Poole come from behind to win Craven Shield.
Poole recovered from their poor performance at Wolverhampton on Monday night to make the most of home track advantage in the final leg and win the Craven Shield tonight, bringing a close to the 2001 speedway season at the same time.
The Pirates went in to tonight's last leg of the final with ten points to make up on Peterborough. But just to make sure, Poole hit top form to slam in forty-six points on the night which was more than sufficient to claim to spoils from Peterborough with Wolverhampton in rear.
Poole recovered from their poor performance at Wolverhampton on Monday night to make the most of home track advantage in the final leg and win the Craven Shield tonight, bringing a close to the 2001 speedway season at the same time.
The Pirates went in to tonight's last leg of the final with ten points to make up on Peterborough. But just to make sure, Poole hit top form to slam in forty-six points on the night which was more than sufficient to claim to spoils from Peterborough with Wolverhampton in rear.
World Champion Tony Rickardsson was at his best with and was unbeaten by an opponent. That inspired his team mates to get stuck in as they all scored (or were paid for) at least seven points.
The clincher came in heat 16 when Hans Andersen and Andreas Jonsson Jonsson came home in front of Peterborough's Ryan Sullivan and David Howe.
Peterborough must have had hopes of retaining the lead they took in to tonight with Sullivan and Mark Loram in such good form. But only Loram (on his former track) retained his form with an excellent ten point return. Sullivan had an average night by comparison with just six points as Poole ran riot.
The Panthers did have an inspired choice of a guest rider for Sam Tesar by bringing in ex-Poole rider and Grand Prix star Matej Ferjan. After a first ride machine problem he was beaten just the once, by Wolverhampton guest Jason Lyons.
But with Mario Jirout and Shane Parker scoring only two points between them, Peterborough fell away and have to be content with second place.
Overall final aggregate scores after the three legs:
Poole 117, Peterborough 111, Wolverhampton 96.
Final leg scorers:
Poole: Tony Rickardsson 10, Andreas Jonsson 9, Lars Gunnestad 8, Gary Havelock 7, Hans Andersen 7, Grzegorz Walasek 5
Wolverhampton: Mikael Karlsson 8, Paul Hurry 8, Jason Lyons 5, Daniel Nermark 6, Jesper Jensen 3, Adam Skornicki 2
Peterborough: Mark Loram 10, Matej Ferjan 8, Ryan Sullivan 6, David Howe 4, Mario Jirout 1, Shame Parker 1, Nigel Sadler 0
