FIVE-man Pirates pulled off one of the ‘Great Escapes’ of all-time when they hit back from a four-point deficit with three races to go to grab a dramatic draw against Lakeside last night.

Injury-ravaged Poole Castle Cover looked down and out in front of Sky’s cameras as full-strength Hammers led 35-31 after heat 12.

But, with Daniel Davidsson and Chris Holder both in the changing room after sustaining collarbone injuries in early meeting falls on a wet track, Hans Andersen drove hard under Lee Richardson to take the chequered flag in race 13.

Bjarne Pedersen followed Richardson home to give the Dorset club a precious 4-2 that cut their deficit to 40-38 and gave them hope.

Then 44-year-old Paul Fry – the second oldest rider in British speedway – produced one of the all-time great rides to keep Pirates in the hunt when he won the penultimate race.

Fryer, making his Poole debut, shot away from the tapes in front in his seventh outing of a busy night in a race he really had to win to keep his side in with a chance of pulling off an unbelievable triumph.

Not many people in a disappointingly low crowd at Wimborne Road expected Fry to be able to hold off Swedish international star Jonas Davidsson, a Wimborne Road specialist, for four laps.

And he didn’t.

But such was his tenacity and never-say-die attitude, he dug deep and produced something special.

First Jonas swept outside him on the second bend to take the lead, then Fry re-passed a rider young enough to be his son on the third turn.

Jonas quickly regained the lead, then Fry swept outside him again on the second turn, third time round.

The Swede went wide to drive past Fry again on the fourth turn, and with a lap to go it looked like game over for Poole.

Unbelievably, though, Fry – with his fellow Pirates reserve Karol Baran languishing at the back – spectacularly zipped outside Jonas in a fearless move that somehow powered him in front again.

Fry then plugged the inside line to stop the Swede catching him out on the third and fourth turns as he rode on to take the chequered flag and send Poole’s fans into raptures.

It meant Pirates, firmly up against the wall since Holder fell and aggravated a collarbone injury in his comeback meeting while leading heat three by a country mile on the third lap had joined Daniel Davidsson on the sidelines after race four, had forced an unlikely last-heat decider.

Pirates went out with Andersen and Pedersen, despite Joe Screen being on a 12-point maximum, and they bagged a 4-2 over Richardson in a re-run of heat 15 after Adam Shields had fallen.

Andersen said: “45-45 will do us great tonight.”

“We were missing two riders from early on in the meeting but everyone upped their game, although unfortunately we couldn’t sneak a win in the end.”

HEAT DETAILS

Pirates 45: 1 Hans Andersen (2-3-3-3-3) 14, 2 Daniel Davidsson (fell non-starter-ns-ns-ns) 0, 3 Joe Screen (3-3-3-3) 12, 4 Chris Holder (fell exc-ns-ns-ns) 0, 5 Bjarne Pedersen (3-3-2-1-1) 10, 6 Paul Fry (0-3-1-0-0-0-3) 7, 7 Karol Baran (0-0-0-1-1-0-0) 2.

Team manager: Neil Middleditch.

Lakeside 45: 1 Lee Richardson (3-2-3-2-2) 12, 2 Kauko Nieminen (1-0-3-1) 5, 3 Adam Shields (2-fell exc-2-2-fell exc) 6, 4 Jonas Davidsson (1*-2-1*-2) 6+2, 5 Joonas Kylmakorpi (1*-2-2-0) 5+1, 6 Phil Morris (1*-1*-1*) 3+3, 7 Stuart Robson (2-2-2*-1*-1*) 8+3.

Team manager: Jon Cook.

Referee: Christina Turnbull.

Sky referee: Jim Lawrence.

Match points: Poole 1 Lakeside 2.

Ht 1: (re-run) Richardson, Andersen, Nieminen, Fry, D Davidsson (fell, non-starter), 60.22 (2-4).

Ht 2: Fry, Robson, Morris, Baran, 62.92 (5-7).

Ht 3: Screen, Shields, J Davidsson, Holder (fell excluded), no time, awarded (8-10).

Ht 4: Pedersen, Robson, Kylmakorpi, Baran, 62.09 (11-13).

Ht 5: Screen, Richardson, Fry, Nieminen, Holder (non-starter), 61.87 (15-15).

Ht 6: (re-run) Andersen, Kylmakorpi, Morris, Baran, D Davidsson (non-starter), 60.33 (18-18).

Ht 7: Pedersen, J Davidsson, Baran, Shields (fell excluded), no time, awarded (22-20).

Ht 8: Nieminen, Robson, Baran, Fry, D Davidsson (non-starter), 61.89 (23-25).

Ht 9: Screen, Kylmakorpi, Morris, Fry, Holder (non-starter), 61.51 (26-28).

Ht 10: Andersen, Shields, J Davidsson, D Davidsson (non-starter), 61.41 (29-31).

Ht 11: Richardson, Pedersen, Nieminen, Fry, 60.84 (31-35).

Ht 12: (re-run) Screen, Shields, Robson, Baran, D Davidsson (non-starter), 61.25 (34-38).

Ht 13: Andersen, Richardson, Pedersen, Kylmakorpi, 61.02 (38-40).

Ht 14: Fry, J Davidsson, Robson, Baran, Holder (non-starter), 61.00 (41-43).

Ht 15: (re-run) Andersen, Richardson, Pedersen, Shields (fell excluded), 61.19 (45-45).

Fixtures, tonight, Elite League: Swindon v Peterborough.

Tomorrow, Elite League: Coventry v Swindon, Lakeside v Peterborough.

National League Knockout Cup, quarter-final, first leg: Weymouth v Buccaneers.

National League: Plymouth v King’s Lynn.