EDITOR'S CHOICE WE LOVE BOURNEMOUTH 'Bourne again VIEW FROM THE HILL We've got talent too! HAVE YOUR SAY Demonising our young people? YOUR HEALTH Cleanse and groan GET OUR NEWS BY E-MAIL Just register

Most read Comments 1 A31 open after repair 2 Let me entertain you 3 National Trust bows to might of the sea 4 ‘Shop around’ to get your fill 5 Olympians sail into a hero’s welcome 6 Public transport should be airport's priority 7 Blaze tragedy sparks alert over smoking 8 Is it time for a break from the Hips idea? 9 JALAL DEAL FINALISED 10 Magpies backing under-fire Christer Today | 7 Days 1 Bond steps up striker search 2 ILLEGAL CAMP IN PRIME SPOT 3 ‘Shop around’ to get your fill 4 Massive rise in repossessions 5 Injuries a worry for Bond 6 ROVERS LEAD KUFFOUR CHASE 7 CITY SICKENER FOR CHERRIES 8 CHERRIES SIGN REDS FORWARD 9 A31 open after repair 10 Out-of-the-box and on to the wicket

Comment

NO PROBLEMS: Bjarne Pedersen

ALL eyes might have been firmly fixed on Bjarne Pedersen and Jonas Davidsson last night following their pre-meeting war of words.

But it was a first bend crash that left Lakeside's Joonas Kylmakorpi nursing a dislocated shoulder following a collision with Chris Holder that proved the main talking point.

A bumper crowd turned up at Poole Stadium expecting fireworks from Pedersen and Davidsson, who'd traded insults at each other ahead of this Elite League top of the table clash.

Lakeside's Davidsson had claimed Pedersen, of Poole, was a "dirty rider" after coming off second best in a tussle between the two in Poland on Sunday.

Pedersen had labelled Davidsson "a kid and he is not growing up".

Davidsson got out smartly in heat three before forcefully sliding his back wheel in Pedersen's direction on the second bend to keep the Pirate behind him.

There was no nastiness, though, as Davidsson roared on to take an easy victory and Pedersen powered brilliantly outside Adam Skornicki and Adam Shields on the second lap to blast from fourth to second.

The duo also came out together in heat 15, but a scrutinising 3,500 crowd saw no ugliness again as Shields won from Holder with Pedersen cleanly passing outside of Davidsson on the second lap to grab third.

There was no on-track handshake between Pedersen and Davidsson after those races, so they're obviously not best mates.

And there was an edge to Lakeside's riding, particularly from Shields and Davidsson when racing against Pedersen.

Shields drove hard under Pedersen on the fourth corner in race 12, catching the Dane by surprise with his forcefulness, before going on to unsettle the Poole rider again on the last lap, which almost allowed Ricky Kling to steal Lakeside a 5-1.

It was all handbags, though, in the context of an absorbing battle that saw Hammers, already without unavailable Andreas Jonsson, whose wife had gone into labour in the morning, reduced to five men when Kylmakorpi dislocated his shoulder in the sixth race and was forced to withdraw from the meeting.

Holder said: "As we went out of the tapes we were all basically together and as we went for the first corner we went for the same space.

"I think his (Kylmakorpi's) foot-rest got caught in my bike. It tipped him off balance, and he ended up coming off, unfortunately.

"It was first-bend bunching, everyone going for the same dirt. Sometimes you're in the wrong place at the wrong time. That's speedway and this time it was unfortunately him.

"There was a soft patch and he (Kylmakorpi) said to me he hit that and straightened up.

"Basically we were so close he had nowhere to go. There was nothing intentional, it was just an accident."

Lakeside team manager Jon Cook said: "I think Chris came across (Joonas) but the ref (Chris Durno) didn't do anything wrong in the whole meeting.

"He's one of the best common sense refs we've encountered all season and I've no qualms about that decision or any others tonight.

"Joonas did go into Poole's pits to have a word with Chris, but there was no controversy.

"It was an absolutely astonishing performance from us without two heat leaders and with only three riders really."

Holder said: "We were just a bit off key. Watty's not been sleeping because his wife is expecting and I took a heavy knock in Sweden on Tuesday.

"When it comes to the crunch everyone will be focused and ready to go, but tonight everyone was just a bit dead."

Poole visit Swindon in the league tonight (7.30pm) with the same line-up.

Swindon: 1 Leigh Adams, 2 James Wright, 3 Mads Korneliussen, 4 Travis McGowan, 5 Troy Batchelor, 6 Manuel Hauzinger, 7 Jurica Pavlic.

7:00am Thursday 7th August 2008

Print

Email this

Comment