MATEJ Ferjan was left to lament Andreas Jonsson's brilliant last-ditch effort to beat him in heat five as he missed out on his maiden Pirates maximum by an agonising hair's breadth.

The stylish Slovenian, who rides off a Hungarian licence, produced a stunning performance of electrifying gating at Wimborne Road last night.

He reeled off four heat wins and was only denied his first Poole RIAS maximum by Jonsson's determination not to be beaten.

Ferjan, who had already scorched outside a duelling Antonio Lindback and Billy Janniro on the second bend to win a re-run of heat three, jumped out of the gate in first place two races later.

He then pegged Jonsson behind him superbly for three and three-quarter laps and looked to have the race won with only the final bend to navigate.

The Coventry rider, who had tried everything to pass Ferjan in the previous two laps, wasn't prepared to settle for second.

Instead he dummied to go wide, then as he saw Ferjan move his bike slightly off the inside line, Jonsson switched course to dive inside and past the Pirate to steal an unlikely victory by less than a half a wheel's length.

It was a brilliant race that had the Poole fans in a frenzied 3,500 crowd up on their feet in rousing applause, despite the fact a Coventry man had won.

Ferjan, however, shrugged off the gut-wrenching loss and proceeded to reel off three more heat wins.

First he swept outside Stuart Robson on the second bend to join early race nine leader Lindback on a 5-1.

The team rode immaculately to ease RIAS Pirates 33-21 in front before the Slovenian then won in heat 12 with an impressive tapes-to-flag success ahead of Shaun Tacey and Janniro.

Ferjan outgated Jonsson in the final race to gain revenge for his heat five beating, with Bjarne Pedersen notably driving hard between the Swede and Chris Harris on the back straight into second place to follow his team-mate home for a 5-1.

The Slovenian said: "That was my best performance for Poole. It was very close to a maximum.

"I just lost the point in the last corner. But that is speedway. A maximum is very hard to get."

Talking about heat five, Ferjan added: "I knew Andreas was there. If someone is close behind, you try to keep your line and not make a mistake.

"I made a small mistake and paid for it. I went too far outside, he went outside, then inside where I should have been.

"It is hard when someone is pushing behind you like that. You can panic. I was gutted to lose it. I am happy with 14 points though. I made a good gate in heat 15. I chose gate two, it worked and I won, beating Andreas, which was great."

If Ferjan stole the show, Lindback produced a fantastic last-to-first burst to win heat 14. Left trailing at the tapes, he roared past Krzysztof Kasprzak and Morten Risager down the back straight into second place.

Then the Swede, charging up the inside, pipped a surprised Sergei Darkin for first place on the run-in by less than half a wheel's length in a remarkable finish.

Pirates' win, and their comfortable aggregate success, lifted them 11 points clear of Wolves at the top of the Elite League.

Daniel Davidsson pulled out of the meeting after suffering dizziness following a heat two spill in which he hit the safety fence.

He felt well enough to take his second ride, but was unable to race again.

Heat Details

Pirates: 1 Bjarne Pedersen (2-3-3-3-2*) 13+1, 2 Magnus Zetterstrom (1*-1-1-2*) 5+2, 3 Matej Ferjan (3-2-3-3-3) 14, 4 Antonio Lindback (2*-1*-2*-3) 8+3, 5 Ryan Sullivan (3-3-1-1) 8, 6 Daniel Davidsson (fell exc-0) 0, 7 Krzysztof Kasprzak (3-0-3-0-0-1) 7. Team manager: Neil Middleditch. Coventry: 1 Andrea Jonsson (3-3-6-2-1) 15, 2 Chris Harris (0-0-2-2*-0) 4+1, 3 Billy Janniro (1-2-2-1*) 6+1, 4 Sergei Darkin (fell exc-1*-0-2) 3+1, 5 Stuart Robson (2-2-1-0) 5, 6 Shaun Tacey (1*-0-0-2) 3+1, 7 Morten Risager (2-1*-0-0) 3+1. Team managers: Colin Pratt and Peter Oakes. Referee: Tony Steele. Ht 1: Jonsson, Pedersen, Zetterstrom, Harris, 57.98 (3-3). Ht 2: (re-run) Kasprzak, Risager, Tacey, Davidsson (fell excluded), 59.45 (6-6). Ht 3: (re-run) Ferjan, Lindback, Janniro, Darkin (fell excluded), 58.87 (11-7). Ht 4: Sullivan, Robson, Risager, Kasprzak, 58.82 (14-10). Ht 5: Jonsson, Ferjan, Lindback, Harris, 59.11 (17-13). Ht 6: Pedersen, Robson, Zetterstrom, Tacey, 59.48 (21-15). Ht 7: Sullivan, Janniro, Darkin, Davidsson, 59.47 (24-18). Ht 8: Kasprzak, Harris, Zetterstrom, Risager, 59.42 (28-20). Ht 9: Ferjan, Lindback, Robson, Tacey, 59.36 (33-21). Ht 10: Pedersen, Zetterstrom, Janniro (tactical rider, double points), Darkin, 59.17 (38-23). Ht 11: Jonsson (tactical rider, double points), Harris, Sullivan, Kasprzak, 59.63 (39-31). Ht 12: Ferjan, Tacey, Janniro, Kasprzak, 59.54 (42-34). Ht 13: Pedersen, Jonsson, Sullivan, Robson, 59.61 (46-36). Ht 14: Lindback, Darkin, Kasprzak, Risager, 60.01 (50-38). Ht 15: Ferjan, Pedersen, Jonsson, Harris, 59.77 (55-39). Last night's other Elite League result: Arena-Essex 45 Swindon 48. Tonight's Elite League fixtures: Coventry v Belle Vue, Ipswich v Wolves, Swindon v Peterborough.