RYAN Sullivan can be just like London buses. You wait ages for one, then two or three come along at the same time.(October 6)

The Aussie ace has been just like that for Poole.

He had ridden 70 meetings for Pirates before notching up his first full maximum at home against Polish Select last week.

Then Sullivan went through the whole card against Swindon last night as he made light of a serious injury to his left hand to scorch to four heat wins.

So much for the injury that kept him out of Poole's Elite League title challenge at Wolves two nights before.

He shrugged off the problem - he doesn't know if he has a broken hand or not yet - by quite simply turning in a superb individual performance against the Robins.

At the same time, Flyin' Ryan answered the doubts of many Pirates' fans who wondered whether he was fit enough for their side's crucial run-in to the end of the season, and hopefully, more honours.

How emphatically he answered their questions as well.

By doing so, he also inspired all of his team-mates to hit top form as they crushed Swindon, the only team who had previously won at Wimborne Road this year, 47-46 in a challenge match two months ago.

Sullivan - whose previous best score for Poole before reeling off his two full maximums was a paid maximum of 16 paid 18 at King's Lynn in 1998 - was fantastic.

Lightning out of the gate, he also handled a wet track superbly, and finished off his impressive night's work by beating Leigh Adams from the back.

All eyes were on Sullivan as he lined up at the tapes before heat four.

Poole's fans should have had no worries.

The Aussie got out in front and was on a 5-1 with Magnus Zetterstrom.

Zorro, however, was overtaken by Charlie Gjedde on the third lap and the hard-working Swindon rider then quickly got up close behind Sullivan.

The Poole rider didn't know Gjedde was there. He probably thought it was still Zorro.

But it didn't matter.

Gjedde tried to dive hard under Sullivan on the final bend, but the Aussie showed he had full control of his left hand when he produced a late spurt to the line to take the chequered flag.

Sullivan got out first in heat seven as well but was put under strong pressure by Robins rider Peter Ljung on the first bend.

Ljung tried to drive hard up the inside, but the Pirate forced Ljung wide and went on to win the race emphatically.

If anyone among the 3,000 crowd inside Poole Stadium on a rainy night still doubted Sullivan's fitness, he answered them firmly in heat 11.

The Aussie outgated his compatriot Adams and then stormed to a convincing victory.

Adams jumped out from the tapes in front in heat 13, the next time the duo met.

But Sullivan, who found himself trailing for the first time in the meeting, simply scorched outside and past the Swindon rider coming off the second bend.

Bjarne Pedersen also drove hard past Adams on the inside at the same time as they grabbed a scintillating 5-2 that capped a great night for Sullivan and Poole.

He was rested for heat 15 because his job had already been done.

Adams denied Ferjan his first full maximum for Pirates in the final race, but this Sullivan-inspired Poole performance was one of the highest quality.

They simply pulverised a totally outclassed Robins side to take a mammoth 31-point lead into tonight's second leg at Blunsdon.

As well as Sullivan and Ferjan, all the other Pirates had good meetings, with Krzysztof Kasprzak reeling off three heat wins on his way to an impressive haul of 11 paid 13.

Poole already have one hand on the Elite League championship trophy following their 49-41 win at Wolves on Monday.

Now they also have one hand on a place in the BSPA Knockout Cup final against Arena-Essex or Ipswich.

After their latest stunning performance, who is to say they won't complete a league and cup double for a second successive season?

Poole and Swindon line up with the same teams at Blunsdon tonight (October 7).

Heat Details

Pirates: 1 Bjarne Pedersen (1-2*-2*-2*) 7+3, 2 Krzysztof Kasprzak (3-3-1*-3-1*) 11+2, 3 Matej Ferjan (3-3-3-3-2) 14, 4 Antonio Lindback (2*-0-2*-2*) 6+3, 5 Ryan Sullivan (3-3-3-3) 12, 6 Daniel Davidsson (2*-0-0-3) 5+1, 7 Magnus Zetterstrom (3-1-2-0) 6. Team manager: Neil Middleditch. Swindon: 1 Leigh Adams (2-2-2-2-3) 11, 2 David Ruud (0-1*-3-1-0) 5+1, 3 Peter Ljung (0-2-0-2) 4, 4 Steve Johnston (1-1*-1-0) 3+1, 5 Charlie Gjedde (2-1-0-0) 3, 6 Andy Smith (1-0-1-1*-1) 4+1, 7 (guest) Tomas Topinka (ret-ret-0) 0. Team manager: Alun Rossiter. Referee: Frank Ebdon. Ht 1: Kasprzak, Adams, Pedersen, Ruud, 61.18 (4-2). Ht 2: Zetterstrom, Davidsson, Smith, Topinka (retired), 62.83 (9-3). Ht 3: Ferjan, Lindback, Johnston, Ljung, 64.33 (14-4). Ht 4: Sullivan, Gjedde, Zetterstrom, Topinka (retired), 63.11 (18-6). Ht 5: Ferjan, Adams, Ruud, Lindback, 63.26 (21-9). Ht 6: Kasprzak, Pedersen, Gjedde, Smith, 62.88 (26-10). Ht 7: Sullivan, Ljung, Johnston, Davidsson, 63.57 (29-13). Ht 8: Ruud, Zetterstrom, Kasprzak, Topinka, 63.42 (32-16). Ht 9: Ferjan, Lindback, Smith, Gjedde (tactical rider double points), 62.84 (37-17). Ht 10: Kasprzak, Pedersen, Johnston, Ljung, 62.52 (42-18). Ht 11: Sullivan, Adams, Ruud, Davidsson, 62.33 (45-21). Ht 12: Ferjan, Ljung, Smith, Zetterstrom, 62.99 (48-24). Ht 13: Sullivan, Pedersen, Adams (tactical rider double points), Gjedde, 61.92 (53-26). Ht 14: Davidsson, Lindback, Smith, Johnston, 62.74 (58-27). Ht 15: Adams, Ferjan, Kasprzak, Ruud, 62.13 (61-30).