POOLE CASTLE COVER PIRATES 58 ( Dave Watt 15 Adam Skornicki 15 )
COVENTRY  BEES 34 (  Chris Harris 13  )

Australian international Davey Watt powered a weakened Castle Cover Pirates to a convincing 58 – 34 home win over the holder’s Coventry in the  first leg semi-final Craven Shield. Despite the threat of further rain showers, Watt made light work of track conditions to chalk up a perfect five ride maximum

Pirates called in Craig Watson to deputise for the injured Zibi Suchecki for this match, but were handicapped by the loss of Polish star Karol Zabik who sustained three broken ribs, a damage shoulder, and concussion while racing in Sweden on Tuesday night.

To the delight of the home fans Poole tore into Coventry from the start claiming four maximum heat scores from the first 5 heats to rack  up an unassailable 16 point lead, while stopping the visitors from getting into the match.

“ I thought we put together another great all round performance “ said Poole team manager Neil Middleditch

“ Coventry are a good side and things could just as easily gone against us in the opening races but we focussed on the job in hand and built up a good lead to take with us to Coventry for the second leg on Friday.”

In his second match back from injury, Adam Skornicki shrugged off the effects of a broken wrist with a fighting 15 point return while Chris Holder added more fire power to the Pirates attack with a 12 point haul. But it was Dave Watt’s night and his perfect maximum earned him the Man of the Match award at the end of another good night of speedway at Poole.

Pirates all round domination was evident for all to see and they now take a seemingly unassailable 24 lead to Coventry for the second leg.  And if Poole win they will meet the Lakeside Hammers, who have already made it through to the final of this competition, a competition which the Pirates have already won on three previous occasions.