TEENAGE Australian Cameron Woodward came through a tough baptism of fire to notch up three valuable points on his Pirates debut as they beat Premier League underdogs Trelawny.

And the Mildura-born 18-year-old's mother Jenni heard the news of how her son had performed almost as quickly as the 2,500 crowd who watched the action live at Wimborne Road last night.

There is about a 10-hour time difference between the state of Victoria and England.

But Mrs Woodward wasn't going to let that and the fact that Britain is halfway round the world from Poole come in between her and quickly finding out how her son had performed.

A member of Poole Speedway Club's official website www.poolespeedway.net, she was in constant contact with webmaster Steve Allen throughout the meeting.

He sent text messages to Jenni directly after each of Woodward's rides to inform her how he had got on, and she logged onto the internet straight after the meeting to read Steve's first report within minutes of the final race finishing.

This is another version of what mum would have read about her son's unexpected debut in British speedway.

Cameron, who only arrived in England on Saturday after flying in from Down Under, picked up a fortunate third place in heat two.

Amazingly, he led the race after being first out of the gate, but was passed by both Tigers, Tom Brown and Simon Phillips, on either side of him on the second bend.

Tony Primmer, Woodward's far more experienced compatriot, also overtook the Poole Meridian Lifts new boy on the first lap and he was trailing in last on the final circuit.

However, Primmer fell on the third bend while second at exactly the same time Woodward was mounting an attempt to go past Phillips on the inside.

The result, the two Pirates fell, Brown and Phillips bagged a 5-1 for Trelawny and a shock 8-4 lead for their team.

Woodward remounted his bike - put together hastily with his own frame on Tuesday after he had been called up late to replace the injured Scott Courtney - and got one point for third.

The Aussie challenged Matej Zagar and Steve Masters on the second bend of heat seven before trailing in last.

But he got another point - at a vital time in the meeting - in heat 11 to help put the match beyond Trelawny's reach.

As Bjarne Pedersen streaked away from the field after gating first, Woodward dived inside Emiliano Sanchez on the first and second bends into third.

With Pirates only 32-28 ahead going into that race, Cameron kept close to the white line superbly on the last lap to peg the Argentine rider behind him as Pirates got a 4-2 to go six points in front.

After touching the tapes in the re-run to heat 14, Woodward started 15 metres back in the second re-run.

But with Brown already ruled out after falling in the original race, it was an easy point for Cameron and another 4-2 for Poole as David Ruud won the race.

All in all, a good night for Cameron, a good morning for Mrs Woodward and a good night for a weakened Pirates side that also included Poole-based Daniel Warwick, who has ridden for Newport and Reading in the Conference League.

Warwick ended with one paid two and Primmer with four as Pirates' top end of Pedersen (15), Lukas Dryml (12), Andre Compton (9+1) and Ruud (8+2) also combined to guide them to, ultimately, a comfortable victory.

Now I only hope Jenni logs on to the Daily Echo's own website www.thisisbournemouth.co.uk as well as Poole Pirates' official website.

That way she could be in for a shock. Because not only has her son Cameron hit the headlines, Jenni has unexpectedly enjoyed some of the limelight herself.

Craig Boyce scored nine paid 11 from four rides for Oxford as they beat Ipswich 51-38 at home in the Elite League.

HEAT DETAILS

Pirates: 1 Andre Compton (3-2-2-2*) 9+1, 2 Daniel Warwick (0-1*-0-0) 1+1, 3 Lukas Dryml (3-3-3-3-0) 12, 4 David Ruud (2*-2*-1-3) 8+2, 5 Bjarne Pedersen (3-3-3-3-3) 15, 6 Cameron Woodward (1-0-1-1) 3, 7 Tony Primmer (fell-1-2-1) 4. Team manager: Neil Middleditch.

Trelawny: 1 Emiliano Sanchez (1*-1-1-0-1) 4+1, 2 Pavel Ondrasik (2-0-3-2-1*) 8+1, 3 Matej Ferjan (0-1*-3-ret) 4+1, 4 Steve Masters (1-2-1-2) 6, 5 Chris Harris (2-3-2-2-0-2) 1, 6 Simon Phillips (2*-0-0) 2+1, 7 Tom Brown (3-0-fell exc) 3. Team manager: Mark Phillips.

Referee: Frank Ebdon.

Ht 1: Compton, Ondrasik, Sanchez, Warwick (fell remounted), 60.47 (3-3). Ht 2: Brown, Phillips, Woodward (fell remounted), Primmer (fell), 63.95 (4-8). Ht 3: Dryml, Ruud, Masters, Zagar, 60.55 (9-9). Ht 4: Pedersen, Harris, Primmer, Brown, 61.11 (13-11). Ht 5: Dryml, Ruud, Sanchez, Ondrasik, 60.07 (18-12). Ht 6: Harris, Compton, Warwick, Phillips, 61.36 (21-15). Ht 7: Pedersen, Masters, Zagar, Woodward, 61.11 (24-18). Ht 8: Ondrasik, Primmer, Sanchez, Warwick, 61.61 (26-22). Ht 9: Dryml, Harris, Ruud, Phillips, 60.67 (30-24). Ht 10: Zagar, Compton, Masters, Warwick, 60.25 (32-28). Ht 11: Pedersen, Ondrasik, Woodward, Sanchez, 60.89 (36-30). Ht 12: Dryml, Harris, Primmer, Zagar (retired), 60.44 (40-32). Ht 13: Pedersen, Compton, Sanchez, Harris, 60.71 (45-33). Ht 14: (2nd re-run) Ruud, Masters, Woodward (excluded tapes in re-run, re-started 15 metres back), Brown (fell excluded), 61.01 (49-35). Ht 15: Pedersen, Harris, Ondrasik, Dryml (retired), 60.80 (52-38).