BIRTHDAY boy Lukas Dryml outshone his elder brother Ales as Pirates produced their best performance of the season to crush lowly Belle Vue.

Lukas, who celebrated his 22nd birthday yesterday, outgated his sibling in heat three to go on and win the race.

And he also got a Poole Meridian Lifts' 4-2 with Bjarne Pedersen that pulled back the Aces' early lead.

From then on Pirates never looked back as they completely outgunned a poor Belle Vue outfit who must surely have to strengthen up even more if they are to make an impact on the Elite League this year.

Lukas reeled off three more heat wins and was only denied his first full maximum for Poole when he was relegated behind heat 15 winner Jason Crump and second-placed Tony Rickardsson.

Leigh Adams went even better than Lukas, who finished with 13 paid 14, by scorching to a four-ride 12-point maximum.

Rickardsson also weighed in heavily as he finally looked to have got over the mechanical gremlins that have been holding him back this season by scoring 12.

With reserves David Ruud (seven paid eight) and Andre Compton (six paid seven) both good value for Pirates, they were convincing winners once they had pulled away from Belle Vue after heat seven.

Pedersen, who got four paid five, continues to look a shadow of the impressive rider he was in 2002, which is Poole team manager Neil Middleditch's only major concern at the moment.

Conference League rider Scott Courtney was predictably out of his depth on his Elite League debut for Pirates in place of the exam-taking Pole Krzysztof Kasprzak.

But the youngster never gave up despite running four lasts and will learn from the experience of riding against some of speedway's top stars like Rickardsson, Crump and Adams.

Crump, whose wife is expecting their second child at any time, was the only Aces rider who pushed his Poole rivals to the limits.

Indeed, Crump won the best race at Wimborne Road so far this season when he took the chequered flag in heat 15.

Rickardsson pressurized the Australian all the way and actually dived under him into the lead on the first bend of the third lap.

But the Swede lifted coming out of the second corner and Crump scorched past on the inside to regain the initiative straight away and go on and win.

Behind them, Lukas and Steve Johnston were also having a thrilling duel with the Czech star finally forcing his way inside the Australian on the fourth bend of the third lap into third.

That salvaged a 3-3 for Poole, who will take a massive 18-point advantage to Manchester for the return on Monday, April 28, in a meeting being screened live by Sky.

Earlier, Rickardsson had outgated Crump to triumph convincingly over one of his main World Championship rivals this year in heat four.

Crump appeared to be heading for victory over Adams in heat six after he shot out from the tapes in front.

But Adams squeezed past his surprised compatriot on the inside of the second bend and went on to win by 20 metres.

Pirates were still only four points ahead going into heat eight, but Compton responded superbly by leading Ruud to a 4-2 over Craig Watson.

Compton also produced his fastest winning time at Wimborne Road this year of 60.87 seconds.

Lukas, off gate four, cut across Crump brilliantly to get to the first bend in front in heat nine as the Australian had to settle for second.

Then Ales drove hard past Adams on the inside of the back straight in heat 10 before the Pirate coolly slipped outside the Czech on the fourth bend to ease his way to another race win.

Rickardsson recovered from falling back from first to third after lifting on the back straight to led Ruud to a 5-1 in heat 11 over Johnston.

Adams crowned his best display for Pirates since his return to the club by beating Crump and Rickardsson in heat 13.

Craig Boyce and Lukas Dryml were both presented with cheques for £500 from the Poole Supporters' Club riders' equipment fund during the interval of last night's meeting.

HEAT DETAILS

Poole Pirates: 1 Leigh Adams (3-3-3-3) 12, 2 Scott Courtney (fell-0-0) 0, 3 Lukas Dryml (3-3-3-3-1*) 13+1, 4 Bjarne Pedersen (1-1-1-1*) 4+1, 5 Tony Rickardsson (3-3-3-1-2) 12, 6 David Ruud (2-0-1-2*-2) 7+1, 7 Andre Compton (0-1-3-2*) 6+1.

Team manager: Neil Middleditch.

Belle Vue Aces: 1 Steve Johnston (2-2-1-0-0) 5, 2 Josh Larsen (1*-0-0-0) 1+1, 3 Jason Lyons (2-2-1*-1) 6+1, 4 Ales Dryml (0-1-2-3) 6, 5 Jason Crump (2-2-2-2-3) 11, 6 Chris Manchester (3-1*-0-0) 4+1, 7 Craig Watson (1-0-2-0) 3.

Team manager: Neil Street.

Referee: Ronnie Allan.

Ht 1: Adams, Johnson, Larsen, Courtney (fell), 58.96 (3-3). Ht 2: (re-run) Manchester, Ruud, Watson (excluded tapes, started re-run 15 metres back), Compton, 60.91 (5-7). Ht 3: L Dryml, Lyons, Pedersen, A Dryml, 59.35 (9-9). Ht 4: Rickardsson, Crump, Compton, Watson, 58.85 (13-11). Ht 5: L Dryml, Johnston, Pedersen, Larsen, 59.88 (17-13). Ht 6: Adams, Crump, Manchester, Courtney, 59.83 (20-16). Ht 7: Rickardsson, Lyons, A Dryml, Ruud, 60.16 (23-19). Ht 8: Compton, Watson, Ruud, Larsen, 60.87 (27-21). Ht 9: L Dryml, Crump, Pedersen, Manchester, 60.15 (31-23). Ht 10: Adams, A Dryml, Lyons, Courtney, 60.54 (34-26). Ht 11: Rickardsson, Ruud, Johnston, Larsen, 61.60 (39-27). Ht 12: L Dryml, Compton, Lyons, Manchester, 60.26 (44-28). Ht 13: Adams, Crump, Rickardsson, Johnston, 59.63 (48-30). Ht 14: A Dryml, Ruud, Pedersen, Watson, 60.73 (51-33). Ht 15: Crump, Rickardsson, L Dryml, Johnston, 60.39 (54-36).