Eagles slip in the rain (From The Argus)

Eagles slip in the rain

11:01pm Saturday 2nd June 2012 in Sport By Brian Owen

Eastbourne’s hopes of toppling unbeaten Poole were dashed in the Arlington rain tonight.

Action was curtailed by referee Dan Holt after 12 races with Pirates 37-35 up. The result stands.

There were no arguments from either side about the decision but Eagles will feel they should have been ahead at the cut-off point.

Poole’s big two Chris Holder and Darcy Ward were in superb form but Eagles threw points away against the supporting cast.

Cameron Woodward and Lukas Dryml both had costly falls and former Eagles rider Ricky Kling proved to be a matchwinner for the visitors.

Kling was involved in two 5-1s, including the maximum with Ward in heat 11 which gave Poole the lead.

Lewis Bridger provided the Eastbourne highlight with a breathtaking pass of Holder down the back straight to win heat ten.

Meanwhile, absent Eastbourne No.1 Joonas Kylmakorpi progressed in the GP qualifying round in St Johann, Austria, but Eagles colleague Simon Gustafsson missed out.

Eagles: Lahti 10+1 (5), Bridger 9 (4), Doyle 6+2 (5), Woodward 6+1 (4), Gizatullin 3+2 (3), Dryml 1 (3), Kylmakorpi r/r.

Poole: Holder 14 (5), Ward 9 (3), Kling 6+3 (4), Lindgren 6 (5), Andersson 2+2 (4), Kurtz 0 (3), Miedzinski r/r.