Pirates plunder Purfleet points

August 31, 2012

The Poole Pirates kept their charge for play-off glory on course with victory at the Arena-Essex Raceway on Friday evening – leaving the Hammers to face an uphill challenge to keep their own hopes intact.

Poole’s firepower had always been expected to come from their big three – the turbo twins Chris Holder and Darcy Ward and their former Hammer in the shape of Krzysztof Kasprzak. All three were ultimately beaten by the Hammers own big two of Davey Watt and Peter Karlsson, leaving the lack of points from the lower order as one of the main reasons for the outcome with several points lost in key races.

The Pirates took the lead in the third race and never looked backed, maintaining but not necessarily increasing their lead despite the early unbeaten efforts of Ward and Kasprzak.

The key victories for the Hammers pairing came in heat five when Karlsson out-trapped Holder and sped to victory; Heat ten when Watt did likewise on Ward; And heat eleven when Karlsson drove around the second turn to claim a second victory over Holder, the winner of the British Grand Prix at Cardiff last week.

Holder’s evening came to an abrupt end when he lifted exiting the second turn of heat thirteen, sending Watt crashing into the air barrier. The re-run saw Kasprzak continue his maximum run which he extended through the penultimate race by leading a Pirates 5-1 with Ludvig Lindgren, the Hammers moving through into the minor placings when the Pirates reserve pulled up.

Kasprzak was finally beaten in the last race after a classy first turn from Karlsson but the Polish star slotted into second place with team mate Ward to ensure Pirates collected all four Elite League points.

Lakeside Hammers = 41

 1. Davey Watt - 2, 2, 3, 2, 0 = 9
 2. Kauko Nieminen - 1',2, 0, 1',1 = 5+2
 3. Kim Nilsson - 0, 1, 2, 0, 0 = 3
 4. Peter Karlsson - 2, 3, 2, 3, 2, 3 = 15
 5. Rider Replacement
 6. Justin Sedgmen - 2, 1',1, 1, 1' = 6+2
 7. Robert Mear - 0, 1',2, R = 3+1

Poole Pirates = 48

 1. Chris Holder - 3, 2, 2, X = 7
 2. Ricky Kling - 0, 1, 0, 0 , 0 = 1
 3. Darcy Ward - 3, 3, 2, 3 , 1' = 12+1
 4. Rider Replacement
 5. Krzysztof Kasprzak - 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 2 = 17
 6. Ludvig Lindgren - 3, 0, 1, 3 ,1 ,2',R = 10+1
 7. Linus Elkof - 1, 0, 0 = 1

Heat Results

 Heat 01: Holder, Watt, Nieminen, Kling (3-3) 58.3
 Heat 02: Lindgren, Sedgmen, Eklof, Mear (2-4) (5-7) 59.7
 Heat 03: Ward, Karlsson, Kling, Nilsson (2-4) (7-11) 58.5
 Heat 04: Kasprzak, Nieminen, Mear, Lindgren (3-3) (10-14) 58.6
 Heat 05: Karlsson, Holder, Nilsson, Kling (4-2) (14-16) 57.6
 Heat 06: Kasprzak, Watt, Lindgren, Nieminen (2-4) (16-20) 58.2
 Heat 07: Ward, Nilsson, Sedgmen, Eklof (3-3) (19-23) 59.3
 Heat 08: Lindgren, Mear, Nieminen, Kling (3-3) (22-26) 60.2
 Heat 09: Kasprzak, Karlsson, Lindgren, Nilsson (2-4) (24-30) 58.4
 Heat 10: Watt, Ward, Nieminen, Eklof (4-2) (28-32) 58.2
 Heat 11: Karlsson, Holder, Sedgmen, Kling (4-2) (32-34) 58.9
 Heat 12: Ward, Lindgren, Sedgmen, Nilsson (1-5) (33-39) 59.6
 Heat 13: Kasprzak, Watt, Mear (ret), Holder (exc) (2-3) (35-42) 59.2
 Heat 14: Kasprzak, Karlsson, Sedgmen, Lindgren (3-3) (38-45) 59.2
 Heat 15: Karlsson, Kasprzak, Ward, Watt (3-3) (41-48) 58.3

Photo: Peter Karlsson of the Lakeside Hammers (Ray Lawrence/TGSPHOTO)