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Swindon Robins 44 Poole Pirates 46 - Race recap
A packed out Abbey Stadium on bank holiday Monday saw the Swindon Robins surrender their unbeaten streak to the Poole Pirates, in a 44-46 feisty encounter. Total Sport’s Ryan Walker was in the pits to capture all the action.
The Robins came into the meeting aiming to extend their six meeting unbeaten run and in search of revenge following their 31–61 defeat away to Poole on the first day of the season, while the reigning Elite league champions the Poole Pirates travelled to Blunsdon searching for their first points away from home this year.
The first heat of the night saw the two grand prix riders, Chris Holder and Jason Doyle line-up against each other with Josh Grajczonek taking his place alongside Doyle after dropping to the number two position in Alun Rossiter’s Swindon side.
And a nervous start for both sets of riders saw the opening heat drawn 3-3 with Holder taking the win closely followed by Doyle in second.
With Poole having arguably the best reserve duo in the league in Australian champion Brady Kurtz and talented Brit Kyle Newman, it was always going to be a big challenge for Swindon’s Stefan Nielsen and Charles Wright to get the better of their counterparts.
And unfortunately for Swindon this was the case in heat two as the Poole riders combined spectacularly to gain the first 5-1 heat maximum of the night.
The pressure started to grow on Swindon in the early stages of the meeting as former Robins rider Hans Andersen and Polish ace Krzysztof Buczkowski showed their skills on the bike to claim another 5-1 for the Pirates in the third heat, getting the better of Swindon’s new heat leaders Justin Sedgmen and Rohan Tungate.
A 3-3 heat draw followed in heat four with a difference of 8 points on the night and a score of 8-16.
Eager to not let Neil Middleditch’s Poole Pirates race away with the meeting, Josh Grajczonek and Stefan Nielsen bounced back with the perfect response as Nielsen managed to race past Brady Kurtz in turn one with Grajczonek displaying some smart riding to keep his rival Australian at bay as the Robins claimed their first 5-1 of the night.
More of the same was what Alun Rossiter asked for and that’s exactly what he got as Rohan Tungate and Nick Morris secured another 5-1 heat maximum in heat six for the Wiltshire club, and club Captain Jason Doyle and Justin Sedgmen enjoyed their racing to get the third 5-1 in a row to give Swindon a four point lead at the halfway stage with a score of 23-19.
Great racing from the Poole Pirates saw them ride to four head advantages in a row through heats eight, nine, ten and eleven leaving Alun Rossiter’s men with an uphill battle on their hands, trailing by six points after eleven heats and a score of 30-36.
Jason Doyle set about leading the comeback as he partnered fellow countryman Justin Sedgmen racing to another heat maximum, getting the upper hand on Poole’s Chris Holder and Hans Andersen. A 3-3 draw in heat fourteen however meant that it came down to a last heat decider on a night full of fantastic speedway action at the Abbey Stadium.
Alun Rossiter decided to put his faith in Jason Doyle and Nick Morris in heat fifteen, with Poole’s manager Neil Middleditch opting for a duo of Hans Andersen and Chris Holder.
A 5-1 to Swindon was needed if the Robins wanted to continue their search for dominance in the speedway Elite league, however it wasn’t mean to be as Chris Holder managed to stay ahead of both Swindon riders to earn his side victory on the night.
A final score of 44-46 see’s Alun Rossiter’s side drop to second in the table, however with more speedway action for the Robins this week, he will be hoping for a comeback win at Poole on Wednesday evening.
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