Dynamic Davey

It seems that every time Pirates need their young Australian to come in and take extra rides he shoulders the responsibility with aplomb.

He certainly did last night as he scorched to his highest score for Poole Meridian Lifts, 10 paid 14 points, as they simply crushed Eastbourne.

Watt, who lives in Poole and doubles up with King's Lynn in the Premier League, was like lightning out of the gate.

It was a good job he was, because he had to take two of Krzysztof Kasprzak's programmed rides after the teenage Pole was sidelined once again because he had to sit a school exam in his homeland today at 8am.

After running a last in heat two when he had actually at one stage briefly held onto second spot, Watt reeled off five second places, with four of those behind his own team-mate.

Watt was electric out from the tapes and it was no surprise he topped his previous best return for Pirates of 10 paid 12.

That was at home to Eastbourne in the Knockout Cup last month when Kasprzak was absent again and David Ruud pulled out of the meeting through illness after only one ride.

The SOS went out to Watt then, and it did again last night, and he responded magnificently.

First he outgated team-mate Tony Rickardsson and both Eagles, Joe Screen and Frank Smart, in his scheduled heat four outing.

The Swede joined Watt on the outside coming off the second bend and they team-rode superbly to a 5-1 that began to open up Poole's eventual 30-point winning margin.

Watt went out in Kasprzak's place in heat six and he and Leigh Adams simultaneously passed either side of early leader Screen coming off the second bend to scorch to another Pirates 5-1.

The Australian outgated Eastbourne guest Lee Richardson in heat eight but had to settle for second when the Grand Prix rider scorched past him on the outside on the fourth bend.

Watt was first out in heat 10 when his compatriot Adams joined him on yet another maximum with Watt expertly pegging Joonas Kylmakorpi back into third.

The 25-year-old must have seen Lukas Dryml dive inside and past Adam Shields on the back straight in heat 12 before doing the same on the following circuit to grab second.

It was an accomplished performance by Watt and it earned him the Daily Echo rider-of-the-night award.

Rickardsson, for two superb replica passes of Richardson on the inside on the first bend of the last laps in heats' 13 and 15, could have won our accolade.

He produced his usual explosive performance and got a paid maximum alongside Adams' full maximum, which included the Aussie registering the fastest time of the season at Wimborne Road, 58.57 seconds in heat one.

But Watt's display swayed the verdict, coming as it did from his reserve berth.

The Australian is certainly one to watch in the future as he continues to adjust impressively to the rigours of the top flight.

It was an expensive night for Dryml, however, although he did roar to three heat wins. The Czech Republican's engine blew as he was preparing for his opening ride in heat three.

But Adams was quickly out from the pits astride one of his own bikes, which he leant to Dryml, who promptly jetted out of the tapes and won the race comfortably.

That is the kind of team spirit that Pirates really want to engender this term.

LAST NIGHT'S HEAT DETAILS

Pirates: 1 Leigh Adams (3-3-3-3-3) 15, 2 Rider replacement for Krzysztof Kasprzak, 3 Lukas Dryml (3-3-0-3) 9, 4 Bjarne Pedersen (1-1-0-3-2) 7, 5 Tony Rickardsson (3-3-3-2*-2*) 13+2, 6 David Ruud (0-3-2*-0-1*) 6+2, 7 Davey Watt (0-2*-2*-2-2*-2*) 10+4. Team manager: Neil Middleditch.

Eastbourne: 1 (guest) Lee Richardson (2-2-3-1*-1-1) 10+1, 2 Dean Barker (1*-0-1-2-3-0) 7+1, 3 David Norris (2-1-2-ret-ret-) 5, 4 Joonas Kylmakorpi (0-0-1) 1, 5 Joe Screen (1-1-1*-0) 3+1, 6 Adam Shields (1*-0-1) 2+1, 7 Frank Smart (2-0-0) 2. Team manager: Olli Tyrvainen.

Referee: Richard Williams.

Ht 1: Adams, Richardson, Barker, Ruud, 58.57 (3-3). Ht 2: Ruud, Smart, Shields, Watt, 60.24 (6-6). Ht 3: Dryml, Norris, Pedersen, Kylmakorpi, 59.58 (10-8). Ht 4: Rickardsson, Watt, Screen, Smart, 59.32 (15-9). Ht 5: Dryml, Richardson, Pedersen, Barker, 58.63 (19-11). Ht 6: Adams, Watt, Screen, Shields, 59.29 (24-12). Ht 7: Rickardsson, Ruud, Norris, Kylmakorpi, 59.56 (29-13). Ht 8: Richardson, Watt, Barker, Pedersen, 59.94 (31-17). Ht 9: Pedersen, Norris, Screen, Dryml, 60.04 (34-20). Ht 10: Adams, Watt, Kylmakorpi, Norris (retired), 60.09 (39-21). Ht 11: Rickardsson, Barker, Richardson, Ruud, 59.47 (42-24). Ht 12: Dryml, Watt, Shields, Norris (retir-ed), 60.81 (47-25). Ht 13: Adams, Rickardsson, Richard-son, Screen, 59.63 (52-26). Ht 14: Barker, Pedersen, Ruud, Smart, 61.17 (55-29). Ht 15: Adams, Rickardsson, Richard-son, Barker, 59.73 (60-30).