PIRATES CHAMPIONS AGAIN

POOLE manager Neil Middleditch dedicated the club’s third successive Elite League title to seriously-injured club asset Darcy Ward.



The Pirates overcame Belle Vue over two legs in a terrific Grand Final by a narrow two-point aggregate margin.



As in the first leg, the Aces were left to rue a slow start as Poole raced into a 14-4 lead at Wimborne Road, but they were then pegged back and had to wait until the penultimate race to clinch the title.



Kacper Gomolski produced the crucial winning ride in Heat 14, holding off Josh Grajczonek after team-mate Dakota North had fallen, whilst the Aces brought the score back to 46-44 on the night with a 5-1 in the last race.



Captain Maciej Janowski won three races on his way to an 11-point score for the Pirates, whilst Craig Cook (13) was outstanding for the Aces and skipper Scott Nicholls added 10+3.



Middleditch said: “The number that is on all our minds at present is 43 which is Darcy Ward's racing number, and it was 43 years since Belle Vue achieved the treble.



“If you add four and three together it makes seven and this is our seventh league title so I am convinced our names were on the title since Darcy's tragic accident in August.”



Belle Vue boss Mark Lemon said: “It's hard to be disappointed with tonight. The determination, the efforts, the resilience and the character that these boys have put in over the two legs has been quite remarkable.



“I wouldn't even say we were beaten by a better team. We were beaten by a team who had more luck than we did and for everything we put into this Grand Final, that's kind of heartbreaking.



“But that's speedway, and that's racing. There's no more I can say for the riders and how they conducted themselves. The disappointment they must be feeling now, my heart bleeds for them.”



OFFICIAL REFEREE SCORECARDS

Poole v Belle Vue (EL Grand Final, 2nd leg)



Picture: DAVE FAIRBROTHER

(2015 Elite League Champions - Poole Pirates)



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UPCOMING FIXTURES... 24/09/20 1930 Belle Vue v All Star Select (Premiership Challenge) * 26/09/20 1930 British Final, Ipswich * 29/09/20 1900 Plymouth Select v Leicester Select (NDL Challenge) 10/10/20 1800 British Youth Championship Round 5, Belle Vue

10/10/20 1800 Colin Hill Memorial, Plymouth 17/10/20 1900 British Under-21 Final, Berwick

17/10/20 1800 Plymouth Select v Isle of Wight Select (NDL Challenge) * Fixture being staged behind closed doors

Further 2020 fixture information to follow when available... LATEST RESULTS... TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 22:

CHALLENGE Plymouth Select 51 – Henry Atkins 18 British Young Lions 39 – Dan Thompson 10

SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 21: BRITISH UNDER-19 CHAMPIONSHIP, Scunthorpe

1 Drew Kemp (Ipswich/Eastbourne) 15

2 Dan Gilkes (Kent) 14

3 Jordan Palin (Scunthorpe/Belle Vue) 10 (after run-off)



SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 20:

BRITISH YOUTH CHAMPIONSHIP Round 4, Edinburgh 500cc

1 Joe Thompson

2 Dan Thompson

3 Harry McGurk

4 Archie Freeman 250cc

1 Max James

2 Ashton Vale

(Two riders only in Final) 125cc (a)

1 Max Perry

2 William Cairns

3 Sonny Springer

4 Ben Trigger 125cc (b) – Support class

1 Stene Pijper

2 Owen Booth

3 Rebecca Weston

4 Harry Fletcher FIM WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND 6

CZECH REPUBLIC GRAND PRIX, Prague

1 Bartosz Zmarzlik (POL) 20 2 Tai Woffinden (GB) 18 3 Jason Doyle (Aus) 16

4 Fredrik Lindgren (Swe) 14



WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS (After round 6 of 8)

1 Bartosz Zmarzlik (Pol) 99

2 Fredrik Lindgren (Swe) 92

3 Tai Woffinden (GB) 89

4 Maciej Janowski (Pol) 71



FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 18:



FIM WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND 5

CZECH REPUBLIC GRAND PRIX, Prague

1 Bartosz Zmarzlik (Pol) 20

2 Tai Woffinden (GB) 18

3 Martin Vaculik (Slk) 16

4 Emil Sayfutdinov (Rus) 14



WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS (After round 5 of 8)

1 Bartosz Zmarzlik (Pol) 79

2 Fredrik Lindgren (Swe) 78

3 Tai Woffinden (GB) 71

4 Maciej Janowski (Pol) 62



SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 12:



FIM WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND 4

POLISH GRAND PRIX, Gorzow

1 Fredrik Lindgren (Swe) 20

2 Leon Madsen (Den) 18

3 Jason Doyle (Aus) 16

4 Emil Sayfutdnov (Rus) 14



WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS (After round 4 of 8)

1 Fredrik Lindgren (Swe) 66

2 Bartosz Zmarzlik (Pol) 59

3 Maciej Janowski (Pol) 57

4 Tai Woffinden (GB) 53



FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 11:



FIM WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND 3

POLISH GRAND PRIX, Gorzow

1 Bartosz Zamarzlik (Pol) 20

2 Jason Doyle (Aus) 18

3 Fredrik Lindgren (Swe) 16

4 Leon Madsen (Den) 14



WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS (After round 3 of 8)

1 Maciej Janowski (Pol) 48

2 Bartisz Zmarzlik (Pol) 47

3 Fredrik Lindgren (Swe) 46

4 Tai Woffinden (GB) 43



SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 13:



NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT LEAGUE CHALLENGE

Leicester Select v Scunthorpe Select - OFF



TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 8:

THREE TEAM TOURNAMENT, Plymouth Eastbourne 31 – Tom Brennan 10, Jason Edwards 10 Isle of Wight 30 – Ben Morley 13 Plymouth 28- Alfie Bowtell 12

MONDAY AUGUST 31:



NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT LEAGUE CHALLENGE

Scunthorpe Select 53 (Jordan Palin 14+1)

Leicester Select 61 (Dan Thompson 13+1)



SUNDAY AUGUST 30:



BRITISH YOUTH CHAMPIONSHIP - Round 3, King’s Lynn

500cc

1 Joe Thompson

2 Harry McGurk

3 Elliot Kelly

4 Dan Thompson



250cc

1 Luke Harrison

2 Max James

3 Ashton Vale

4 Jody Scott



125cc (a)

1 Sonny Springer

2 Billy Budd

3 Jamie Etherington

4 Jack Shimelt



125cc (b - support class)

1 Rico Joyce

2 Becky Weston

3 Caydin Martin

SATURDAY AUGUST 29:



FIM WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND 2

POLISH GRAND PRIX, Wroclaw

1 Maciej Janowski (Pol) 20

2 Tai Woffinden (GB) 18

3 Bartosz Zmarzlik (Pol) 16

4 Fredrik Lindgren (Swe) 14



WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS (After round 2 of 8)

1 Maciej Janowski (Pol) 38

2 Artem Laguta (Rus) 32

3 Tai Woffinden (GB) 32

4 Fredrik Lindgren (Swe) 30



FRIDAY AUGUST 28:



FIM WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND 1

POLISH GRAND PRIX, Wroclaw

1 Artem Laguta (Rus) 20

2 Maciej Janowski (Pol) 18

3 Fredrik Lindgren (Swe) 16

4 Tai Woffinden (GB) 14



SATURDAY AUGUST 22:



BRITISH YOUTH CHAMPIONSHIP - Round 2, Leicester

500cc

1 Dan Thompson

2 Joe Thompson

3 Elliot Kelly

4 Harry McGurk



250cc

1 Luke Harrison

2 Max James

3 Ashton Vale

4 Cameron Taylor



125cc (a)

1 Max Perry

2 Sonny Springer

3 Ben Trigger

4 Ace Pijper



125cc (b) - support class

1 Charlie Wood

2 Caydin Martin

3 Rico Joyce

4 Owen Booth

SUNDAY AUGUST 9: BRITISH YOUTH CHAMPIONSHIP - Round 1, Scunthorpe

500cc

1 Jordan Palin

2 Dan Thompson

3 Archie Freeman

4 Joe Thompson



250cc

1 Max James

2 Luke Harrison

3 Ashton Vale

4 William Hocaniuk



125cc (class A)

1 William Cairns

2 Sonny Springer

3 Ben Trigger

4 Max Perry



125cc (class B - support class)

1 Billy Budd

2 Stene Pijper

3 Jake Lee

4 Owen Booth



SUNDAY MARCH 15: 50TH ANNIVERSARY MEETING, Peterborough - OFF

SATURDAY MARCH 14:

BEN FUND BONANZA, Scunthorpe

1 Danny King (Ipswich/Poole)

2 Steve Worrall (Belle Vue/Poole)

3 Josh Auty (Scunthorpe)

4 Lewis Kerr (King’s Lynn/Eastbourne)