LADY Luck shone brightly on Pirates as they took full advantage of a gift 5-1 in heat seven to push Ipswich all the way at Foxhall last night (October 21).

Witches spearhead Scott Nicholls was only 70 metres from the chequered flag and victory in a re-run of the race when he suffered mechanical problems.

To the disappointment of the Ipswich fans in a 3,500 Suffolk crowd, as Nicholls slowed Poole RIAS pair Matej Ferjan and Antonio Lindback scorched through on the inside into top places.

They roared on to grab a welcome Pirates 5-1 - their first heat advantage of the meeting - that pegged their deficit back to six points.

Poole had gone into the race 10 points adrift and completely out of shape after Ipswich had dominated the opening exchanges.

And it looked as if luckless Nicholls had not slowed to a near halt to finish third, the Witches were on the way to building up a big lead to take to Wimborne Road for the second leg on Sunday, October 31.

Nicholls' bad luck was the turning point of last night's meeting as the Elite League champions bounced back from their poor start to turn on the style in mid-meeting.

Krzysztof Kasprzak cut across Danny Bird and Kim Jansson off gate four to win heat eight as Ipswich's early meeting momentum began to stutter at a crucial stage.

Ryan Sullivan then outgated Jesper B Jensen and Chris Louis to go on and win heat nine and keep Poole's fightback on course.

Then Pirates switched into overdrive as Lindback nudged Hans Andersen wide on the second bend to win heat 10.

Danny Bird and Ferjan dived past the Dane on the inside into second and third places and Andersen could not catch the Slovenian so Poole grabbed a vital 4-2.

That meant they only trailed 32-28 and they halved that margin when Kasprzak outgated, then outpaced Nicholls, in heat 11 with Bjarne Pedersen coming from behind to pip King for third.

The Foxhall faithful were stunned into silence as fast-gating Ferjan and Magnus Zetterstrom team-rode superbly - Zorro on the inside, Ferjan on the outside - to peg Jansson and Jensen behind them in heat 12.

It meant Poole, who had lost 50-43 twice at Foxhall in the league earlier this season, were 40-38 ahead with only three races to go with their 300 travelling fans on the first bend terracing jubilant.

Nicholls and Andersen outgunned Pedersen and Sullivan with a 5-1 triumph in heat 13 that saw Ipswich regain their advantage at 43-41.

But Lindback drove hard under Louis on the fourth bend of heat 14 to take the lead and scorch onto the chequered flag first as the race was shared 3-3.

Only a last heat 5-1 by Andersen and Nicholls over Sullivan and Kasprzak saw Witches stretch out their lead to six points going into the second leg.

Poole, who have been rampant on their home track over the past month, will fancy their chances of pulling those back and winning on aggregate, especially as Ipswich's Danny Bird is unavailable for the second leg.

Heat Details

Ipswich: 1 Hans Andersen (3-3-0-2*-3) 11+1, 2 Danny Bird (0-2*-2-2) 6+1, 3 Jesper B Jensen (3-1-2-0) 6, 4 Chris Louis (2*-3-1*-2) 8+2, 5 Scott Nicholls (1*-1-2-3-2*) 9+2, 6 Daniel King (3-fell exc-0) 3, 7 Kim Jansson (fell-2-1*-1-1*) 5+2. Team manager: Mike Smillie. Pirates: 1 Bjarne Pedersen (1*-2-1-1) 5+1, 2 Krzysztof Kasprzak (2-0-3-3-0) 8, 3 Matej Ferjan (1-3-1-3) 8, 4 Antonio Lindback (0-2*-3-3) 8+1, 5 Ryan Sullivan (3-1-3-0-1) 8, 6 Daniel Davidsson (1*-0-0) 1+1, 7 Magnus Zetterstrom (2-0-0-2*-0) 4+1. Team manager: Neil Middleditch. Referee: Chris Gay. Ht 1: Andersen, Kasprzak, Pedersen, Bird, 60.9 (3-3). Ht 2: King, Zetterstrom, Davidsson, Jansson (fell), 62.0 (6-6). Ht 3: Jensen, Louis, Ferjan, Lindback, 60.9 (11-7). Ht 4: Sullivan, Jansson, Nicholls, Zetterstrom, 61.3 (14-10). Ht 5: Louis, Pedersen, Jensen, Kasprzak, 60.3 (18-12). Ht 6: Andersen, Bird, Sullivan, Davidsson, 61.4 (23-13). Ht 7: (re-run) Ferjan, Lindback, Nicholls, King (fell excluded), 61.3 (24-18). Ht 8: Kasprzak, Bird, Jansson, Zetterstrom, 61.1 (27-21). Ht 9: Sullivan, Jensen, Louis, Davidsson, 61.4 (30-24). Ht 10: Lindback, Bird, Ferjan, Andersen, 60.5 (32-28). Ht 11: Kasprzak, Nicholls, Pedersen, King, 61.6 (34-32). Ht 12: Ferjan, Zetterstrom, Jansson, Jensen, 61.6 (35-37). Ht 13: Nicholls, Andersen, Pedersen, Sullivan, 61.9 (40-38). Ht 14: Lindback, Louis, Jansson, Zetterstrom, 60.7 (43-41). Ht 15: Andersen, Nicholls, Sullivan, Kasprzak, 61.8 (48-42).