POOLE Pirates made a remarkable recovery from 10 points down to start their SGB Championship season with victory at Berwick Bandits.

Pirates got off to a nightmare start, trailing 17-7 after four heats and having lost Zach Cook due to injury after a clash with teammate Tom Brennan.

But led by star performances from Richard Lawson, Brennan and reserve Sam Hagon, Pirates rallied to head home with a 46-44 victory.

Josh Pickering, guesting for Berwick in the absence of Lewis Kerr having impressed against Poole for Edinburgh Monarchs the previous evening, combined with former Pirate Danyon Hume for an opening-heat 5-1.

Hagon took the honours in heat two, before the Bandits pair got away well in heat three, Zach Cook going down at the back over after contact with Brennan, which would be his last action of the night.

Things went from bad to worse with a third home maximum in heat four, ex-Pirate Rory Schlein out in front, before Bastian Borke got ahead of Ben Cook.

That is where Poole’s fightback began, Tobias Thomsen and Lawson pairing up for a max.

The arrears were reduced to just two points by the end of heat seven after advantages led home by Brennan and Hagon, the latter impressively finishing ahead of Pickering.

Back came Berwick with a 5-1 in an exciting race, Borke eventually getting the better of fellow Dane Thomsen, to join Hume out in front.

But after the following two races, Poole were ahead 31-29, Lawson and Ben Cook with an easy 5-1, the former a tactical substitute for Hagon, before Brennan and Hagon linked up to win heat 10, ahead of Pickering and Hume.

Two shared heats followed, before Lawson and Ben Cook again linked up to put Poole on the brink of victory.

And they got the job done in heat 15, Lawson splitting the Bandits pair with second place enough.

Berwick 44: Pickering 12+1, Hume 6, Etheridge 7, Kemp 2+1, Schlein 7+1, Hodder 2, Borke 8+3.

Pirates 46: Lawson 14+1, Thomsen 4, Brennan 10, Z Cook 0, B Cook 6+2, Hagon 11+1, Perry 1.

(Pictures: Taylor Lanning)