POOLE co-promoter Matt Ford was delighted to gain this Sky Sports Elite League draw at Ipswich last night.

"If I had been given the chance beforehand, I would have bitten someone's hand off," he said.

World champion Tony Rickardsson was the Poole hero on a night when the Pirates also picked up the aggregate bonus point after winning 51-39 in the corresponding fixture at Wimborne Road on Wednesday.

The Swede was beaten by Scott Nicholls in the race of the night in heat four when the lead changed hands a number of times on the first one and half laps. The next circuit saw the riders shoulder to shoulder before Nicholls emerged victorious.

Havelock passed Jeremy Doncaster on the second lap of heat one and surprise packet Mariusz Staszewski overtook Danny Bird on the third lap of heat two.

These moves proved vital, with seven consecutive drawn heats following. Poole pulled level in heat ten when Witches guest Jason Lyons broke a primary drive belt as he was about to overtake Hans Andersen on the second lap.

Ipswich hit back through Nicholls and Bird before the Pirates put themselves in a position to win the match in heat 14.

Bjarne Pedersen jumped from the start to follow home the impressive Staszewski.

Hans Andersen was another hit for Poole but he was unable to put the icing on the cake in the final race - with Nicholls and Boyce outgated by Rickardsson but able to comfortably keep the Dane at the back.

HEAT DETAILS

Ht 1 Lyons, Havelock, Doncaster, Zetterstrom 60.3 (4-2);

Ht 2 Slabon, Staszewski, Bird, Chrzanowski 60.4 (8-4);

Ht 3 Andersen, Boyce, Kylmakorpi, Pedersen 60.3 (11-7);

Ht 4 Nicholls, Rickardsson, Staszewski, Slabon 58.6 (14-10); Ht 5 Boyce, Havelock, Zetterstrom, Kylmakorpi 59.5 (17-13); Ht 6 Rickardsson, Lyons, Doncaster, Chrzanowski 58.6 (20-16); Ht 7 Nicholls, Andersen, Pedersen, Bird (ret) 59.8 (23-19); Ht 8 Staszewski, Doncaster, Slabon, Zetterstrom (ret) 60.7 (26-22); Ht 9 Rickardsson, Boyce, Kylmakorpi, Staszewski 59.6 (29-25); Ht 10 Andersen, Pedersen, Doncaster, Lyons (e/f) 61.1 (30-30); Ht 11 Nicholls, Bird, Havelock, Staszewski fell 60.8 (35-31); Ht 12 Boyce, Andersen, Chrzanowski, Slabon 61.1 (38-34); Ht 13 Rickardsson, Lyons, Nicholls, Havelock 59.7 (41-37); Ht 14 Staszewski, Pedersen, Kylmakorpi, Bird 62.3 (42-42); Ht 15 Rickardsson, Nicholls, Boyce, Andersen 60.1 (45-45).

Poole Pirates: G Havelock 5 pts; M Zetterstrom 1(1); H Andersen 10; B Pedersen 5(3); T Rickardsson 14; T Chrzanowski 1(1); M Staszewski 9(1).

Pirates are at Oxford in the league tonight (May 17, 7.30pm).

Pirates: 1 Gary Havelock, 2 Magnus Zetterstrom, 3 Hans Andersen, 4 Bjarne Pedersen, 5 Tony Rickardsson, 6 Tomasz Chrzanowski, 7 Mariusz Staszewski.

Oxford: 1 Rider replacement for Brian Andersen, 2 Lukas Dryml, 3 Steve Johnston, 4 Ales Dryml, 5 Leigh Adams, 6 Mark Lemon, 7 Andrew Appleton.