Although the threat of rain abated throughout the day, the threat of marauding Pirates plundering SGB Championship point treasure sadly arrived and claimed all the bounty they desired, as the TouchTec Kings went down to a 38-52 defeat at the hands of Poole in Tuesday’s fixture at Central Park.

With just the nine senior British titles on show it was no surprise that there was a lot of top-quality action on track.  And it started in the very opening race, when current British Champion Rory Schlein and former Kent King Jack Thomas made the gate and looked set to team ride to give the Pirates a maximum start.

However, home hero, seven-time British Champion Scott Nicholls had other ideas and sneaked up the inside of both riders to take the lead and pull away for the victory. This was after Nicholls and Thomas had come to grief in the original staging of the opening heat.

It was the hosts who took the early lead as Ben Morley and Dan Gilkes made the gate over Danyon Hume and took a maximum heat advantage to give the Kings the edge.

However, Hume then turned on the style and took the fight to the Kings in a swashbuckling performance that led to him top scoring with 12+1. Hume, so often a thorn in the Kings’ side at National League level started slowly with two third places but two heat wins and a paid win helped seal the Pirates victory.

Hume’s role in the Heat 11 and 14 5-1’s, firstly winning from Rory Schlein and then backing up Stefan Nielsen proved decisive for the Pirates in a meeting that had been close up to that point.

Of the other notable performances on the evening a stand out was Kings’ own reserve Ben Morley who deserved more than his score of 7+1. The Kings’ record point scorer was leading Heat 6 on a 5-1 with Scott Nicholls before the visiting skipper, track record holder Danny King got past his Kent counterpart on the second lap( but the brave Morley held on until the last lap before King repeated the trick on the brave Kent Man.

Then Morley was at it again in Heat 7, this time leading Steve Worrall until the last lap when the Poole rider from St. Helen’s, with a smart inside pass, managed to get inside Morley on the first turn of the last lap.

TouchTec Kings’ heat leader Paul Starke continued his fine form with another 12-point haul and two very stylish heat wins in heats 9 and 12. The first saw Starke pull away clear from the opposition after a fantastic start before the race was stopped after Pirates guest James Wright fell and the race was awarded.

The second was another tapes to flag salvo –  this time over Hume and Worrall. Starke was also involved in another of the best races of the evening when he led Pirates number one Schlein, only for the Aussie to storm past him in an astounding burst around the boards effort.

Next up for the Kings it’s a long trip north, to Redcar this coming Friday, before they return to Central Park to take on Eastbourne next Tuesday (3/8).

Kent TouchTec Kings                                                 38

Scott Nicholls                    3, 2, 2, 0, 2                      = 9

Rider Replacement –  Tom Bacon

Paul Starke                        2, 2, 3, 3, 2                      = 12

Paul Hurry                         0, Fx, 1′, 1                     = 2+1

Cameron Heeps                2, 0, 1, 1′, 0                     = 4+1

Ben Morley                       0, 3, 1′, 2, 0, 1                  = 7+1

Daniel Gilkes                    T 2′, 0, 2, 0, 0                  = 4+1

Poole Pirates                                                               52

Rory Schlein                      2, 3, 2′, 3, 1                      = 11+1

Jack Thomas [G]              1′, 1, 0                              = 2+1

Steve Worrall                    1, 3, 3, 1′                          = 8+1

Stefan Nielsen                  3, 1, 1, 3                           = 8

Danny King                       3, 3, 2, 0, 3                      = 11

James Wright [G]             Fx, 0, Fx                              = 0

Danyon Hume                   1, 1, 3, 3, 2, 2′                 = 12+1

Heat details

1 (rerun three times) Nicholls, Schlein, Thomas, Morley, Gilkes (exc. tapes) 57.4  [3-3]

2 (rerun) Morley, Gilkes, Hume, Wright (fell exc.) 60.5  [8-4]

3 (rerun) Nielsen, Starke, Worrall, Hurry 58.5 [10-8]

4 King, Heeps, Hume, Gilkes 58.3 [12-12]

5 (rerun) Schlein, Starke, Thomas, Hurry (fell exc.) 58.5 [14-16]

6 (rerun) King, Nicholls, Morley, Wright 59.3 [17-19]

7 Worrall, Morley, Nielsen, Heeps 59.6 [19-23]

8 Hume, Gilkes, Hurry, Thomas 59.4 [22-26]

9 (stpd; awarded) Starke, King, Hurry, Wright (fell exc.) no time [26-28]

10 Worrall, Nicholls, Nielsen, Gilkes 59.2 [28-32]

11 Hume, Schlein, Heeps, Morley 59.9 [29-37]

12 Starke, Hume, Worrall, Nicholls 58.9 [32-40]

13 Schlein, Nicholls, Heeps, King 58.3 [35-43]

14 Nielsen, Hume, Morley, Gilkes 59.1 [36-48]

15 King, Starke, Schlein, Heeps 58.8 [38-52]