PIRATES made up for the disappointment of their home defeat against Eastbourne on Wednesday by producing a hard fought win at blustery Sandy Lane last night (July 3).

It was Poole RIAS who got their noses in front first with a 4-2 heat advantage in the second race thanks to the lightning start of Krzysztof Kasprzak, lightning starts that were to make a big difference in this meeting.

Oxford then pulled back level in the next heat but there was carnage on the first turn in the original staging.

Bjarne Pedersen and Niels-Kristian Iversen locked together coming out of the start and it was Pedersen who seemed to come off the worse for wear.

He stayed on the track for quite a while and the majority of the Pirates team came out to check on his condition.

The Dane eventually got up and took his place in the re-run but he was clearly out of sorts for the remainder of the meeting.

The scores were then locked level for the following two heats with no side able to get an advantage.

Then the Silver Machines' top pairing, Greg Hancock and Travis McGowan, put the home side in the lead with a surprise maximum heat win over Ryan Sullivan and Kasprzak.

Another shared heat followed before the Silver Machine went further ahead thanks to another maximum heat win in the eighth.

With Poole eight points behind, team manager Neil Middleditch wasted no time in nominating Sullivan for a tactical ride over the previously unbeaten Iversen.

There was no contest as Sullivan flew from the gate to claim the maximum six points.

That man Kasprzak was then able to see off the home pair to make the best use of the tactical ride and bring the Pirates back to just one point behind.

A shared heat followed but then Oxford pulled another maximum heat out of the bag in the 11th and things did not look so good for the Pirates.

Heat 12 looked to be shared until Emil Kramer fell in last place.

It was an awkward twisting fall and the home reserve could not clear the track in time to allow his partner to complete the race in first place.

As is so often seen in speedway, the re-run was a complete turnaround with Kasprzak making another one of his lightning gates to win the heat and Matej Ferjan tucked in behind him to reduce the deficit to just one point once again.

Sullivan then got the better of Hancock in the 13th to move the Pirates ahead be one point.

That was to be the eventual winning margin as Sullivan once again saw off Hancock's attentions in the final heat to win the nail-biting deciding race.

Great Britain boss Neil Middleditch has named his team for the Test match against Denmark at Wolves on Monday, July 19.

Scott Nicholls will captain a side consisting of himself, Mark Loram, Lee Richardson, David Norris, Stuart Robson, David Howe and Chris Neath.

Middleditch said: "This will be a real test for us just days before the start of the World Cup and we're delighted to have this meeting in the calendar."

The match is televised live on Sky, as is Poole's league match at Peterborough on Monday, July 12.

Fixtures, tonight: Eastbourne v Peterborough.

Monday: Belle Vue v Pirates, Oxford v East-bourne, Wolves v Swindon.

Wednesday: Arena-Essex v Coventry, Peterborough v Swindon, Pirates v Belle Vue.

Thursday: Coventry v Peterborough, Ipswich v Pirates, Swindon v Wolves.

HEAT DETAILS Oxford: 1 Greg Hancock (3-3-2-2-2) 12, 2 Travis McGowan (0-2*-2*-1*) 5+3, 3 Niels-Kristian Iversen (3-3-1-1) 8, 4 Rafal Dobrucki (1-ef-0) 1, 5 Sebastian Ulamek (1*-0-3-0) 4+1, 6 Emil Kramer (0-ex-1*) 1+1, 7 Ryan Fisher (2-2-3-3-2*-2-1*) 15+2. Team manager: Nigel Wagstaff. Pirates: 1 Bjarne Pedersen (2-2-2-0) 6, 2 Magnus Zetterstrom (1*-1*-2-1-1) 6+2, 3 Matej Ferjan (0-1*-0-2*-3-0) 6+1, 4 Rider replacement for Antonio Lindback, 5 Ryan Sullivan (3-1-6-3-3) 16, 6 Krzysztof Kasprzak (3-0-2*-3-0) 12+1, 7 Phil Morris (1-ex-0) 1. Team manager: Neil Middleditch. Referee: Craig Ackroyd. Ht 1: Hancock, Pedersen, Zetterstrom, McGowan, 59.11 (3-3). Ht 2: Kasprzak, Fisher, Morris, Kramer, 59.39 (5-7). Ht 3: (re-run) Iversen, Pedersen, Dobrucki, Ferjan, 60.42 (9-9). Ht 4: (re-run) Sullivan, Fisher, Ulamek, Morris (f ex), 58.95 (12-12). Ht 5: Iversen, Pedersen, Zetterstrom, Dobrucki (ef), 60.33 (15-15). Ht 6: Hancock, McGowan, Sullivan, Kasprzak, 59.40 (20-16). Ht 7: Fisher, Zetterstrom, Ferjan, Ulamek, 60.43 (23-19). Ht 8: Fisher, McGowan, Zetterstrom, Morris, 59.80 (28-20). Ht 9: Sullivan (tactical rider, double points), Kasprzak, Iversen, Dobrucki, 60.18 (29-28). Ht 10: Kasprzak, Hancock, McGowan, Ferjan, 60.42 (32-31). Ht 11: Ulamek, Fisher, Zetterstrom, Pedersen, 60.45 (37-32). Ht 12: (re-run) Kasprzak, Ferjan, Iversen, Kramer (ex), 61.08 (38-37). Ht 13: Sullivan, Hancock, Kasprzak, Ulamek, 60.05 (40-41). Ht 14: Ferjan, Fisher, Kramer, Kasprzak, 60.86 (43-44). Ht 15: Sullivan, Hancock, Fisher, Ferjan, 59.01 (46-47).