POOLE captain Ben Cook admitted his side had to “dig deep” to clinch the Cab Direct Championship.
The Pirates were 12 points down from the opening clash at Cowley but hit back with a 56-34 win in the return at Wimborne Road, taking the league title by ten points on aggregate.
It was an incredible occasion with a massive crowd, huge crashes and a high level of controversy.
Cook delivered three vital wins and said: “It is awesome being the captain of the league champions. I wasn’t happy with the last place that I ran in one ride, and perhaps we won’t talk about that.
“We always knew we were still in it but had to really dig deep, make some starts and be hard on them in the first corners.”
Poole levelled overall with a 5-1 from Ben and Zach Cook in Heat 9 but it took until Heat 12 for them to finally take the lead, with Zach Cook and Tobias Thomsen securing their triumph with a 4-2 in the penultimate race.
Tom Brennan top-scored with 13 points from five rides, Thomsen put in a key display at reserve with 10+2 and Richard Lawson bounced back from a Heat 1 exclusion for bringing down Sam Masters by scoring 10+1 from his remaining four outings.
Masters led the way for the Cheetahs with ten points, but their hopes were hit by the withdrawal of high-scoring reserve Luke Killeen, who was involved in two early crashes.
Pirates owner Matt Ford revealed he was driven on by the memories of last season’s Grand Final defeat as the Dorset club became league champions once again.
It was a remarkable 30th team trophy for Poole under the tenure of Ford and manager Neil Middleditch, dating back to the Craven Shield in 2001.
Ford said: “I was so impressed with just how much everyone really wanted this.
“I just could not believe the spirit that this team has but let me say, nothing can put the hurt of last year behind me. I woke up this morning in a sweat just thinking about that.
“But we’ve done it, we have got the 30th trophy and let’s hope the 31st is in the Cab Direct KO Cup, although I am sure Oxford will want to have a say about that. I must applaud them for playing their part in such a thrilling meeting.
“They really put in a good performance up there in the first leg, pulling away in the latter stages and getting the good advantage. It really made our task that much harder, and they were keeping us out at times here tonight.”
Words by Holeshot Media.
Images by Taylor Lanning.