DAVID Ruud rose to the occasion in spectacular style in heat 11 1ast night to inspire Pirates to victory in a much tighter contest than the final scoreline suggests.

The young Swede rode a superb second bend to keep Witches duo Jarek Hampel and Chris Slabon behind him to join Poole Meridian Lifts captain Tony Rickardsson on a 5-1 for the home side.

Pirates, who had beaten Ipswich 50-40 away last week, were expecting a pretty comfortable ride towards victory at Wimborne Road in front of a 2,500 crowd.

But as they went into heat 11 they only led 32-28 as the bottom-of-the-table Witches put up a much tougher fight than many people expected them to do.

Poole had produced seven of the first 10 heat winners but Ipswich, with Scott Nicholls and Hampel prominent, were still in the hunt to pull off a shock result.

However, just when Pirates needed something special to ease their fans' nerves Ruud provided it.

Rickardsson was first out of the gate as the tapes went up on race 11 but his young Swedish compatriot stole the spotlight with a brilliant second place ride.

Ruud held his nerve to burst past Slabon on the outside coming off the second bend as Hampel was also snapping at his back wheel on the inside.

It was a sweet manoeuvre from the young Swede under pressure and showed the Pirates supporters what he could do.

It also gave Poole a 37-29 lead, doubling their previous slim four-point advantage, to ultimately sway the verdict in the Dorset track's favour.

A shock 5-1 by Hampel and Nicholls over Rickardsson and Leigh Adams in heat 13 brought Ipswich back into contention as they only trailed 41-37 with two races to go.

But Ruud teamed up with Bjarne Pedersen for a 5-0 in heat 14 that finally secured Pirates' first home league win of the season and lifted them up to second place in the Sky Sports table.

The win also secured Poole a 99-80 aggregate triumph and their first bonus point of the season.

Ruud ended the meeting with five paid seven points after collecting only one from his opening two rides.

Heat leaders Adams (11+1), Rickardsson (11) and Lukas Dryml (10+1) all got the big points they have been brought to Wimborne Road to do, while Pedersen's eight paid nine meant the top four amassed 40 between them.

Davey Watt got three but teenage Pole Krzysztof Kasprzak only got one from four rides in the difficult number two position as he stuggled for a second meeting running against the Witches.

Apart from Ruud's great heat 11 effort, Pedersen and Dryml produced two other brilliant passing manoeuvres.

The Dane, last out of the gate in heat three, dived under both Witches Paul Hurry and Daniel Nermark on the second bend to join Dryml on a 5-1 that turned Ipswich's early 7-5 lead into a 10-8 advantage to Poole.

Dryml went into the back of Pedersen's machine as they chased race leader Nicholls in heat nine and looked to be heading for a last place.

But the Czech star rode superbly on the final lap to drive under Danny Bird on the last bend to salvage third place and a 3-3 for Pirates at a vital stage in the meeting.

HEAT DETAILS

Pirates: 1 Leigh Adams (3-3-3-1-1*) 11+1, 2 Krzysztof Kasprzak (1-0-0-0) 1, 3 Lukas Dryml (3-3-1*-3) 10+1, 4 Bjarne Pedersen (2*-1-2-3) 8+1, 5 Tony Rickardsson (3-3-3-0-2) 11, 6 David Ruud (1-0-2*-2*) 5+2, 7 Davey Watt (0-1-2-0) 3. Team manager: Neil Middleditch.

Ipswich: 1 Jarek Hampel (2-0-3-1-3) 9, 2 Chris Slabon (ret-2-1-0) 3, 3 Paul Hurry (1-2-2-2-0) 7, 4 Daniel Nermark (0-1*-1*-0) 2+2, 5 Scott Nicholls (2-2-3-1*-2*-3) 13+2, 6 Danny Bird (3-1*-0) 4+1, 7 Tom Madsen (2*-0-ret) 2+1. Team manager: Mike Smillie.

Referee: Graham Reeve.

Ht 1: Adams, Hampel, Kasprzak, Slabon (retired), 58.73 (4-2). Ht 2: Bird, Madsen, Ruud, Watt (fell remounted), 60.54 (5-7). Ht 3: Dryml, Pedersen, Hurry, Nermark, 60.86 (10-8). Ht 4: Rickardsson, Nicholls, Watt, Madsen, 59.74 (14-10). Ht 5: Dryml, Slabon, Pedersen, Hampel, 60.38 (18-12). Ht 6: Adams, Nicholls, Bird, Kasprzak, 60.07 (21-15). Ht 7: Rickardsson, Hurry, Nermark, Ruud, 60.45 (24-18). Ht 8: Hampel, Watt, Slabon, Kasprzak, 60.22 (26-22). Ht 9: Nicholls, Pedersen, Dryml, Bird, 60.25 (29-25). Ht 10: Adams, Hurry, Nermark, Kasprzak, 60.94 (32-28). Ht 11: Rickardsson, Ruud, Hampel, Slabon, 60.78 (37-29). Ht 12: Dryml, Hurry, Nicholls, Watt, 59.94 (40-32). Ht 13: Hampel, Nicholls, Adams, Rickardsson, 59.86 (41-37). Ht 14: (re-run) Pedersen, Ruud, Madsen (retired), Nermark (excluded), 60.74 (46-37). Ht 15: Nicholls, Rickardsson, Adams, Hurry, 60.75 (49-40).