Teenage dream for Rushen as Pirates hammer Scunthorpe

Teenager Cooper Rushen announced himself to the Poole Pirates crowd with a stunning paid maximum, as his side dismantled Scunthorpe 61-29 in the first leg of the Knockout Cup.

The Pirates reserve, who only turned 16 less than two weeks ago, racked up 9+3 from his four rides, meaning he was unbeaten by a Scorpions rider all night at Wimborne Road.

It puts Poole in a dominant position heading into the second leg at the Eddie Wright Raceway on Friday, as Neil Middleditch’s side kept up their winning start to the 2026 campaign.

Rushen told the club website: “We changed some things and it’s nice to see things actually work in speedway.

“It doesn’t happen very often, but we’re just going to keep going from here and we’ll learn more again and we’ll take it into next week. There’s still a long way to go yet.

“The track was slightly different to last week, but I enjoyed it and the dirt was there for us to play with, so we could never complain about that.

“I think we just got enough set-up and it worked throughout the night, and we were very fortunate with that.

“I spoke to a couple of the boys throughout the night and they gave me some advice on what to do. I’ve only done very few laps around here, so it’s up to me.

“I’m learning every race, so to learn from the more experienced guys is exactly what this is all about and it definitely helped throughout the night.”

Zach Cook top scored for Poole with 13, while heat leaders Lewis Kerr (11) and Richard Lawson (10+1) also impressed.

Josh Pickering (12) and Connor Mountain (8) were the top scorers for the Scorpions in the first-round clash. Poole are trying to defend the crown they won last season.