It was billed as a top of the table clash as second placed Eastbourne Eagles travelled to the Blunsdon home of current Elite League leaders, the Swindon Robins on Thursday evening. However, the hotly contested match up unfortunately failed to materialise as the Wiltshire side secured a convincing 56-37 margin of victory, in the process inflicting the Sussex side’s third league defeat in the space of six days.

Scott Nicholls proved the man of the moment from a visitors perspective, three wins, one a 6-pointer and one that ended home skipper Leigh Adams maximum hopes, included in his 15-point tally but elsewhere the Eagles largely failed to fire, Lee Richardson seeming particularly down in the dumps with only 5-points to show on his former home track.

The Robins, by contrast bore the hallmarks of deserved table toppers, Adams, that one defeat apart demonstrated his usual quality but on this occasion they seemed to have the measure of their opponents right throughout the order, youthful duo Troy Batchelor and James Wright looking particularly impressive as the meeting progressed while Mads Korneliussen’s victory in heat seven was one right out of the top drawer.

Heat one saw both Robins leading into the first turn but although Nicholls was soon able to overcome Wright down the first lap back straight he was unable to make any impact on race winner, Swindon icon Adams. With Lewis Bridger trailing the field throughout, this realised an opening race 4-2 for the home side, however their advantage was soon set to widen as reserve duo Sebastian Alden and Cory Gathercole led from gate to flag in heat two. Eagle’s Swedish reserve Simon Gustafsson gave chase but was unable to bridge the gap opened up by the Robins pair out of the start.

The resultant 5-1 established a 6-point lead, 9-3 and firm control for the Wiltshire outfit but things were set to get a whole lot darker for the Sussex side as Travis McGowan and Batchelor won the battle of Aussie pride against fellow countryman Cameron Woodward in race three. It came as some surprise however as former Swindon exponent Lee Richardson failed to mark his on the race at all. He appeared somewhat out of sorts right from the off and pulled up, presumably with machinery problems with a lap left to run, leaving the Robins to claim their second successive 5-1 and an overall 14-4 lead.

It was with a measure of relief, from an Eastbourne perspective that Edward Kennett became the visitor’s first man to the chequered flag in heat four. However, with Korneliussen and Sebastian Alden doing an effective blocking job of the minor places ahead of Eagles guest Andrew Bargh (replacing the injured James Brundle), the Robins 10-point lead, now standing at 17-7, remained intact.

Nicholls was swiftly nominated to take the tactical ride in race five, and the Grand Prix contender wasn’t set to disappoint, becoming Eagles second heat winner in successive races and with a 6-point booty to report. With Bridger following Batchelor home in third, but importantly ahead of McGowan, the 7-2 at least put a large dent in the Robins advantage, slicing their lead by half to 19-14.

However it was to prove a false dawn for the Sussex men with Swindon about to embark on a punishing run of heat advantages, one that included three 5-1’s and a 4-2 in the following five races as they built up an effectively insurmountable 41-22 lead by the interval stage.

A rerun heat six realised the first of the Robins maximums, winner first time out Kennett spinning around and taking a tumble on the second turn to find himself excluded. At the second time of asking Gustafsson was unfortunately unable to pose any serious threat to the formidable Adams who tracked his partner Wright to the flag.

Richardson and Woodward looked set to make amends in the seventh as they led for the first lap in the 5-1 position, however Korneliussen was set to demonstrate a highly impressive turn of pace as he first battled his way past the Australian before getting the better of the Eagles captain as the pair entered lap three. The 3-3 saw the score settle at a still imposing 27-18 in favour of the Robins but they were soon to stretch this by a further 4-points (32-19) as Alden and Wright comfortably outpace Gustafsson in heat eight. Hopes that Bridger would prove the trump card faded along with his motor out of the start and although it became to fire once more he was already out of contention and retired before the race end.

Batchelor rode another fine race to deny Kennett in heat nine and with McGowan riding home unchallenged after Bargh also pulled up, the resultant 4-2 served to pull Swindon further ahead, their lead now standing at 36-21.

Heat 10 and the Robins continued to pile on the pressure with their fifth 5-1 of proceedings. Once again it was the dynamic Adams / Wright combo who experienced little difficulty in overcoming the sadly underachieving (given their performances so far this season) Richardson / Woodward duo, this realising that 19-point difference heading into the interval break.

Ironically Eagles appeared to raise their game as they actually kept pace their hosts over the final five races. Nicholls romped to his second victory of the evening, heading home the impressive Korneliussen in race 11 with Bridger claiming third ahead of Gathercole for the 4-2. However despite Eagles claiming their second heat advantage of the night, this was the race that actually won the match for the Robins and with the scores now standing at 43-26, they were now unable to catch their hosts.

Even so, the 4-2 was matched by the home side in the twelfth, Batchelor continuing a fine night’s work, coming from the back to get the better of Richardson. Alden was seldom troubled as he headed Gustafsson home for the full four laps.

The Eagles had another moment to cheer in heat 13 as Nicholls looked imperious in ending Adams maximum hopes. Nevertheless, the race was destined to end as a 3-3 as Korneliussen followed his captain home ahead of Kennett, one that finally saw the Robins reach the half century mark.

With 50-31 now the scores on the doors, the Sussex side issued a final battle cry as Gustafsson and Woodward combined for Eagles one and only 5-1 of the night.

Though this seemed a long time in coming for the Eagles followers, their night was set to end in disappointment as Adams, gaining his revenge over Nicholls and Batchelor combined to counter the move in heat 15. The closing maximum, Robins sixth of a somewhat one sided contest, rounded of a commanding 56-37 for the home side, one that enhanced their position at the top of the Elite League table but one that also saw the Eagles slip into third place, behind the Lakeside Hammers, in the rankings.
 
Scorers :
 
Robins : Leigh Adams 13+1(5), Troy Batchelor 12+2(5), James Wright 8+2(4), Mads Korneliussen 8+1(4), Sebastian Alden 8+1(4), Travis McGowan 4(4), Cory Gathercole 3+1(4). – 56
 
Eagles : Scott Nicholls 15(5), Simon Gustafsson 6(5), Lee Richardson 5(4), Edward Kennett 5(4), Cameron Woodward 4+2(5), Lewis Bridger 2(4), Andrew Bargh (Guest for James Brundle) 0(3), – 37
 
SWINDON 56

L. Adams                     3  2* 3  2  3                 - 13+1
J. Wright                      1  3  2* 2*                   - 8+2
T. Batchelor                 2* 2  3  3  2*               - 12+2
T. McGowan                3  0  1  0                      - 4
M.Korneliussen            2  3  2  1*                    - 8+1
C.Gathercole                2* 0  0  1                     - 3+1
S. Alden                       3  1* 3  1                     - 8+1
Team manager : Alun Rossiter
 
EASTBOURNE 37

S. Nicholls                    2  6^ 3  3  1                 - 15
L.Bridger                      0  1  R  1                      - 2
L.Richardson                R  2  1  2                      - 5
C.Woodward               1  1* 0  2* 0                - 4+2
E. Kennett                    3  X  2  0                     - 5
S. Gustafsson               1  1  1  N  0  3                         - 6
A.Bargh                       0  0  N  R  N                - 0
Team manager : Trevor Geer
 
Referee : Ronnie Allen
 
HEAT DETAILS
1   Adams, Nicholls, Wright, Bridger, 65.79                                                      (4-2)
2   Alden, Gathercole, Gustafsson, Bargh, 68.48                                               (9-3)
3   McGowan, Batchelor, Woodward, Richardson (retired), 67.65                    (14-4)
4   Kennett, Korneliussen, Alden, Bargh, 66.51                                     (17-7)
5   Nicholls^, Batchelor, Bridger, McGowan, 66.74                                          (19-14)
6   (Rerun) Wright, Adams, Gustafsson, Kennett (exc.fell), 65.88                      (24-15)
7   Korneliussen, Richardson, Woodward, Gathercole, 65.77                (27-18)
8   Alden, Wright, Gustafsson (res.repl.), Bridger (retired), 67.42                      (32-19)
9   Batchelor, Kennett, McGowan, Bargh (res.repl.)(retired) 66.67                   (36-21)
10 Adams, Wright, Richardson, Woodward, 67.25                                           (41-22)
11 Nicholls, Korneliussen, Bridger, Gathercole, 65.66                           (43-26)
12 Batchelor, Richardson, Alden, Gustafsson, 66.43                                         (47-28)
13 Nicholls, Adams, Korneliussen, Kennett, 65.61                                            (50-31)
14 Gustafsson (res.repl.), Woodward, Gathercole, McGowan, 68.88    (51-36)
15 Adams, Batchelor, Nicholls, Woodward, 66.33                                           (56-37)