Elite League
Coventry Speedway: Match report - Swindon Robins 49 Bees 43
By Nick
May 9, 2008, 19:02

THE Buildbase Bees took the Elite League leaders right down to the wire at Blunsdon before being beaten in a last-heat decider.

There were more than a few nervous faces in the Robins ranks as Bees slashed an early ten-point deficit to two going into Heat 15 in another determined display which more than maintained their recent improvement.

They slipped behind in the early stages with the Robins somewhat more consistent out of the starts in the first half of the meeting, and that was the key factor in a meeting where the excitement was maintained largely due to the closeness of the scoreline rather than the quality of the racing.

Skipper Chris Harris was less than a tenth of a second outside opposite number Leigh Adams' track record when he won Heat 5, and the Coventry star then beat his opposite number when they beat in Heat 13.

That, coupled with Simon Stead's third place, got the gap down to six after a 5-3 had been recorded in Heat 11 when Harris, going for double points, was beaten by a good defensive ride by Troy Batchelor.

Bees sensed the possibility of an upset and gained major ground in Heat 14 when stand-in reserve Ben Barker, who put in a most impressive display, combined with Billy Janniro for a 5-1 to leave the score at 44-42 with one race remaining.

Unfortunately, after losing the toss for gate positions, Harris then touched the tapes and was sent back 15 metres, meaning that Adams was always likely to take control of the decider.

In the event, the Robins were awarded a 5-1 in somewhat controversial circumstances as Batchelor rode into the side of Harris, who was already alongside him going into turn three, with the Swindon man going down heavily and Harris receiving an undeserved exclusion from the referee - not that it made any great difference to the outcome with Adams clear in the lead.

Bees boss Peter Oakes said: "It was a tremendous, fighting performance, and if we'd been firing on all cylinders we would have won.

"We never let it go when it would have been easy to do so, and even when we were ten down we thought we had a good chance of pulling it back.

"The biggest setback was the tactical ride, when we were hoping for an 8-1 in that race, but we can go home fairly happy because they're top of the table and we've given them a real fight."

SWINDON: Leigh Adams 13+1, Mads Korneliussen 11, Troy Batchelor 10+1, Seb Alden 6+1, James Wright 5+1, Travis McGowan 3+1, Theo Pijper 1.

BUILDBASE BEES: Chris Harris 12, Simon Stead 9+1, Ben Barker 9, Rory Schlein 8+1, Billy Janniro 5+4, Stan Burza 0, Olly Allen r/r.