(SPEEDWAY 1)

POOLE overcame their injury crisis to seal a stunning 51-39 win at Eastbourne and book their place in the Elite League KO Cup Final.The much-changed Pirates only led by two points from the first leg but were well-served by their guests, with Kevin Wolbert impressing on his debut – and Chris Holder and Darcy Ward dominated the big races at the end of the meeting.Poole promoter Matt Ford said: “I thought I had run out of miracles but the lads did us extremely proud and I cannot thank our three guests enough for the efforts they put in.“Personally I think it was great that Kevin did so well. I know how much he was looking forward to this meeting and riding for us in general, and what a brilliant job he did. A quality performance, what more can I say?”

(SPEEDWAY 2)

BERWICK newcomer Linus Eklof appears to have escaped unscathed from a crash in the first race of his debut, which saw him taken to hospital.Eklof came to grief in Heat 3 of an eventful clash between the Bandits and Rye House, which also included a floodlight failure and ended in a 43-41 Berwick win with the meeting abandoned one race short due to the curfew.Bandits boss Ian Rae said:  “After that marathon I’m glad I gave the Great North Run a miss this year, but it was an excellent spectacle for the crowd who lapped up every move, every pass and every thrilling moment provided by the 12 riders on show, all of whom deserve high praise indeed for their efforts.“The good news is that our debut man Linus Eklof, who ended up in the wrong place when Luke Bowen fell in Heat 3 and got a bang from his bike is, on initial inspection, not badly hurt at all, which is a relief.”

(FIXTURES)

MONDAY SEPTEMBER 19:ELITE LEAGUE PLAY-OFF SEMI-FINAL 1st leg: King’s Lynn v Poole 7.30, Lakeside v Eastbourne 7.30 GARY PETERSON MEMORIAL: Wolverhampton 7.30

TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 20:NATIONAL LEAGUE: Isle of Wight v Sheffield 7.30CHALLENGE: Dudley v Birmingham Bulls 7.30

WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 21:PREMIER LEAGUE: Somerset v Edinburgh 7.30