Cook brothers take centre stage despite Masters maximum haul as Pirates book their place in KO Cup Final
Poole Pirates 52 Oxford Cheetahs 38
KO Cup semi-final 2nd leg
Poole win on aggregate 96-84
Peter Moore at Wimborne Road
Poole Pirates turned around a two point deficit from last night’s first leg to book their place in the final of the Championship KO Cup after a 52-38 home win despite Cheetahs Australian Sam Masters going through the card unbeaten.
The visitors drew first blood on the night with an opening heat 4-2 with Masters picking up the first of his five wins on the night.
Pirates responded in heat two with their first maximum of the night through Adam Roynon and Kyle Newman.
In the very next heat Poole stretched the advantage on the night to six points when the Cook brothers produced a one two to see of the Cheetahs pairing of Lewis Kerr and reserve Jordan Jenkins.
After heat four it was evident the dipping sun was getting into the riders eyes on the very first bend. A delay of around fifteen minutes was decided to let the sun go down, which it duly did.
Three shared heats followed before Oxford gained a heat advantage in heat seven thanks to Kerr.
If Oxford sensed a fightback, that went out of the window in the next two heats with the hosts picking up consecutive 5-1’s. First it was the pairing of Anders Rowe and Newman followed by superb riding from the Cook brothers to see off the threat of Scott Nicholls.
By heat eleven Pirates had gained a ten-point cushion on the night, with an overall aggregate lead of eight points.
Ben Cook got off to an absolute flyer in heat twelve to show a clean pair of heals to the rest of the field, with Poole picking up a 4-2 heat advantage.
The eagerly anticipated heat thirteen saw Nicholls excluded after falling. In the re run it was another win for Masters with Steve Worrall and Richard Lawson packing out the minor placings.
The fifth 5-1 of the night from Poole was brought up in heat fourteen with Zach Cook and Newman seeing off the threat of Jordan Jenkins and Henry Atkins as Poole claimed their place in the Final.
Despite Masters picking up 15 points, The Cook brothers were outstanding on the night with the pair both ending up with double figure scores.