Rock bottom Wolves lose last heat

A thrilling contest at Monmore Green ended in heartbreak for Wolves as Poole snatched the Elite League points with a 46-44 win on the final turn of the last heat.

After a night of first class racing from all 13 riders across both teams, with the sides never more than four points apart, it all came down to heat 15.

Chris Holder and Bjarne Pedersen for Poole were up against David Howe and Niels Kristian Iversen – on his return from a dislocated shoulder. The score was 43-41 and the Pirates needed a 5-1 to win.

Pedersen made the start and led off, while Holder soon relegated Iversen to the back and set about attacking Howe.

Just as he made his move, Iversen came down at the rear on turn three and was excluded from the rerun, leaving it all up to Howe against the two visitors.

The atmosphere reached fever pitch as the riders lined up and Pedersen once again led away, with Howe throwing everything at him in second.

The two circulated almost as one for three laps, before Pedersen locked up on the pits turn, forcing Howe to slow down.

This allowed Holder to blast around the outside of the Wolf and, in the last 100 yards of the race, the Pirates pulled ahead to steal the league points.

The crowd may have been disappointed with the narrow defeat, but the quality of the night's racing more than made up for it.

There were ultra-close battles in almost every race, with both teams looking fired-up and determined throughout the match.

Wolves skipper Freddie Lindgren was absent, suffering from rib injuries after his crash in Saturday's Danish Grand Prix, and a rider replacement was used.

The six remaining Wolves performed admirably in his absence, with a fine performance by Kenneth Hansen a highlight.

The Dane finally appears to have mastered Monmore Green's tight turns, his high point coming in heat four, as he beat off the attacks off Davey Watt for a highly impressive 5-1 with Howe.

Howe's night began badly as Holder picked up some unexpected grip on turn four in the opening heat, straightening up and sending the Englishman into the fence.

Fortunately he was OK and took revenge by racing past Holder for a great win in heat 13.

Nicolai Klindt also went into the turn four fence in the penultimate race, with referee Tony Steele adjudging Magnus Zetterstrom to be at fault.

Klindt looked a little shaken, but bounced back in style to storm around the outside of ex-Wolf Adam Skornicki in the re-run and set up the last heat decider.

Christian Hefenbrock was the only Wolf not to get among the scorers.

His meeting ended with a fall in heat 11 that left the German nursing a hand injury.

Ales Dryml's up and down season continued. The Czech star racing to three impressive wins including a fine move on Zetterstrom around the outside in heat eight, before a last place in heat 10 as the Pirates pair raced clear ended his hopes of a maximum.

With Iversen showing no effect of his recent injuries, Wolves can take pride in this performance, even if the Elite League points slipped unluckily away in the dying seconds.

The side now turn their attention to Knockout Cup action as they make the trip to visit Eastbourne on Saturday night. The second leg of the tie will be at Monmore Green next Monday.

Scorecard:

Parry's International Wolves:

A Dryml 3-3-3-0-110

N K Iversen 2-2-3-1-3-FX11

N Klindt 1*-0-1-35

D Howe 1-2*-2-2-3-111+1

C Hefenbrock 0-0-FX0

K Hansen 1-3-1-0-1-17

Castle Cover Pirates:

C Holder FX-3-3-2-311

F Eriksson 2-1-1*-15+1

B Pedersen 3-3-2*-2-2*12+2

A Skornicki 0-1-3-26

D Watt 1-2-2-05

M Zetterstrom 3-0-2-R-X5

D Davidsson 2*-0-02+1