Poole Pirates Speedway defeated Edinburgh Monarchs to lift the Knockout Cup in a thrilling meeting at WImborne Road Stadium on Wednesday night.
Poole Pirates took victory against Edinburgh Monarchs 57-33 in the Speedway Championship Knockout Cup after sealing a home win at Wimborne Stadium. The Pirates headed into the second leg of the cup five points up on the Monarchs after beating them 47 – 42 last Saturday at Armadale stadium in Edinburgh - clinching the win 104-75 over both legs.
The second leg started off worryingly for the Pirates after the Monarchs won the first two heats. However, Pirate's Rory Schlein left a strong impression after his win in heat three, leaving teammate Ben Cook to battle it out with rival Josh Pickering behind him. With Cook running out of time Pickering took second place.
Heat three started with the Pirates consistent scoring of 4-2. Danny King, captain of the pirates, showed off his moves in heat four after switching to the inside line which saw him finish the heat first followed by Danish teammate Benjamin Basso in third.
Heat five saw Schlein’s second win of the night, as he recorded the fastest time of the meet at 60.15 seconds and the cup was comfortably in reach for the hosts. The Monarch's, Drew Kemp, put an end to the home teams winning streak. It wasn’t enough for the guests though, as the Pirates put 12 more points on the score cards during heats nine through eleven.
Basso and Schlein kept each other company in heat 12 seeing the second 5-1 of the night and the Knockout Cup in the Poole teams hands. Poole Pirates lead of 21 points on aggregate made it impossible for the Edinburgh Monarchs to make a comeback.
The drama didn’t end there though, as Poole put another 5-1 down in heat 13 and heat 14 saw Zaine Kennedy disqualified. Heat 14 alos saw a three-rider pile up involving both Pirate's Kennedy and Cook and Monarch's Kemp. All riders walked away from the incident. Kennedy was disqualified for causing the collison, and the heat restarted with three riders including Basso who replaced Cook who was getting checked over. Lone rider Basso lost his shoe before securing another win for his team.
Rider of the night Pirate's Schlein closed the meet with his third win in heat 15.