates and skipper Zach Cook (13+1) dropped just one point from five rides in a comfortable victory.

The hosts had Darryl Ritchings withdrawn after a Heat 2 crash, but they took control of the meeting with a hat-trick of 5-1s from Heats 5 to 7.

Cook said: “Good luck to Darryl for a speedy recovery of course, but it ended up being a good night for the team.

“Everyone was making decent starts and we kept their race wins to the minimum, which is always good and so everyone can take some positives out from tonight.

“We’ve got a bit of a break now before our next meeting, so we’ll all be ready for the next one.”

Craig Cook top-scored for the Bandits with 10+1 with Sam Hagon and captain Danyon Hume supplying their other two race wins.

Manager Stewart Dickson said: “I cannot fault the effort from the boys, but we are just not strong enough to challenge the top teams in the league at the moment.”

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Photo credit: TONY HARTMAN