SWINDON Robins suffered a heavy Elite League defeat in the opening leg of their double-header at Poole Pirates.

The hosts dominated the meet, which is also doubling up for the Elite Shield, with only captain Troy Batchelor claiming a heat win for the Robins, who now must overturn a 22-point deficit if they are claim the Shield this evening at Abbey Stadium (8pm).

Pirates’ Chris Holder gets off to a flying start on the south coast and led all the way holding off Peter Kildemand in the opening heat as the hosts take a 4-2 lead.

Charles Wright came flying off the tapes to lead from start to finish with Steve Worrall chasing hard in the second, while Robins’ reserve Dan Greenwood was unable to hold off Lee Smart for another 4-2 to the hosts.

In heat three, Troy Batchelor was unable to catch Pawlicki as the hosts took their third successive 4-2.

Nicolai Klindt and Steve Worrall managed to work together to force Smart into fourth, but Poole’s Vaclav Milik led all the way for a drawn heat four.

Holder got off to another fine start in heat five and Simon Gustafsson and Batchelor struggled to get close to the Pirates number one in another 3-3 to give the hosts an 18-12 lead.

However, there was high drama in heat six when Pawlicki and Milik crashed on bend two of the opening lap.

The crashed left Pawlicki requiring lengthy treatment on the track before heading to hospital for CAT scan, while Milik was excluded from the re-run and Maciej Janowski came in as the injured rider replacement.

The Pirates captain held off the challenge of Kindemand and Morris, who was having a meeting to forget.

Grajczonek led all the way in heat seven, while Robins’ reserve Dan Greenwood managed to fend off a valiant attempt from Wright to take third.

Milik again crashed out in heat eight, on the same bend and was once more excluded from taking the tapes on the re-run leaving Grajczonek keep Batchelor at bay for another heat success for the hosts.

Wright got off to a flying start and led all the way in the ninth heat, but Greenwood crashed in the final lap as he tried to hold on to third place.

It took until the 10th heat until the Robins finally registered their first with captain Batchelor holding of Pirates number one Holder, who had won his previous two heats.

The Pirates pair of Janowski and Milik got off to a flying start and hold off a battling effort from Kildemand in heat 11 for a 5-1 to make it 39-27.

Klindt battled through to take second place in heat 12, but Grajczonek eased home for the win and the seventh 3-3 heat of the meet.

Janowski managed to hold off the challenge from Kildemand to make it a 5-1 for the hosts in heat 13.

It was an easy win for the Pirates’ Milik with Wright coming in to take second and make it a maximum in the penultimate heat.

Batchelor and Klindemand were picked by Alun Rossiter for the final heat, but it was Janowski who claimed yet another heat win for the hosts as they took 3-3 for a 56-34 success.

Poole Pirates: Chris Holder (3-3-2-3= 11), Josh Grajczonek (1-3-3-1’-3-0=11+1), Pzemyslaw Pawlicki (3=3), Vaclav Milik (3-FX-FX-2’-3=8+1), Maciej Janowski (1-0-3-3-2’-3=12+1), Lee Smart (1-0-1=2), Charles Wright (3-0-3-1-2’=9+1).

Swindon Robins: Peter Kildemand (2-2-1-1-1’=7+1), Nicolai Klindt (0-2-1’-2=5+1), Troy Batchelor (2-1’-2-3-2=10+1), Simon Gustafsson (2-2-0-1=5), Nick Morris (0-1’-0-0=1+1), Dan Greenwood (0-1’-F=1+1), Steve Worrall (2-1’-2-0-0=5+1).