Great performance from Pirates

They took a three-point win at Arlington Stadium on Saturday to go above their Sussex rivals in the table.

At the half-way stage, Poole Meridian Lifts were nine points adrift but came back strongly through Leigh Adams, who has yet to be beaten by an Eagle this season, and Tony Rickardsson.

When the battle reached fever pitch crucial support came from Lukas Dryml, Bjarne Pedersen and Krzysztof Kasprzak.

Pirates boss Matt Ford said: "It was an absolutely fantastic performance.

"It is truly one of the best performances we have had in our five years of being in charge of the Pirates.

"I know they really wanted it. When we came we thought we might be a little bit short on firepower.

"Krzys (Kasprzak) hadn't scored here the last time we came and with Rickie (Ashworth) in replacing Andre (Compton) as well it was always going to betough.

"We had luck go our way a couple of times. Once or twice it also went against us.

"All in all, it was a fantastic performance. For one of the first times this season the team showed truly what they are capable of doing.

"We are nowhere near the finished item yet but let's hope we can go on to bigger and better things from here."

Ford said Adams' form was "awesome".

The co-promoter added: "It will be interesting to see how he does on the international scene this week with the first Grand Prix in Poland.

"His form is so exceptional that he could well be the man to take the silverware that night," Ford said.

Adams opened proceedings at Eastbourne with a tapes-to-flag win in a time of 55.2 seconds, equalling the then track record.

The Eagles then punched in two 5-1 heat wins, thanks to some aggressive riding from Garry Stead in heat two and in heat three from David Norris, who went past Pedersen right on the safety fence.

World champion Rickardsson entered the fray in heat four with his side eight down and stormed to a new Arlington track record, beating his previous mark by 0.1 of a second.

He mono-wheeled over the finishing line - a head-down last lap would probably have taken the record below the 55 seconds mark.

At the end of heat eight it seemed as if Poole's luck was really out.

In the first running of the race Kasprzak fell and in the re-run David Ruud fell while leading.

Referee Frank Ebdon awarded the Eagles a 5-0.

Poole hit back with three successive 5-1s which changed the whole complexion of the match.

Adams came in a tactical substitute to combine with Rickardsson for a 5-1 in heat nine.

Dryml and Pedersen got the better of Jason Lyons and Dean Barker in heat 10, with Pedersen taking Barker from the back.

And when Shields fell in heat 11 the writing was on the wall for Eastbourne as Adams and Kasprzak took another 5-1.

The expected Pirates' 5-1 did not materialise in heat 13.

Adams led easily after one lap, while Rickardsson went wide on turns three and four, hit the fence and fell.

The pendulum swung back to Eastbourne with a 5-1 of their own in heat 14 which left the Pirates one point down with the last race to come.

As expected Adams and Rickardsson came out and finished the business, making sure there was no last-minute twist to the tale with a last-heat 5-1 to Poole.

Eastbourne: 1 Jason Lyons (1*-2-0-1) 4+2, 2 Dean Barker (2-1*-3-1) 7+1, 3 David Norris (2*-R-1-1*-0) 4+1, 4 Joonas Kylmakorpi (3-1-0-3) 7, 5 J. Screen (2-2-1-2) 7, 6 Adam Shields (2*-1*-F-2-2*-1) 8+3, 7 Garry Stead 3- 1*-2*) 6+2. Team manager: Olli Tyrvainen.

Pirates: 1 Leigh Adams (3-3-3-3-3-3) 18, 2 Krzysztof Kasprzak (0-2*-X-2*) 4+2, 3 Lukas Dryml (0-0-3-3) 6, 4 Bjarne Pedersen (1-3-2*-1) 7+1, 5 Tony Rickardsson (3-3-2*-X-2*) 10+2, 6 David Ruud (R-0-X-X) 0, 7 Rickie Ashworth (1-0-F) 1. Team manager: Neil Middleditch.

Referee: Frank Ebdon.

Ht 1: Adams, Barker, Lyons, Kasprzak, 55.2 (equalled track record), (3-3).

Ht 2: Stead, Shields, Ashworth, Ruud (retired), 58.0 (8-4).

Ht 3: Kylmakorpi, Norris, Pedersen, Dryml, 57.1 (13-5).

Ht 4: Rickardsson, Screen, Stead, Ashworth, 55.1 (track record), (16-8).

Ht 5: Adams, Kasprzak, Kylmakorpi, Norris (retired), 56.6 (17-13).

Ht 6: Rickardsson, Lyons, Barker, Ruud, 56.2 (20-16).

Ht 7: Pedersen, Screen, Shields, Dryml, 58.0 (23-19).

Ht 8: (re-run) Barker, Stead, Ruud (fell, excluded), Kasprzak (fell excluded), no time, race awarded (28-19).

Ht 9: Adams, Rickardsson, Norris, Kylmakorpi, 56.7 (29-24).

Ht 10: Dryml, Pedersen, Barker, Lyons, 57.9 (30-29).

Ht 11: Adams, Kasprzak, Screen, Shields (fell), 57.4 (31-34).

Ht 12: (re-run) Dryml, Shields, Norris, Ruud (fell excluded) 57.1 (34-37).

Ht 13: (re-run) Adams, Screen, Lyons, Rickardsson (fell excluded), 57.8 (37-40).

Ht 14: Kylmakorpi, Shields, Pedersen, Ashworth (fell), 58.3 (42-41).

Ht 15: Adams, Rickardsson, Shields, Norris, 56.6 (43-46).

THREE-time British junior champion Simon Stead is the star attraction in the World Under-21 Championship first qualifying round meeting at Poole on Sunday, May 25 at 4pm, writes Phil Chard.

The Workington rider completed his hat-trick of national titles at Sheffield last month and will gunning for a top eight qualification place at Wimborne Road.

Oliver Allen (Swindon), Edward Kennett (Rye House) and Chris Harris (Trelawny) are the other three Britons in a 16-man line up.

Cameron Woodward, who rode for Poole against Trelawny in the British League Cup, is one of two Australians in the meeting. The other is Rory Schlein (Edinburgh).

The American Eric Carrillo rode in the Brighton Bonanza indoor meeting last year.

French rider Mathieu Tre-sarrieu is one of the three Musketeers, a brother of Isle of Wight duo Sebastian and Ste-phane, who have all represented the Wightlink Islanders.

The full line-up is: Simon Stead, Oliver Allen, Edward Kennett, Chris Harris (all Britain), Eric Carrillo, Bryan Yarrow (USA), Kyle Legautt (Canada), Mathieu Tresarrieu, Aurelien Lamarque (France), Lukaasz Romanek, Rafal Szombierski (Poland), Cameron Woodward, Rory Schlein (Australia), Ben Powell (New Zealand), one Dutch rider, one Czech Republic rider. Reserves: Aidain Collins, Ritchie Hawkins (Britain).