Despite having to sit out the final race of the night after slamming into the first turn air barrier, Jack Holder marked his return to Wimborne Road with an emphatic paid 12 score as the ‘Cases’ Rebels romped into the semi-final stages of the Knockout Cup, inflicting further misery on Poole Pirates
Solid contributions throughout the side saw the Rebels fight back after an opening heat 5-1 reversal at the hands of Brady Kurtz and Linus Sundstrom to build up a solid ten point lead, on the night, within 5 heats, before going on to win by a score of 47-43 for a 99-81 aggregate victory, much to the delight of team manager Garry May
“What can you say about that, we were determined and deserving of that victory and the fact that we didn’t need to dip into the first leg lead was something pretty special. The lads deserve loads of credit for this result and you can’t single any one of them out. This was team effort throughout.”
The Rebels had effectively sewn up the tie as early as heat 9 when Jake Allen and Jack Holder registered a 4-2, the visitors fifth heat advantage of the meeting, over Richie Worrall and Nicolai Klindt. The Pirates, who in heat 8 had seen reserve Kacper Woryna repeating his feat of last Wednesday’s league confrontation at the Oak Tree, by beating world champion Jason Doyle, went into that heat needing six maximums and a 4-2 from the final 7 heats to deny the Rebels progress, but with Allen trapping well in the ninth, there was no way back for the home side.
Sundstrom and Kurtz did deliver a 5-1 in heat 10, the Pirates’ pair second of the night but still Somerset led by a healthy 8 points, and still 14 points on deposit since May!
Doyle and Lawson restored that double figure advantage before the Pirates recorded a sequence of three-in-a-row race winners to try and salvage some pride from the affair.
The meeting could have been a draw if the hosts were to pull off a 5-1 in the final heat and maybe they saw a glimmer of a chance as the formidable partnership of Doyle and Holder was broken after Holder had crashed out in a first bend frenzy. Although eligible for the re-start, on medical advice, he opted to sit-out the re-run, with Lawson deputising, but if the Pirates felt that they could salvage that draw then Doyle dented their hopes with a super quick start to secure the Rebels second win in as many visits to Dorset.
POOLE – 43: B.Kurtz 12+1 (3,2,2′,3,2), K.Woryna 10+2 (1,0,3,3,2′,1′), J.Grajczonek 6 (1,3,2,0), L.Sundstrom 6+2 (2′,1′,FD,3), N.Klindt 5 (2,0,0,3), R.Worrall 4 (0,1,2,1), M.Szczepaniak 0 (0,0,R)
SOMERSET – 47: J.Doyle 14 (1,3,2,3,2,3), J.Holder 9+3 (2′,2′,3,1,1′), R.Lawson 7+1 (3,1′,1,1,1,0), N.Covatti 6+2 (2′,3,1′,0), J.Allen 6 (3,0,3,0), B.Wilson-Dean 5 (0,1,2,0,2)
Aggregate Score: Somerset 99 Poole 81
‘VOLVO CARS’ POOLE 43 ‘CASES’ SOMERSET REBELS 47
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