BRITISH SPEEDWAY OCTOBER 10, 2024

(SPEEDWAY 1)

POOLE ARE THE CHAMPIONS

POOLE clinched their third Cab Direct Championship title in four years with a stirring second leg fightback in an incident-packed Grand Final with Oxford.

The Pirates were 12 points down from the opening clash at Cowley but hit back with a 56-34 win in the return at a packed Wimborne Road, taking the league title by ten points on aggregate.
They levelled overall with a 5-1 from Ben and Zach Cook in Heat 9 but it took until Heat 12 for them to finally take the lead, with Zach Cook and Tobias Thomsen securing their triumph with a 4-2 in the penultimate race.

Tom Brennan top-scored with 13 points from five rides, Thomsen put in a key display at reserve with 10+2 and Richard Lawson bounced back from a Heat 1 disqualification for bringing down Sam Masters by scoring 10+1 from his remaining four outings.
Masters led the way for the Cheetahs with ten points, but their hopes were hit by the withdrawal of high-scoring reserve Luke Killeen, who was involved in two early crashes.

Skipper Ben Cook said: “It is awesome being the captain of the league champions. I wasn’t happy with the last place that I ran in one ride, and perhaps we won’t talk about that.
“We always knew we were still in it but had to really dig deep, make some starts and be hard on them in the first corners.”
The league title battle between the clubs is not the end of the story for 2024, as the Pirates and the Cheetahs will meet again over two legs later this month in the Cab Direct KO Cup Final.

(SPEEDWAY 2)

POOLE owner Matt Ford revealed he was driven on by the memories of last season’s Grand Final defeat as the Dorset club became league champions once again.
The Pirates overcame Oxford in the Cab Direct Championship title decider, regaining the silverware they had lost to Glasgow last year when they were unable to turn around a first leg deficit.

It was a remarkable 30th team trophy for Poole under the tenure of Ford and manager Neil Middleditch, dating back to the Craven Shield in 20001.
Ford, who said: “I was so impressed with just how much everyone really wanted this.
“I just could not believe the spirit that this team has but let me say, nothing can put the hurt of last year behind me. I woke up this morning in a sweat just thinking about that.

“But we’ve done it, we have got the 30th trophy and let’s hope the 31st is in the Cab Direct KO Cup, although I am sure Oxford will want to have a say about that. I must applaud them for playing their part in such a thrilling meeting.
“They really put in a good performance up there in the first leg, pulling away in the latter stages and getting the good advantage. It really made our task that much harder, and they were keeping us out at times here tonight.”

(SPEEDWAY 3)

OXFORD manager Peter Schroeck admitted the loss of reserve Luke Killeen gave his side too much to do in the second leg of the Cab Direct Championship Grand Final.
Killeen had starred with 11+3 on his previous visit to Wimborne Road when the Cheetahs won in the league, and he then racked up 12+1 in the first leg of the Final against Poole at Cowley.

But he could take no further part after two falls on Wednesday, the first coming after a clash with Pirates reserve Vinnie Foord which saw the visitors unhappy with Killeen’s disqualification.
Schroeck said: “I think the loss of Luke Killeen is ultimately what killed us off tonight. We lost our trump card reserve.
“In his first race in Heat 2, Luke was left with nowhere to go. There were some weak refereeing decisions tonight and Luke should not have been excluded. He went out again, but he wasn’t right, came off again and he was withdrawn from the meeting.

“Jody (Scott) was lucky not to be hurt in Heat 8 when he was taken into the fence at speed. That could have been a very nasty one when he was too was taken out by Vinnie Foord.
“The Poole boys were ruthless – particularly in the opening races. Both Sam (Masters) and Ashton (Boughen) had to pick themselves up after nasty crashes and that all took its toll. But all the boys battled on and I’m proud of their efforts.

“Congratulations to Poole on winning the league title. Once it settles down, we will start to reflect that we pushed them all the way and finished above seven other teams in the Cab Direct Championship.
“In the meantime, of course, it’s a tough one to take. But I got together the riders and mechanics and told them they’d given their all and to brush ourselves off and give it another go in the Cab Direct Knockout Cup Final, when we will try to repay the favour.”

(FIXTURES)

TO BE CONFIMRED:
CAB DIRECT KO CUP FINAL: Oxford v Poole, Poole v Oxford