Poole Pirates
Steve Worrall 12 (5)
Edinburgh Monarchs
Josh Pickering 11+1 (7)
Championship
59
31
Sunday 20th August 2023
Poole Stadium
Poole Pirates
Team Manager: Neil Middleditch
 59
1. Richard Lawson 3 2* 3 2* R 10 2
2. Kyle Newman 1 3 3 2* 9 1
3. Ben Cook 3 F 2 3 8 0
4. Zach Cook 2* 3 1* 1 7 2
5. Steve Worrall 2 2 3 3 2 12 0
6. Anders Rowe 3 1* 2* 3 9 2
7. Joe Thompson 2* 1* 1 0 4 2
Edinburgh Monarchs
Team Manager: John Campbell
 31
1. Craig Cook - Rider Replacement 0 0
2. Paco Castagna 2 2 0 1 0 5 0
3. Kye Thomson 1 1* 3 1 2 1 9 1
4. Bastian Borke 0 0 0 0 2 2 0
5. Josh Pickering 0 3 XO 3 1* 1 3 11 1
6. Dayle Wood 0 1 F 1 0
7. Max Clegg 1 0 2 0 3 0
Heat 1
 
1. Richard Lawson  
3
2. Kyle Newman  
1
1. Craig Cook  
5. Josh Pickering
0
2. Paco Castagna  
2
 
Heat
Score
Match
Score
Home
4
4
Away
2
2
Race stopped as Paco locks up on bend 1. All four back. Monarchs make a better gate in the rerun but Newman gets past Josh to leave a 4-2 to the Pirates.
Heat 2
 
6. Anders Rowe  
3
7. Joe Thompson  
2
6. Dayle Wood  
0
7. Max Clegg  
1
 
Heat
Score
Match
Score
Home
5
9
Away
1
3
Heat 3
 
3. Ben Cook  
3
4. Zach Cook  
2
3. Kye Thomson  
1
4. Bastian Borke  
0
 
Heat
Score
Match
Score
Home
5
14
Away
1
4
Heat 4
 
5. Steve Worrall  
2
7. Joe Thompson  
1
5. Josh Pickering  
3
7. Max Clegg  
0
 
Heat
Score
Match
Score
Home
3
17
Away
3
7
Steve Worrall makes a great gate but Josh bides his time and manages to get through to the front on the last lap.
Heat 5
 
3. Ben Cook  
F
4. Zach Cook  
3
1. Craig Cook  
3. Kye Thomson
1
2. Paco Castagna  
2
 
Heat
Score
Match
Score
Home
3
20
Away
3
10
Pirates make the gate but Paco manages to reach second place. Ben Cook lifts and falls on lap 2 allowing Kye to pick up third.
Heat 6
 
1. Richard Lawson  
2
2. Kyle Newman  
3
5. Josh Pickering  
XO
6. Dayle Wood  
1
 
Heat
Score
Match
Score
Home
5
25
Away
1
11
Race stopped as Kyle Newman aims for the same wide line as Josh and falls. The referee sides with Newman and Josh is disqualified from the rerun. Comfortable 5-1 for the Pirates in the rerun, with Lawson leading most of the way but allowing Newman to come through for the race win.
Heat 7
 
5. Steve Worrall  
2
6. Anders Rowe  
1
3. Kye Thomson  
3
4. Bastian Borke  
0
 
Heat
Score
Match
Score
Home
3
28
Away
3
14
Race stopped as Bastian is nudged out the way by Anders Rowe heading into bend 1. All four back for the rerun. Worrall makes the gate in the rerun but Kye finds a great line going down the back straight and sails into a big lead.
Heat 8
 
2. Kyle Newman  
3
7. Joe Thompson  
1
2. Paco Castagna  
0
7. Max Clegg  
2
 
Heat
Score
Match
Score
Home
4
32
Away
2
16
Race stopped as Paco picks up some drive coming out of bend 2 and slides off. He's disqualified from the rerun, leaving three riders only. Poole make the gate in the rerun but Max is right in the mix and manages to get past Thompson and piles the pressure on Newman but isn't able to make it through.
Heat 9
 
3. Ben Cook  
2
4. Zach Cook  
1
5. Josh Pickering  
3
6. Dayle Wood  
F
 
Heat
Score
Match
Score
Home
3
35
Away
3
19
A determined gate from Josh sees him get gets ahead and sail off into the distance.
Heat 10
 
1. Richard Lawson  
3
2. Kyle Newman  
2
3. Kye Thomson  
1
4. Bastian Borke  
0
 
Heat
Score
Match
Score
Home
5
40
Away
1
20
Poole make the gate but Kye keeps the pressure on Newman throughout and just can't find a way through.
Heat 11
 
5. Steve Worrall  
3
6. Anders Rowe  
2
1. Craig Cook  
4. Bastian Borke
0
2. Paco Castagna  
1
 
Heat
Score
Match
Score
Home
5
45
Away
1
21
Worrall makes the gate but Rowe puts the work in to go from last to second to make a Pirates 5-1.
Heat 12
 
3. Ben Cook  
3
7. Joe Thompson  
0
3. Kye Thomson  
2
6. Dayle Wood  T/S
5. Josh Pickering
1
 
Heat
Score
Match
Score
Home
3
48
Away
3
24
Ben Cook pops out the gate, leaving the Monarchs to pick up the minor positions.
Heat 13
 
1. Richard Lawson  
2
5. Steve Worrall  
3
1. Craig Cook  
2. Paco Castagna
0
5. Josh Pickering  
1
 
Heat
Score
Match
Score
Home
5
53
Away
1
25
Race of the night so far as the Pirates leave the Monarchs for dead at the gate but Josh passes and reposes Lawson as he battles to get ahead. Josh is eventually relegated back to third but certainly not for the want of trying!
Heat 14
 
4. Zach Cook  
1
6. Anders Rowe  
3
4. Bastian Borke  
2
7. Max Clegg  
0
 
Heat
Score
Match
Score
Home
4
57
Away
2
27
A tremendous start for Max but gets caught in traffic with Zach Cook and has to back off. Cook eventually manages to pass Max but Bastian holds on to second.
Heat 15
 
1. Richard Lawson  
R
5. Steve Worrall  
2
5. Josh Pickering  
3
3. Kye Thomson  
1
 
Heat
Score
Match
Score
Home
2
59
Away
4
31
Monarchs make the gate whilst Lawson packs up at the start. Pickering leads the way but Kye gets stuck behind Worrall but keeps the pressure up throughout. Josh finishes almost a bend ahead of Worrall!

Tough without Cookie at Poole

There were no league points to be had for the Stellar Monarchs from our match at Poole this evening. We lost by a fairly hefty 59-31 but in the course of a rather drawn-out meeting we managed to play our part in some entertaining racing.

Team manager John Campbell, after his 8 hour drive from home, said to Pirates TV "We've had a tough season. You can't come to probably the best team in the league when you've got your no. 1 missing and no suitable guest, without it being a very difficult match. We did get one or two decisions going against us."

Monarchs were forced to use rider replacement for Craig Cook and that yielded just one point. It was a bad start, 4-14 after three heats, but the first boost came from Josh Pickering's great win from the back in heat 4 against Steve Worrall.

Kye Thomson also beat Worrall in winning heat 7, flying round him on the opening bends. In between these two race wins, Josh suffered an awful decision in heat 6 when Kyle Newman came down on the opening bends and came off trying to squeeze through on the outside. An obvious all-4 decision seemed inevitable, and Poole manager Middleditch agreed, but the ref threw Josh out of the heat.

Paco Castagna came down in heat 8 when there seemed a chance he was going ahead, but it was Josh up next to win heat 9 from the Cook brothers.

Poole then took two 5-1s to put the match well beyond doubt, but the heat of the night was probably heat 13. Pickering made a terrible start but flew after the Poole boys, with passing and re-passing between Josh and Richard Lawson before Josh just got squeezed out.

Bastain Borke got some reward for his efforts with a second place in heat 14 and we finished the match with an advantage as Josh Pickering raced a long way clear in the last heat. Kye Thomson also made it into double figures with third place in our only race advantage.

Monarchs Poole Bound

The Stellar Monarchs are on the road again on Sunday as they make the long journey down to Dorset to take on Poole in Championship action.

Unfortunately the long running injury bug is still ongoing and it is another match without our own 1-7 no guest could be found for Craig Cook despite a multitude of riders being asked so rider replacement will operate with all other Monarchs able to deputise.

Elsewhere Paco Castagna returns after his 2 point effort in the GP challenge yesterday so at least the rest of the lineup is as should be.

Poole are of course 2 time reigning champions and many are tipping them to make it a hat trick this season.

The Pirates are led by Richard Lawson and Cardiff GP wildcard Steve Worrall with a potent line-up the rest of the way also with the Cook brothers both making a mockery of their starting averages and Anders Rowe in fine form as well.

Joe Thompson makes his Poole debut at reserve after signing as an injury replacement for Monarchs Academy man Adam Roynon.

So, a tough prospect in store for the Monarchs but as always we will head south ready to give our all.

Tapes up is at 5pm with a live stream available at https://livestream.poole-speedway.com updates will also be available on the Monarchs website.