POOLE captain Ryan Sullivan saluted "an all-round superb team performance" as they hit the top of the table following their seventh successive home league win of the season (May 18).

RIAS Pirates' skipper led the way with a 12 paid 13 points haul on a night when they blitzed Peterborough early and, consequently, had the meeting won with one race to spare.

The bonus point was never in doubt as the Dorset club had already triumphed 50-40 at the East of England Showground last month.

Indeed, the Panthers did well to lose by only an 11-point margin, especially as they had trailed 27-18 after seven races having already used their full allocation of two tactical rides.

Sullivan, who switched to the number one riding position from five following the introduction of new green sheet averages, shrugged off a poor opening ride in heat one to grab three wins and a second place.

Two of his triumphs came when he partnered Antonio Lindback to 5-1s and it proved that Sullivan had got over a viral infection that had adversely affected his performance in the Swedish Grand Prix on May 14.

The Australian had first felt ill on Thursday May 12 and was bedridden from then until 5pm before the GP started at 6pm in Eskilstuna.

After struggling in that meeting, partly because he had not eaten for more than 24 hours and had hardly any energy, he spent all day on Sunday and Monday bedridden again before successfully returning to Swedish League action on Tuesday. So it was a great effort by Sullivan last night, even if he was headed home by Panthers' spearhead Peter Karlsson in the final race.

Sullivan said: "It was always going to be a tough meeting because Peterborough have been going very well and they have had a couple of away wins.

"The Dryml brothers go well here and PK always goes round quickly as well, so we had to hit them early and we did.

"It is always the key to start out quickly and get into your stride. All of our boys produced some great racing and it was a good team effort.

"I thought the changes in team pairings worked well. Anton and I had a really good meeting. We looked for each other and were comfortable together.

"There will be occasions when everything doesn't go so smoothly but everyone will settle down the more meetings we ride because tonight it was all new to us.

"Then we should better as a team."

Ex-Pirate Lukas Dryml popped out in heat one to beat Lindback and Sullivan, but then a superb 5-1 by Ricky Ashworth and Tobias Johansson over Henning Bager in the second race got Pirates in the mood.

Bager got out of the gate in front but Ashworth and Johansson quickly passed him on the inside down the back straight before the Dane re-passed the Poole new boy.

The Swede, however, dug deep to overtake Bager again coming off the second bend of the second lap and held off the Panthers' late charge.

A 5-1 and 4-2 propelled Poole 17-7 ahead and Bjarne Pedersen drove from last to second down the back straight to limit Karlsson and Lukas Dryml to a 5-2 in heat five.

Sullivan and Lindback got their first 5-1 in the sixth race before Krzysztof Kasprzak produced the highlight of the meeting.

He scorched almost nonchalantly outside double points man Ales Dryml on the final bend of the last lap to take the chequered flag in heat seven and receive a standing ovation from the Pirates faithful.

In a strange second half to the meeting, Peterborough chalked up three 4-2s in four races as Poole never really looked in total control - indeed the Panthers cut their deficit to only seven points at one stage.

But Pedersen, who swept outside Joonas Kylmakorpi on the first bend of the second lap into the lead, and Johansson combined for a 4-2 in the penultimate race to confirm Poole's victory and propel them to the top of the table.

Heat Details

Pirates 52: 1 Ryan Sullivan (1*-3-3-3-2) 12+1, 2 Antonio Lindback (2-2*-3-2*-1*) 10+3, 3 Matej Ferjan (3-0-0-2) 5, 4 Bjarne Pedersen (2*-2-2-3) 9+1, 5 Krzysztof Kasprzak (3-3-2-1) 9, 6 Tobias Johansson (2*-0-0-1) 3+1, 7 Ricky Ashworth (3-1-0-0) 4. Team manager: Neil Middleditch. Peterborough 41: 1 Peter Karlsson (0-3-3-2-3) 11, 2 Lukas Dryml (3-2-1*-1-ret) 7+1, 3 Ales Dryml (1-4-1-3) 9, 4 Joonas Kylmakorpi (0-1*-0-2) 3, 5 Sam Ermolenko (2-1-1-0) 4, 6 Henning Bager (1-0-2-3-1) 7, 7 (guest) Chris Schramm (0-0-0) 0. Team manager: Trevor Swales. Referee: Dale Entwhistle. Ht 1: L Dryml, Lindback, Sullivan, Karlsson, 58.94 (3-3). Ht 2: Ashworth, Johansson, Bager, Schramm, 59.99 (8-4). Ht 3: Ferjan, Pedersen, A Dryml, Kylmakorpi (fell remounted), 59.40 (13-5). Ht 4: Kasprzak, Ermolenko, Ashworth, Schramm, 59.16 (17-7). Ht 5: Karlsson, Pedersen, L Dryml (tactical rider, double points), Ferjan, 59.16 (19-12). Ht 6: Sullivan, Lindback, Ermolenko, Bager, 59.24 (24-13). Ht 7: Kasprzak, A Dryml (tactical rider, double points), Kylmakorpi, Johansson, 59.41 (27-18). Ht 8: Lindback, Bager, L Dryml, Ashworth, 58.37 (30-21). Ht 9: Bager, Pedersen, Ermolenko, Ferjan, 60.02 (32-25). Ht 10: Sullivan, Lindback, A Dryml, Kylmakorpi, 59.43 (37-26). Ht 11: Karlsson, Kasprzak, L Dryml, Johansson, 59.10 (39-30). Ht 12: A Dryml, Ferjan, Bager, Ashworth, 60.32 (41-34). Ht 13: Sullivan, Karlsson, Kasprzak, Ermolenko, 59.54 (45-36). Ht 14: Pedersen, Kylmakorpi, Johansson, Schramm, 60.33 (49-38). Ht 15: Karlsson, Sullivan, Lindback, L Dryml (retired), 59.50 (52-41).