POOLE Pirates recovered from a slow start to defeat Berwick Bandits 52-38 on a chaotic night at Wimborne Road, after the visitors had lost two riders to injury.

A stop-start first half to the meeting began with Bandits losing their number one Lewis Kerr, who crashed out during the opening heat and would not ride again all night.

Then, in heat eight, Bastian Borke had a nasty spill on the back straight after clipping the rear wheel of Tobias Thomsen, flying into the fence and landing hard on the track.

He was tended to by medics for around half an hour, with captain Rory Schlein by his side, before a county ambulance came to take Borke to hospital.

The young Dane was said to be “conscious and responsive” as he left the stadium.

Berwick led 23-19 at that point, but could not record another heat advantage all night as Pirates stormed back to take victory, led by Tom Brennan (13+1).

The bonus-point win, having also won the away fixture, sees Poole leapfrog Berwick and move up to second in the SGB Championship standings.

Berwick’s evening got off to a nightmare start. Kerr, only recently back from a broken ankle, collided with his own teammate Danyon Hume in the opening heat.

Kerr crashed out on the back straight and was struggling to walk in the aftermath, subsequently withdrawing from the meeting as Bandits operated injury rider replacement.

Hume was disqualified from the re-run, but the drama was only just beginning. The usually reliable Richard Lawson then broke the tapes and took a 15-metre handicap.

At the third attempt, race one was completed, Thomsen impressing to finish ahead of Schlein.

Borke won the reserves race, the spoils shared as Max Perry comfortably beat a struggling Freddy Hodder at the back.

Bournemouth Echo: Max Perry scored 2+2

Drew Kemp, a league and cup double winner with Poole in 2022, shot out the traps and took victory in heat three, ahead of the in-form Brennan.

And Bandits moved four points up on the night with a maximum, courtesy of Schlein and Borke.

But Pirates hit straight back in kind, Zach Cook and Brennan combining for a tapes-to-flag victory.

However, that proved to be brief respite for the hosts, as back-to-back heat advantages put Bandits back ahead on aggregate.

Both races were drama-filled. Poole were on a 5-1 in heat six, only for Schlein to produce a brilliant double pass on Thomsen and Lawson, the latter then suffering bike issues and falling to the back as the slow start to his evening continued.

Heat seven then required a re-run, either side of an interval. First-bend bunching saw both Kemp and Hagon sent into the air fence, which required fixing.

On the re-run, Bandits were on a 5-1, but Ben Cook reeled in Kemp, before pushing Etheridge all the way to the line, coming up just short.

The meeting then turned after Borke’s big crash, Poole picking up 14 points from the subsequent three heats when racing resumed to wrestle control of the contest.

Hagon and Thomsen eased to a maximum in heat eight, as did Brennan and Zach Cook soon after.

Lawson, after recovering from earlier mechanical gremlins, got back on track with victory in heat nine, as Poole moved 33-27 ahead on the night.

Two shared heats followed, Ben Cook and Brennan taking the honours, the latter holding off Schlein, who had been drafted in as a tactical substitute.

Pirates then effectively got the job done with two heats to spare, thanks to a maximum from Ben Cook and Lawson, the latter regularly swapping positions with Schlein throughout.

Kemp’s good return to Poole personally continued with a win in heat 14, before Brennan and Ben Cook teamed up for a closing maximum, the disjointed meeting eventually finishing just before 10.30pm.

Pirates 52 (98): Lawson 6+1, Thomsen 8+1, Brennan 13+1, Z Cook 7+1, B Cook 11+1, Hagon 5, Perry 2+2.

Berwick 38 (82): Kerr 0, Hume 2+1, Etheridge 5+1, Kemp 11, Schlein 13, Hodder 1, Borke 6+1.