The Poole Pirates produced a stunning 59-36 win away from home at Wolverhampton last night The four away points moves the Pirates up to second to consolidate their position in the end of season play offs. The Wolves are struggling to make the top four with only 8 meetings left the push for the play offs could be too far.

Wolves had made two changes in the last week with Peter Karlsson and Lasse Bjerre coming into the side with Ty Proctor and Ricky Wells being replaced. Karlsson was making his return to Monmore Green after 3 years away with him being released from his contract with Lakeside. However these two never looked comfortable with Karlsson only scoring 2 from 4 rides and Bjerre 3 from 4 rides with the latter suffering a heavy fall in heat 4 after his chain snapped.

Piotr Pawlicki was the only bright spark for the hosts scoring 14 from a possible 18 including a double points heat 5 win but the Wolves struggled gating throughout the meeting. After Woffinden’s maximum for Wroclaw in Poland on Sunday, he continued his inconsistent form in England only scoring 4 from 5 rides stating ‘we all have off days, we need to go again”.

Poole on the other hand were gating like nothing else with 9 heat advantages out of the 15 heats with the Wolves only achieving two heat wins on the night. The Pirates captain Darcy Ward top scored alongside fast track reserve Kyle Newman with 13. Prezemyslaw Pawlicki 9, Josh Grajczonek 8, Vaclaw Milik 7, Maciej Janowski 7 all achieved heat wins on a dominant night for Poole. 

Poole sit second in the table looking comfortable for a top 4 finish but Ward stated that “when the playoffs approach there will be a different mindset”. With Ward riding nearly every day of the week, he needs to score as many points as possible with the end of all domestic speedway approaching. 

Wolves lie seventh, 7 points behind fourth placed Eastbourne but have completed 5 more meetings than their counterparts. Before the meeting Wolves captain stated “that they couldn’t afford to lose many more meeting if they wanted a shot at the play offs”.After this performance it will certainly be a massive effort if they do reach them.

Wolves 36: Piotr Pawlicki 14, Thorsell 7, Woffinden 4, Bjerre 3, Jacobs 3, Perry 3, Karlsson 2 

Poole 59: Ward 13, Newman 13, Prezemyslaw Pawlicki 9, Grajczonek 8, Milik 7, Janowski 7,Johnson 2