WITH three riders in blistering form and ample support from the rest of their all-star cast, Poole again showed why they are overwhelming favourites to take the Elite League title this year.
The Pirates ran up another big home win over the Buildbase Bees, although the majority of the margin was opened up in the second half of the meeting - and the frightening thought for the rest of the league is that they are only getting stronger!
Incredibly, World Under-21 Champion Darcy Ward - who dropped just one point from six rides - drops to reserve in July on a 6.35 average, and that will offer the Pirates plenty of scope to cover should there be any extended absence for Polish rider Artur Mroczka.
Bees were left counting the cost at Wimborne Road of a last-race pile-up between their best two riders, skipper Chris Harris and exciting reserve Przemyslaw Pawlicki, who came together at the start of the final lap - and for Harris, it was one of several crashes in several different countries of late.
Both were able to walk away but a bruised Harris is now a doubt for Thursday's trip to Eastbourne, and the awarded 5-1 left the Pirates 23 points clear having only been five-up at the halfway stage.
Ward was well supported in the big numbers by No.1 rider Chris Holder, thankfully with no long-term ill effects from his Torun GP crash as he went through the card with a paid maximum, and Bjarne Pedersen was also in terrific form too.
It all made for a meeting which went entirely according to the formbook, with the Poole riders perfectly tuned in to the demands of their circuit, and the Bees chasing strongly in the middle part of the meeting only to fall away again in the closing stages.
It couldn't have been a much worse start, as Bees gained just one point from an opponent in the first three races, and that was with Pawlicki taking second place ahead of Jason Doyle in Heat 2, having actually held the advantage over Leon Madsen for the first half lap.
Either side, Harris and Ben Barker had been blown away by Holder and Ward in Heat 1, and it was a similar story in Heat 3 with Ward this time combining with Pedersen against Lewis Bridger and Edward Kennett.
Pawlicki again hit the front from the start in Heat 4 and forced Davey Watt into a passing move, the Pirates skipper making it through at the start of the second lap with Krzysztof Kasprzak in third place for the first shared heat of the night.
That left Bees using a tactical ride as early as Heat 5, a race which required a re-run as Harris went down hard on the first bend after contact with Pedersen. With all four riders re-starting, Harris duly took the six-pointer and Bees gained a further advantage when Barker made his way past Madsen on lap two for what was a useful 7-2 result.
But there was no answer to the Ward/Holder combination in Heat 6 as Poole immediately rebuilt their lead to nine points - before Bees gained two good heat advantages to offer some hope still of challenging for an Elite League point from the meeting.
Kennett gained a confidence-boosting race win over Watt in Heat 7 with Bridger taking third place, but there was plenty of drama in Heat 8 first with Doyle crashing out mid-race, and then in the re-run Bees held a 5-1 only for Pawlicki and Barker to both be chasing the same line and eventually be split by Ward on the third lap, leaving the deficit at five points.
Kasprzak found himself facing another 5-1 in Heat 9 as Pedersen and Doyle got away out-front, but the Pole did manage to split the Pirates pairing by getting ahead of Doyle in a race which actually lasted for five laps - however, it was little respite for Coventry as Ward and Holder put together their third 5-1 of the night in Heat 10 to stretch the lead out to eleven points.
Harris kept Bees just in touch with a strong performance to win Heat 11 after an initial challenge from Madsen, but the meeting concluded with a series of Poole race advantages. There was another 5-1 situation for the Pirates in Heat 12 only for the ever-trying Pawlicki to get ahead of Doyle on the last lap as Pedersen took the flag, and Heat 13 was another 4-2 with this time a Poole man doing the overtaking - Holder riding a superb race to get around Harris on lap four to secure a 4-2 with Watt.
Coventry's final throw of the dice was for Pawlicki to take a tactical ride in Heat 14, but this time he missed the gate with the Pirates having left their final rider replacement ride for Pedersen, who duly took the win backed all the way by Madsen.
Even so, Pawlicki had certainly done enough to earn himself a nomination for Heat 15 along with Harris - however, the race ended in disaster with Poole on a 5-1 and the riders chasing the same line, which resulted in Harris clipping Pawlicki's back wheel at the start of the last lap and both riders going heavily into the fence.
They both walked away, Harris for what seemed like the umpteenth time in the last week, and Poole were awarded a 5-1 to bring the night's entertainment to a close - and the only conclusion to be drawn was that it could well take a miraculous set of circumstances for the Pirates to be seriously threatened on their home circuit this season.
POOLE 58 Chris Holder 3 2* 3 3 2* = 13+2 Darcy Ward 2* 3 3 2 2* 3 = 15+2 Bjarne Pedersen 2* 2 3 3 3 = 13+1 Artur Mroczka Rider Replacement Davey Watt 3 2 1* 1 = 7+1 Leon Madsen 3 0 0 2 2* = 7+1 Jason Doyle 1 0 X 1 1 = 3
