COMEBACK man Craig Boyce shrugged off a severe case of pre-meeting nerves to lead Pirates to a comfortable success in deepest Cornwall last night.

The 35-year-old Australian marked his first full appearance for Poole since 1998 by scorching to three heat wins and a second place as Meridian Lifts Poole Pirates got their British League Cup campaign off to a winning start.

There was early disappointment for the Sydneysider, who is captain of Pirates' cup team, when he stuttered to a halt in heat one.

After making the gate in front of Trelawny's Pavel Ondrasik, Boyce suffered mechanical problems and had to bail out of the race early.

But, roared on by about 100 travelling Pirates fans, many members of his Face Club, in a crowd of 1,000, Boyce led Davey Watt to a 5-1 in the re-run of heat five.

The Antipodean romped to an easy victory after Trelawny's Matej Zagar had been excluded for touching the tapes and then been re-instated into the race, but re-starting 15 metres back.

Boyce was then awarded victory in heat 11 after home favourite Chris Harris fell and was excluded while challenging the Australian for first place on the third lap.

Harris beat Boyce from the back in heat 13 after the Sydneysider had led for two-and-three-quarter laps before the Australian got his revenge in the final race after leading from tapes to the finish.

It was a great display by Boyce, who had not ridden a competitive meeting since October and has had to be content with weekly practice sessions at Wimborne Road.

He said: "I was really nervous before the meeting. I had butterflies and felt like I was starting my career all over again.

"I just needed to get that first race out of the way. I made the start but went a bit wide and the Trelawny riders came under me.

"I felt the counter shaft moving as I made the gate. Then I felt the rear chain clicking on the third and fourth bends and thought it was too dangerous to continue.

"After that it was good. In heat 13 I turned inside and almost hit the kerb. Bomber Harris sneaked past me, which I was disappointed about, but I beat him in heat 15.

"All in all, it is good to have had a meeting after so long out. And it was a really great team performance, all the lads did very well."

Trelawny:

1 Emiliano Sanchez (2*-2-0-0) 4+1; 2 Pavel Ondrasik (3-1*-1*-1) 6+2; 3 Matej Zagar (1-1-3-ef-2-2) 9; 4 Steve Masters (0-ret-2*-2) 4+1; 5 Chris Harris (fell exc-3-4-fell exc-3-1*) 11+-1; 6 Jason Prynne (3-0-1*) 4+1; 7 Tom Brown (0-1-1*) 2+1. Team manager: Mark Phillips.

Pirates:

1 Craig Boyce (ret-3-3-2-3) 11; 2 Davey Watt (1-2*-3-2*) 8+2; 3 Lukas Dryml (2*-2-3-ret) 7+1; 4 David Ruud (3-1*-2*-3-0) 9+2; 5 Bjarne Pedersen (3-3-1-1*) 8+1; 6 Tony Primmer (1*-0-0-3) 4+1; 7 Scott Courtney (2-2*-0-0) 4+1. Team manager: Neil Middleditch.

Referee: Chris Durno.

HEAT DETAILS

Ht 1: Ondrasik, Sanchez, Watt, Boyce (retired), 53.87 (5-1). Ht 2: Prynne, Courtney, Primmer, Brown (fell remounted), 56.62 (8-4). Ht 3: (re-run) Ruud, Dryml, Zagar, Masters, 53.66 (9-9). Ht 4: (re-run) Pedersen, Courtney, Brown (fell remounted), Harris (fell excluded), 55.26 (10-14). Ht 5: (re-run) Boyce, Watt, Zagar (excluded tapes, started 15m back in re-run), Masters (retired), 53.94 (11-19). Ht 6: Pedersen, Sanchez, Ondrasik, Primmer, 54.75 (14-22). Ht 7: Harris, Dryml, Ruud, Prynne, 53.74 (17-25). Ht 8: Watt, Harris (golden double tactical substitute scored double points), Ondrasik, Courtney, 54.14 (22-28). Ht 9: Zagar, Masters, Pedersen, Primmer, 54.08 (27-29). Ht 10: Dryml, Ruud, Ondrasik, Sanchez, 54.34 (28-34). Ht 11: Boyce, Watt, Zagar (engine failure, not under power), Harris (fell excluded), race awarded, no time (28-39). Ht 12: Primmer, Zagar, Brown, Dryml (retired), 55.34 (31-42). Ht 13: Harris, Boyce, Pedersen, Sanchez, 54.24 (34-45). Ht 14: Ruud, Masters, Prynne, Courtney, 55.38 (37-48). Ht 15: Boyce, Zagar, Harris, Ruud, 54.54 (40-51).