PREVIEW: POOLE v SCUNTHORPE (Cab Direct Champ P/O Group A)
CAB Direct Championship holders Poole launch their play-off campaign with a Group A home clash against Scunthorpe tonight (Wednesday).
The Pirates elected to face the Scorpions and Edinburgh in the group, and the Lincolnshire side will race both of their away matches this week before returning to the Eddie Wright Raceway.
Both sides are at full strength with the visitors including Drew Kemp and Nathan Ablitt at reserve, who were both part of Poole’s victorious 2022 team.
Pirates promoter Dan Ford said: “I think it is reasonable to say that Scunthorpe are probably the dark horses amongst the play-off qualifiers. They have gone about their business stealthily this year and have thoroughly deserved their place.
“They have riders in good form at present, in particular Dougie [Ryan Douglas], who has been ultra-solid all year for them, but also Simon Lambert and Drew Kemp have been weighing in with some inspired scores.
“There is no question that they will make things as tough as possible for us, but I will never stop believing in our lads, there is still more to come from them I’m sure.”
Scorpions promoter Dave Peet said: “I was a bit surprised when I heard that Poole had chosen us, to be honest. There are other teams that they’ve beaten by a higher aggregate score than us.
“I’m quite happy with the teams we have in our group. The team finishing top had the advantage of selecting their opponents, but it also places a certain amount of pressure on that team not to get knocked out by one of the teams that you’ve selected! We don’t have that pressure, but Poole do.
“We’ll be out to make Poole regret putting the Scorpions in their group and we can start that with a good performance at Wimborne Road. The lads know what’s required and they will all put a shift in.”
POOLE: Richard Lawson, Anders Rowe, Ben Cook, Zach Cook, Steve Worrall, Kyle Newman, Joe Thompson.
SCUNTHORPE: Ryan Douglas, Simon Lambert, Connor Mountain, Jake Allen, Michael Palm Toft, Drew Kemp, Nathan Ablitt.
*LIVE STREAMING: https://watch.britishspeedway.co.uk
