POOLE blew away the dust clouds hanging over Wimborne Road in emphatic style as they powered to their first home win of 2019.

The 2018 championship-winning Pirates pummelled Belle Vue 55-35 in this SGB Premiership clash to kick their title defence into top gear.

After a 46-44 loss at home to King’s Lynn in the Premiership Shield and a 53-37 battering against Swindon in the Premiership Supporters Cup on Good Friday, Poole were desperate to start their league season off on better footing.

On a night brimming with reasons to be cheerful, Brady Kurtz was the star, dropping just one point on his way to 14.

Nikolaj Busk Jakobsen’s kerb-riding masterclass saw him dive-bomb his way to nine paid 10, while Jack Holder showed signs of getting back to his best on seven paid nine.

Pirates started the night in fine style as Richie Worrall led a fine 5-1 over Max Fricke in heat one, with Holder working hard in second to fend off his fellow Aussie.

Pirates star Nico Covatti pushed Aces’ Jaimon Lidsey wide brilliantly on turn three in heat two.

This opened a great gap for Jakobsen to beat a path around the white line on lap two, turn one, tidily passing both Lidsey and Garcia for second.

British young gun Dan Bewley stopped the rot for Belle Vue by winning heat three at pace ahead of Poole duo Nicolai Klindt and Josh Grajczonek.

But Pirates were promptly back in the ascendancy as Kurtz made a flying start to win race four ahead of Kenneth Bjerre, with Jakobsen third ahead of Lidsey to put Poole 10 up.

Fricke atoned for a tough opening outing by winning heat five for the Aces, but Klindt and Grajczonek claimed the minor places to retain Pirates’ advantage.

Bjerre dominated heat six with Richie Worrall and Holder taking the second and third places, before Kurtz got Poole back to winning ways with victory ahead of Bewley and Wells in race seven.

Pirates charged 14 points ahead when Richie Worrall powered to victory in heat eight, with Jakobsen riding the inside line like a rail on turn four to sneak into second ahead of Aces’ Steve Worrall.

With the match slipping away from the Manchester side, their team manager Mark Lemon tracked Fricke alongside Bjerre as a tactical substitute against Klindt and Grajczonek in heat nine.

It helped them pull two points back as Bjerre got the better of Klindt for the win, while Fricke bagged third spot.

Holder hit his stride to win heat 10, before Fricke inflicted Kurtz’ first loss of the evening, with Lidsey following in third to reduce Belle Vue’s deficit to 10.

Klindt restored Poole’s 12-point cushion after diving past Garcia on bend two for a fine win in race 12, but the Argentine rider worked wonders around the kerb to stop Jakobsen sweeping through for second.

Kurtz took to the dirt and roared around Fricke on bend two, before scorching clear to lead Holder to a 4-2 in heat 13.

Jakobsen had spent much of the night winning points the hard way. This time he kept things simple with a speedy start to head a maximum with skipper Grajczonek in race 14.

That was before Kurtz crowned a fine night’s work with a comfortable win over Fricke in the nominated race, with Klindt third as Pirates truly got their home season up and running.

RIDERS' SCORES AND HEAT DETAILS

POOLE 55: 1 Jack Holder (2*-1*-3-1) 7+2, 2 Richie Worrall (3-2-3-R) 8, 3 Nicolai Klindt (2-2-2-3-1) 10, 4 Josh Grajczonek (1*-1*-0-2*) 4+3, 5 Brady Kurtz (3-3-2-3-3) 14, 6 Nico Covatti (3-0-0) 3, 7 Nikolaj Busk Jakobsen (2*-1-2*-1-3) 9+2. Team Manager: Neil Middleditch.

BELLE VUE 35: 1 Max Fricke (1-3-1-3-2-2) 12, 2 Steve Worrall (R-0-1) 1, 3 Dan Bewley (3-2-1*-0-0) 6+1, 4 Ricky Wells (0-1*-2-1) 4+1, 5 Kenneth Bjerre (2-3-3-0) 8, 6 Coty Garcia (0-0-2) 2, 7 Jaimon Lidsey (1-0-R-1-0) 2. Team Manager: Mark Lemon.

HT 1: R Worrall, Holder, Fricke, S Worrall (ret), 59.62 (5-1).

HT 2: (re-run) Covatti, Jakobsen, Lidsey, Garcia, 60.38 (10-2).

HT 3: Bewley, Klindt, Grajczonek, Wells, 59.97 (13-5).

HT 4: Kurtz, Bjerre, Jakobsen, Lidsey, 60.72 (17-7).

HT 5: Fricke, Klindt, Grajczonek, S Worrall, 60.31 (20-10).

HT 6: Bjerre, R Worrall, Holder, Garcia, 60.90 (23-13).

HT 7: Kurtz, Bewley, Wells, Covatti, 60.25 (26-16).

HT 8: R Worrall, Jakobsen, S Worrall, Lidsey (ret), 61.81 (31-17).

HT 9: Bjerre, Klindt, Fricke, Grajczonek, 61.25 (33-21).

HT 10: Holder, Wells, Bewley, R Worrall (ret), 61.78 (36-24).

HT 11: Fricke, Kurtz, Lidsey, Covatti, 61.63 (38-28).

HT 12: Klindt, Garcia, Jakobsen, Bewley, 62.00 (42-30).

HT 13: (re-run) Kurtz, Fricke, Holder, Bjerre, 61.00 (46-32).

HT 14: Jakobsen, Grajczonek, Wells, Lidsey, 62.25 (51-33).

HT 15: Kurtz, Fricke, Klindt, Bewley, 61.87 (55-35).

ECHO STAR RIDER: BRADY KURTZ

THERE has been much talk about whether Pirates’ strength-in-depth side lacked top-end muscle.

But once again, Aussie shooting star Brady Kurtz stepped forward and showed he’s the man for the job as he took the fight to the Aces.

After dominating against former SGP star Kenneth Bjerre and British Championship runner-up Dan Bewley, it took Aussie champion Max Fricke to deny him a maximum.

But Kurtz got his own back with a rapid ride in heat 13, before seeing off Fricke again in the nominated race.