LAKESIDE slumped to defeat at Poole last night when they were beaten 54-38 in an Elite League match at Wimborne Road.

The Pirates easily accounted for their fellow title favourites with the two Poole reserves amassing 19 points between in contrast to just five points from their Hammers counterparts.

Adam Shields and Jonas Davidsson both gave good accounts of themselves.

Guest Jarek Hampel improved as the meeting progressed grabbing a couple of race wins from his five rides.

And skipper Shields' 14-point tally included a couple of heat wins and four points when taking a tactical ride.

The home side opened the meeting with a brace of 4-2's with Hampel and Lubos Tomicek claiming second paces for the visitors before Shields collected the chequered flag in heat three with Joonas Kylmakorpi in third.

Jonas Davidsson won a shared heat four but successive 5-1's by the Pirates left the Hammers trailing 23-13 after six heats.

Given a tactical ride for double points, Shields followed Chris Holder over the line in heat seven with Kylmakorpi's third place giving the visitors a 5-3 heat advantage.

But Poole extended their lead to 12 points (31-19) with a 5-1 over Tomicek and Leigh Lanham in heat eight.

The visitors stuck doggedly to their task, sharing four of the next five races with Hampel bagging a couple of wins but Poole's earlier dominance proved defining.

Trailing 47-33 with two heats remaining, the Hammers conceded another 5-1 when Kylmakorpi and Tomicek trailed in behind the Pirates duo.

But the Lakeside fans in the crowd did have something to cheer them on their way when Shields and Hampel inflicted a 4-2 final race win over Davey Watt and Bjarne Pedersen.

Scorers for Poole - B.Pedersen 9, rider replacement A.Skornicki, D.Watt 12+1, K.Zabik 6, C.Holder 8+1, Z.Suchecki 8+1, F.Eriksson 11+4.

Lakeside - J.Hampel 9,L.Lanham 1, A.Shields 14, J.Kylmakorpi 3+1, J.Davidsson 6, R.Kling 2+2, L.Tomicek 3.