Elite League
Eastbourne Speedway: Match report - Eagles 41 Poole Pirates 49
By Nick
May 13, 2008, 19:40

Poole Pirates announced their arrival in the Elite League title race in spectacular fashion following a resounding 48-41 victory over South coast rivals at Arlington stadium on Monday evening, one that provided the Sussex side with their first home defeat in season 2008.

Indeed the stage was potentially set for another memorable evening for the Eagles, the sun shone, their biggest crowd of the season, towards a figure of 3000 flocked through the turnstiles till well after start time, and the SKY Sports cameras were in attendance to capture all the action as it unfolded. All that was required was the complicity of their Dorset opponents and this would have proved a perfect evening for the Sussex contingent.

However, things weren’t destined to go according to plan. Despite the Pirates having triumphed by a cricket score (57-35) at Peterborough just days earlier, few, apparently even within their own camp, gave them little chance of success as they travelled to the home of arguably their greatest rivals. The Pirates, currently amid something of an injury crisis, were fielding two returnees to the fold in Magnus Zetterstrom and Daniel Davidsson, track specialist Bjarne Pedersen was already sidelined with a wrist injury, his place being taken by Pole Krzysztof Kasprzak who by his own admission wouldn’t count Arlington as one of his more favoured circuits. Then, to cap it all former Eagle Davey Watt received a late call up to contest a qualifying round for next season’s Grand Prix competition and with no guest facility available to them they were forced to run with the Rider Replacement facility which many felt would erode further their chances of taking something out of the clash.

However, so far as the visitors were concerned, this was to prove one of those true in the face of adversity moments, one that is sure to live long in the memory. Stand in skipper Adam Skornicki, currently in the form of his life, was the undoubted match winner recording a quite superb paid 19-point tally and he received support pretty much throughout the order, most notably from Chris Holder, who scored heavily after suffering an opening ride engine failure, as well as Zetterstrom.

For the Eagles, sadly it was a different story. Edward Kennett was also an absentee (contesting the same meeting as Watt) though little more could have been asked of guest Kenneth Bjerre who recorded two resounding wins in his 10-point total, one a do or die effort to deny Kasprzak on the run in to the line in heat 11 and the other a morale boosting 5-1 shared with Nicholls two races later as the pair attempted to claw Eagles back from the brink of defeat.

However, it was the mid meeting withdrawal of captain Lee Richardson, who aggravated the hand injury that had also seen him pull out of their victory at Belle Vue last week, was to hit the Eagles hard, and also the input of reserve duo Simon Gustafsson and Brent Werner who totalled 4-points, in contrast to Skornicki and Davidsson’s collective 19 was also, undoubtedly a factor.   

Nevertheless, the Eagles had started as they meant to go on, Nicholls and Bridger streaking side by side from the gate to leave both Eriksson and Grand Prix competitor Kasprzak trailing in their wake.

Certainly a high impact opening by the Sussex side but one that appeared set to be immediately countered as Gustafsson came off worst from a compacted first turn, one that saw Skornicki and Davidsson ease away from the Swede as well as Werner.

That was how it looked set to stay but fortune was to favour the Sussex side as Davidsson motor failed him as he negotiated the final turn of lap two. Though Skornicki remained a clear winner, Werner and Gustafsson at least followed him home untested to protect the Eagles 4-point lead, one that now stood at 8-4.

Something of a surprise one suspects to both Eastbourne and Poole fans alike was the sight of Zetterstrom, himself making his comeback to the Pirates fold, leading both Richardson and Cameron Woodward for the full course to win heat three. A little of the pleasure / pain theory for the visitors however as the highly rated Holder also failed to complete the course, his machinery letting him down just out of the start as he suffered Pirates second engine failure in successive races.

The Eagles certainly appeared to have a match on their hands and Poole were set to halve their lead to 13-11 in the next race as Skornicki moved clear of Bjerre to secure his second victory. With Zetterstrom (taking the rider replacement ride in place of the absent Watt) comfortably accounting for Werner for third place and the 4-2, suddenly the match that Eastbourne were widely expected to win comfortably looked like it might just go all the way.

Further drama was set to follow in heat five; firstly Eriksson just nicked the starting tapes to find himself penalised 15 metres. That might have been considered inconvenient by the Pirates supporters, but the potentially disastrous was about to afflict Eastbourne. Richardson jetted clear of Kasprzak in the restart with Woodward in hot pursuit but the Eagles captain was only to make it as far as the third bend before drifting wide and slamming into the air barrier.

Richardson remained on the track for some time, having seemingly aggravated his already injured wrist before making his way back to the pits where he declared his intention with the meeting. He was of course excluded from the second running of the race but further intrigue was set to follow. With Woodward nipping smartly inside Kasprzak and looking sure to become the home hero, Eriksson suffered a fall at the tail end of lap two and as he attempted to remount he snagged an advertising banner and he roared away with the offending article trailing behind him. Referee Chris Gay had little option but to stop the race and the Swede was subsequently excluded, understandably so but nobody could quite pinpoint which rule had been breached.

Pirates team manager Neil Middleditch duly made representations to the official on Eriksson’s behalf but the fact remained he had been the cause of the race stoppage and therefore he had to go. The race was awarded as a 3-2 with Eagles extending their lead slightly to 3-points, 16-13. This they looked set to stretch further in the next as Nicholls and Bridger blasted clear of Skornicki. However, at just the point that Richardson had come to grief, Bridger also lost control and cannoned into the fence on lap two.

The second successive awarded heat saw Nicholls claim the verdict ahead of the Pole along with Daniel Davidsson but even so the 3-3 meant that just 3-points, now 19-16 separated the teams.

That might well be regarded as a missed opportunity and just one race on the Pirates began to reel them in once more, Holder cutting under Bjerre to win race seven while Zetterstrom comfortably contained Gustafsson to claim their second 4-2, one that saw them to pull within a single point of their hosts, the score now standing at 21-20.

Bridger kept the home sides noses in front with a fine ride to outpace both Skornicki and Eriksson in heat eight, however with Werner trailing the field, no further daylight was set to appear between the teams, Poole still breathing hard down the Eagles necks, the respective tallies moving to an agonising 24-23 in favour of the home side.

With Poole continuing to pressure them however, there was almost a feeling of inevitably that the balance of power was set to shift however and that moment finally came to pass in heat nine as Skornicki and Holder raced clear of Woodward to record a 5-1, one that overturned the home lead into a 28-25 advantage for the visitors and sadly a race that also witnessed Richardson’s final involvement in the meeting, his hand injury proving to painful for him to continue.

Nicholls furthered his maximum hopes in the next with a fine victory over Holder, Bridger getting the better of Zetterstrom, who subsequently fell and remounted, to force the 4-2 that pulled Eagles back to within a point of their rivals.

Bjerre then had the Eagles supporters on their toes with that last ditch victory around Kasprzak’s outside on the race eleven run in but with Gustafsson trailing Eriksson to the flag this saw Eagles remain 1-point adrift of their rivals, the scores now moving to 33-32 in Poole’s favour.

They were to strike a hammer blow in the next however, Holder and Skornicki combining for their second maximum in the space of four races, this time with Gustafsson (taking the place of the withdrawn Richardson) and Werner, their unwilling victims.

This put clear distance in place between the teams, the scores now set at 38-33 but Bjerre and Nicholls efforts in heat 13, a resounding 5-1 at the expense of Kasprzak and Davidsson did at least rally the troops, the quick fire exchange of maximum’s seeing the difference move back to a single point, the sides now separated by that 1-point, 39-38.

However, a further counter strike from the visitors was to prove the decisive blow. Skornicki capped a virtuoso performance with his fourth victory in seven outings and with Zetterstrom storming past Woodward to secure Pirates third 5-1, this put them out of the Eagles reach with the scores now standing at 44-39 and suddenly the Dorset joy was complete.

The final blow was set to be struck in the last race as Nicholls, as yet to be unheaded by an opponent, was denied a maximum as Kasprzak rounded his night off with a win and with Holder also getting the better of Bjerre for a closing 4-2 for the Pirates, this served to widen the smiles of their supporters whilst also compounding the disappointment felt by the Arlington followers    
 
Scorers :
 
Eagles : Scott Nicholls 13+1(5), Kenneth Bjerre (Guest for Edward Kennett) 10(5), Cameron Woodward 6+1(4), Lewis Bridger 6+1(4), Simon Gustafsson 2+1(5), Lee Richardson 2(3), Brent Werner 2(4) – 41
 
Pirates : Adam Skornicki 18+1(7), Chris Holder 11+1(6), Krzysztof Kasprzak 8(5), Magnus Zetterstrom 7+1(5), Freddie Eriksson 3+2(4), Daniel Davidsson 1+1(3), Rider Replacement for Davey Watt, – 48
 
EASTBOURNE 41
S. Nicholls                    3  3a  3  2* 2               - 13+1
L.Bridger                      2* X/F 3  1                  - 6+1
L.Richardson                2  X/F  R  N                 - 2
C.Woodward               1* 3a  1  1                   - 6+1
K.Bjerre (G)                2  2  3  3  0                  - 10
S. Gustafsson               1* 0  0  1  0                 - 2+1
B.Werner                     2  0  0  0                      - 2
Team manager : Trevor Geer
 
POOLE 48
K.Kasprzak                 0  2a  2  1  3                - 8
F.Eriksson                    1  X  1*  1*                 - 3+2
C.Holder                      E/F 3  2* 2  3  1           - 11+1
M.Zetterstrom              3  1  1  0  2*                - 7+1
Rider Replacement (Davey Watt)
D.Davidsson                 E/F  1* N  N  0            - 1+1
A.Skornicki                  3  3  2  2  3  2* 3         - 18+1
Team manager : Neil Middleditch
 
Referee : Chris Gay
 
HEAT DETAILS
1   Nicholls, Bridger, Eriksson, Kasprzak, 55.8                                                 (5-1)
2   Skornicki, Werner, Gustafsson, Davidsson (eng. fail.), 57.8                                      (8-4)
3   Zetterstrom, Richardson, Woodward, Holder (eng. fail. at start), 57.2                      (11-7)
4   Skornicki, Bjerre, Zetterstrom (R/R), Werner, 56.9                                      (13-11)
5   (Restart, tapes, Rerun) Woodward, Kasprzak, Eriksson (exc.tapes 15m) (excluded), Richardson (exc. fell), No time, race awarded                                                                           (16-13)
6   Nicholls, Skornicki (R/R), Davidsson, Bridger (exc. fell),  No time, race awarded                                                                                                                                                     (19-16)
7   Holder, Bjerre, Zetterstrom, Gustafsson, 56.7                                                          (21-20)
8   Bridger, Skornicki, Eriksson, Werner, 57.1                                                  (24-23)
9   Skornicki (res. repl.) Holder (R/R), Woodward, Richardson (retired), 57.5 (25-28)
10 Nicholls, Holder, Bridger, Zetterstrom (fell. rem.), 57.2                                            (29-30)
11 Bjerre, Kasprzak, Eriksson, Gustafsson, 57.8                                                          (32-33)
12 Holder, Skornicki (res. repl.), Gustafsson (res. repl.), Werner, 57.8              (33-38)
13 Bjerre, Nicholls, Kasprzak, Davidsson (R/R), 57.3                                      (38-39)
14 Skornicki, Zetterstrom, Woodward, Gustafsson, 58.2                                              (39-44)
15 (restart – unsat) Kasprzak, Nicholls, Holder, Bjerre, 56.9                                        (41-48)