THREE meetings, three maximum hauls. It makes you wonder what all the fuss was about.
Pirates plundered all three points at Wimborne Road for only the second time in 2013 with a comfortable 53-39 victory over Belle Vue Aces, a result that was never in doubt once the hosts got their noses in front.
And while Polish pair Maciej Janowski and Przemyslaw Pawlicki will quite rightly take the plaudits, the contribution of Poole guest Josh Grajczonek should not be underestimated.
With the meeting at stalemate after three heats, Somerset Rebels star Grajczonek tasted victory in the fourth race before ably sup-porting Janowski as successive 5-1s set Pirates on their way.
Further heat wins for Chris Holder, Janowski and Rohan Tungate maintained an eight-point cushion before another brace of maximums in heats 10 and 11 put the result beyond reasonable doubt.
Janowski, whose stellar form has seen him qualify for the Grand Prix Challenge at Poole in August, finished ahead of every Ace he faced, a feat almost matched by Pawlicki before he finished third in the final showdown.
Zagar led throughout the opening heat despite close attention from Holder and the Pirates couldn’t quite take advantage of Ales Dryml’s fall as Ulrich Ostergaard followed up with his first heat win of the night.
It remained all square when Craig Cook took the third but Grajczonek’s tremendous start to heat four finally split the teams with Janowski going around Dryml to snaffle second.
Impressive Australian Grajczonek continued to play his part by protecting leader Pawlicki as ex-Pirate Kevin Wolbert continued his night to forget by bringing up the rear in heat five.
Janowski was quick to take advantage of a second-lap slip from Nieminen to snare victory in heat seven, while Wolbert finally got off the mark for the Aces at the third attempt, but was again trumped by Tungate who soared around the first turn on his way to victory in the eighth race.
Belle Vue closed the gap to six points with a strong performance from leading light Zagar, but Pirates hit straight back with an all-Aussie 5-1 when Tungate superbly shielded runaway leader Holder to put the hosts well and truly in the driving seat.
And the visitors knew their luck was out when Zagar was beaten to the first bend by Janowski on his tactical ride before second spot slipped through his fingers as determined guest Micky Dyer passed him.
Cook grabbed two points back with another tactical ride in heat 12, but Pawlicki’s second heat win of the night made sure there were no nerves among the Wimborne Road faithful.
Zagar’s third heat win made no headway with out-of-sorts Wolbert the backmarker once again, and even when Poole made a poor start to the penultimate heat, Janowski’s tremendous move round the outside of both Nieminen and Ostergaard maintained a healthy advantage.
With nothing riding on the final heat, Holder typically turned on the style, allowing Cook to steal a march before cruising home with Pawlicki in third, rounding off the kind of evening Poole fans are used to.
A few more like this and those play-offs won’t seem so far away.
Pirates 53: 1 Chris Holder (2,3,3,1*,3) 12+1, 2 Rohan Tungate (1*,1*,0,3,2*) 7+3, 3 Przemyslaw Pawlicki (2,3,2,3,1) 11, 4 Rider replacement, 5 Maciej Janowski (2*,3,3,2,3) 13+1, 6 Micky Dyer (1*,0,2*,0) 3+2, 7 Josh Grajczonek (2,3,2*,0,0,0) 7+1. Team manager: Neil Middleditch.
Belle Vue 39: 1 Matej Zagar (3,1,3,1^,3) 11, 2 Kevin Wolbert (0,0,1*,0)1+1, 3 Craig Cook (3,0,1*,1,4^,2) 11+1, 4 Kauko Nieminen (0,1*,2,0,1*) 4+2, 5 Rider replacement, 6 Ulrich Ostergaard (3,2,1,0,1*,2,0) 9+1, 7 Ales Dryml (0,1,2) 3. Team manager: Jason Attwood.
League points: Poole Pirates 3, Belle Vue Aces 0.
Ht 1: Zagar, Holder, Tungate, Wolbert 59.03 (3-3)
Ht 2: Ostergaard, Grajczonek, Dyer, Dryml (fell) 60.22 (6-6)
Ht 3: Cook, Pawlicki, Tungate, Nieminen 59.35 (9-9)
Ht 4: Grajczonek, Janowski, Dryml, Cook 60.28 (14-10)
Ht 5: Pawlicki, Grajczonek, Zagar, Wolbert 59.47 (19-11)
Ht 6: Holder, Ostergaard, Nieminen, Tungate 59.81 (22-14)
Ht 7: Janowski, Nieminen, Cook, Dyer 59.97 (25-17)
Ht 8: Tungate, Dryml, Wolbert, Grajczonek 60.87 (28-20)
Ht 9: Zagar, Pawlicki, Ostergaard, Grajczonek 59.78 (30-24)
Ht 10: Holder, Tungate, Cook, Nieminen 60.22 (35-25)
Ht 11: Janowski, Dyer, Zagar (tactical rider), Ostergaard 60.19 (40-26)
Ht 12: Pawlicki, Cook (tactical rider, double points), Ostergaard, Grajczonek 60.19 (43-31)
Ht 13: Zagar, Janowski, Holder, Wolbert 59.88 (46-34)
Ht 14: Janowski, Ostergaard, Nieminen, Dyer 60.65 (49-37)
Ht 15: Holder, Cook, Pawlicki, Ostergaard 59.85 (53-39)
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