POOLE have confirmed that Kyle Newman (pictured) will keep his place in the Pirates team following the completion of his 28-day deal with the club – as Dan Gilkes departs for Scunthorpe.
Winter signing Gilkes stood down from the Poole side on the eve of the season to allow his knee additional recovery time from the injury which curtailed his 2025 campaign. The Pirates called up Newman to deputise temporarily, but that agreement has now been made permanent. Promoter Dan Ford said: “I’d like to thank Dan Gilkes for his professionalism throughout this situation. He has been fantastic to deal with and I’m gutted that we’re not able to welcome him into the Pirates line-up as intended at this stage. “Kyle has come in and done a fantastic job for us, particularly at home where he’s been excellent, and that’s made the decision a more difficult one. “We know there’s still more to come from him away from home, but on current form Kyle is keeping his place in the Pirates line-up.” Gilkes swiftly found a new home, however, as Scunthorpe owner Rob Godfrey swooped for his signature. He will replace Simon Lambert in the Scorpions' septet, which has struggled to find consistency so far this season and crashed to a surprise BSN Series home defeat by Workington last week. Godfrey said: “Replacing Simon was always going to be a tough call for myself. Simon has become like family to us and the club, but we felt that we needed to inject something into the team. “I watched Dan on his comeback at Leicester and whilst he didn’t score a great deal, he made some really good starts and led three races. “Speaking to David (Howe, team manager), we both thought that he looked like a rider who has just not raced enough for a while but given a few more rides will give us some firepower at reserve.”
