Ben-sational! Barker defies injury to lead from the front for Gladiators

PLYMOUTH Gladiators kept their Championship playoff dreams alive when they beat Poole Pirates 47-43 in an enthralling clash at the Coliseum.

- LEWIS BESWETHERICK

The meeting, which had just about everything, took over three hours to complete and was decided with a last-heat decider that sent the crowd into raptures.

Ben Barker, who was riding with a dislocated shoulder, amassed an outstanding 18 points to help the home side to victory in the fierce derby.

Heats one and two were good for the Pirates, with them gaining a 3-3 and a 5-1 to set themselves up in good stead for what lay ahead for the rest of the evening.

Heat three saw one of the many incidents of the night; three of the four riders went tumbling down on bend three in the first lap. It was quite a heavy incident — Joe Thompson’s bike cleared the air fence and nearly cleared the barrier behind it.

There was a long delay after the crash as the air fence needed repairing. Lasse Fredriksen had to withdraw from the meeting, due to injury, and Poole’s Lewis Kerr was excluded from the rerun as the referee adjudged him to have caused the incident. Replacement Barker and Thompson won the rerun to gain a 5-1 in the Gladiators’ favour.