PIRATES picked up their first piece of silverware of the season batting away the challenge of Redcar Bears to seal the Championship Knockout Cup final at Wimborne Road with a 52-38 win on the night (100-79 on aggregate).

Pirates were somewhat comfortable heading into the second leg thanks to a seven-point lead earned in the first, leaving them confident of staving off the looming menace of Redcar - and the heavy clouds in the sky threatening rain.

There was only one change from the first meeting between the two teams, with Bears skipper Charles Wright forced to sit out after sustaining a concussion whilst riding for Belle Vue earlier in the week. Aussie rider Kye Thomson came in as rider replacement.

The opening exchanges saw each Cook brother pick up a race win. Elder sibling Ben came first in a shared heat one, before Zach led two Redcar racers in another tied race.

In heat three Drew Kemp did well to battle Jordan Jenkins before launching an attempt to overtake Thomson.

It appeared on the final bend Kemp had beaten his man, only for Thomson to nip ahead right on the line.

Pirates number three Steve Worrall took the heat to give the Pirates the first advantage of the evening.

Race four saw another split tie, Richard Lawson’s race win tempered by Nathan Ablitt’s fourth placed finish.

Worrall returned to cruise to another heat win in race five, with Kemp unable to repeat his showing from their last ride together, finishing behind Erik Riss and Kasper Andersen.

The first Pirate one-two of the evening came via Danny King and Ben Cook in heat six, the Poole number one and number two fittingly finishing first and second ahead of Lewis Kerr and Kyle Newman.

Lawson picked up a second heat win of the night in race seven, Zach Cook adding to the points tally in third, sandwiching Redcar racer Jenkins between them.

A rider substitution saw the Cook brothers combined in heat eight, the pair returning four points with Ben leading and Zach in third.

Worrall’s perfect record on the night came to an end when he finished fourth in race nine. Kemp at least salvaged two points for the hosts, but a first Bears win on the evening came via Kerr in first and Newman in third.

Pirates responded immediately when King combined with Ben Cook for another five points in race 10 to extend Poole’s lead to 12 points on the night, a 17-point margin on aggregate.

With a brief burst of rain starting to fall, Pirates made sure of the result in heat 11, Lawson and Zach Cook cruising to a consecutive one-two to secure the cup in the process.

Ablitt remained pointless in heat 12 as Worrall picked up a third heat win.

After a second infringement for an unsatisfactory start, Kerr was replaced by Newman in heat 13. Poole-born star Newman appeared to have fended off the challenge of Lawson and Zach Cook, but he was unable to hold on for Redcar’s first one-two of the evening, Lawson battling back to claim second and split Newman and Riss.

Kemp's first race win in heat 14 preceded a sour end to the evening, when Thomson collided with the air barrier in a nasty crash.

He was able to leave the track under his own steam, but was unable to return for the re-run, where Redcar's Riss held off the challenge of Lawson and Ben Cook.