POOLE have been crowned second tier league champions once again after overturning a 12-point first leg deficit against Oxford at Wimborne Road on Wednesday night.
The Pirates, who won the title in both 2021 and 2022 but were beaten by Glasgow in last year’s Grand Final, secured an ultimately comfortable 10-point aggregate victory with a 56-34 win on a night of crashes and high drama in Dorset. Both teams lost reserves during the meeting, with Vinnie Foord being ruled out for the Pirates and Luke Killeen having to withdraw from the Oxford ranks after two crashes. Poole skipper Ben Cook said: “It is awesome being the captain of the league champions. I wasn't happy with the last place that I ran in one ride and perhaps we won't talk about that. “We always knew we were still in it but had to really dig deep, make some starts and be hard on them in the first corners.” Cheetahs boss Peter Schroeck said: “I think the loss of Luke Killeen is ultimately what killed us off. We lost our trump card reserve. “In his first race in Heat 2, Luke was left with nowhere to go. There were some weak refereeing decisions and Luke should not have been excluded. He went out again, but he wasn’t right, came off again and he was withdrawn from the meeting. “Jody (Scott) was lucky not to be hurt in Heat 8 when he was taken into the fence at speed. That could have been a very nasty one when he, too, was taken out by Vinnie Foord. “The Poole boys were ruthless – particularly in the opening races. Both Sam (Masters) and Ashton (Boughen) had to pick themselves up after nasty crashes and that all took its toll. But all the boys battled on and I’m proud of their efforts. “Congratulations to Poole on winning the league title. Once it settles down, we will start to reflect that we pushed them all the way and finished above seven other teams in the Cab Direct Championship.” • Full coverage from Wimborne Road in the October 19 edition of Speedway Star.