POOLE Pirates went to the top of the Elite League again with a resounding 61-28 victory over King's Lynn at Poole Stadium last night.

Poole put on a powerful display in front of the TV cameras with the Knights down on strength due to an injury to Stefan Andersson and the retirement of Martin Dixon.

World champion Tony Rickardsson won the opening heat for the Knights but Poole took the lead in heat two through Matej Ferjan and Danny Bird, who were the only finishers.

A 5-1 from Scott Nicholls and Mangus Zetterstro and then a defeat for Mark Loram by Leigh Adams saw the Pirates leading 16-7 after four heats.

Even Rickardsson found Zetterstrom and Nicholls too hot to handle in heat five with Pirates' skipper Gary Havelock seeing off Adams in the next with another 5-1 from Ferjan and Loram to follow.

Havelock gained his revenge over Rickardsson in heat 10 with Lee Richardson holding on to second spot to virtually clinch the match for Poole.

Rickardsson managed one more race win to finish with 11 points while Adams spoilt Nicholl's chance of a paid maximum in heat 12, to finish with 10 points for the knights.

Poole (bonus points in brack-ets): Gary Havelock 13(1), Scott Nicholls 12(2), Matej Ferjan 11(2), Magnus Zetterstrom 8(1), Lee Richardson 7(2), Mark Loram 7(1), Danny Bird 3(2).

Poole's match at Oxford tomorrow has been postponed. Loram rides in the Grand Prix in Poland on Saturday. Next Wednesday's meeting at Poole is a Best Pairs event.

Converted for the new archive on 25 January 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.