Poole and Wednesfield have been racing each other in league and BTC matches for 30 seasons with many epic finales and this one was right up there with the best of them. Track conditions were atrocious due to four hours continual heavy rain right up to the scheduled start which delayed by 30 minutes to allow water to be cleared. The visitors raced to an early 8 point lead as home riders suffered with repeated wheelspin on the wet grids and struggled badly on the quagmire corners.

 

With a landslide a distinct possibility, Aaron Lowey and Ben Donohue raised hopes in heat 5 with a 7-3 and when Brad Hoppo teamed up with Dan Pudney to repeat the dose in heat 6 - bringing the scores level at 30 - 30, smiles began to reappear on the home side of the pits. They were extinguished again in heat 8 when Adam Peck was excluded at the tapes leaving Richard Clanfield with little hope of preventing the 7-2 from Grid 4 with Lee Aris alongside. Ben Donohue came to rescue in the re-run 10th with his second heat win after Gary Pearce had received his marching orders but surprisingly Poole could not capitalise fully with Andrezj Brombosz getting the better of Daniel Pudney who was not enjoying the very heavy conditions. Nevertheless the 6-3 enabled Poole to close within 2 points with a scoreline of 48-50.

 

Lewis Bates made light of the conditions with his third straight win for the visitors but a superb pass by Mark Winwood on Adam Peck for 3rd gave Wednesfield more breathing space with a 6-4. Worse was to follow in heat 12 with the news that Aaron Lowey had been forced to withdraw from the meeting with a back injury. Lowey's replacement, Ben Donohue could only split the two Aces while Pete Young spun at the tapes for the third time in 3 starts and could only trail in a distant 4th. With the scoreboard showing 56 - 62, the Aces shared the next 2 heats courtesy of Lee Aris and the excellent Lewis Bates, leaving Poole 6 points in arrears with just 4 heats remaining.

 

With a modest 6 points from his first 3 rides, Richard Clanfield moved up a gear to win heat 15 and with Ben Donohue passing Chris Jewkes superbly, the deficit was back to 4. Heat 16 was a crucial heat as Dave Murphy was drafted in to join Brad Hoppo as a replacement for the injured Lowey but with the Aces off inside grids and Lee Aris lining up, optimism was not high in the Poole pits. In the event Aris opted for gate 3 and Hoppo shot from 2 to lead the race with Aris in hot pursuit. Half way through the race, the Wednesfield top man made a do-or-die dive into turn 3 but the Aussie withstood the strong challenge as his opponant took a tumble. As the race continued, Dave Murphy held on to the all important 3rd place behind Gary Pearce and the progressive score narrowed to 78 - 80.

 

Pete Young and Adam Peck had inside grids in the penultimate 17th and middle order opponants in Williamson and Winwood  but pre-race optimism of a 7 - 3

was short lived as Young spun up yet again and trailed in last in a drawn heat fortunately won by Adam Peck. With scores at 83 - 85, the Aces looked home and dry with the visitors off inside gates and unbeaten Lewis Bates pairing up with their skipper Chris Jewkes.  With Bates opting for gate 1, Poole put Richard Clanfield on 2 and Daniel Pudney off the outside but with no great expectation of success given Bates previous form.

 

Bates and Pudney raced neck and neck into turn one but Clanfield cleverly dropped under the pair and distracted the Wednesfield man for a fraction of a second allowing Pudney to switch his line and follow his team mate through for what seemed a most unlikely 7 - 3. Bates challenged Pudney hard for 4 laps but the Aussie survived the pressure to the delight of his team mates and the hardy supporters who had braved the atrocious weather to witness a truely nailbiting victory by the narrowest of margins.

 

Ben Donohue and Brad Hoppo vied for man of the match while Richard Clanfield and Daniel Pudney were the last gasp heroes. Wednesfield will wonder how they let the points slip but all in all it was a great match despite the conditions.

Scorers:-  Ben Donohue 15+1, Brad Hoppo 14+3, Daniel Pudney 14+2, Richard Clanfield 14, Adam Peck 11+1, Dave Murphy 10, Aaron Lowey 8+1, Pete Young 4.

 

The Premier League division 2 match was just as nailbiting with no penalty points conceded by either team. Trailing by 5 points with 2 heats remaining, Shane Cassidy and Eddie Wilkins snatched a timely 7 - 3 to make it 59 - 60 with the nominated heat remaining.  Matt Chappell rounded off a good match with a race win but the Aces packed the vital minor places to square the heat and win by a single point, 64 - 65.  Scorers:- Matt Chappell 18, Shane Casidy 13+1, Eddie Wilkins 10+1, Richard Chappell 9, Jess Lamb 5+1, Luke Armes 5, Matthew Milden 2+1, Dave Newman 2.