COVENTRY's Elite League history is littered with opening-home meeting defeats - and 2010 is another season to add to the list as Peterborough came and did a job in awful conditions.
The track, already wet from a week of rain and the downpour of the early afternoon, took on even more water during a deluge early in the meeting, and after it was ruled fit to continue with racing, it was all about getting out of the starts.
Peterborough, erratic out of the gate themselves earlier in the day on their own circuit, were far superior to the Buildbase Bees in that crucial discipline, and although it took them some time to establish total supremacy the visitors always seemed to have enough race-winners in their locker to come away with the points.
For Bees, it was the end of a troublesome day with a series of crashes in the second half of the meeting making things even worse, and with Edward Kennett sitting out his final ride with a swollen wrist.
Harris found himself facing a 5-1 reverse in the opening heat having been filled in on the first bend, but he did manage to move inside Lewis Bridger going into turn one later in the race having reeled in his opponent, although there was no catching Niels-Kristian Iversen.
Richard Sweetman, who was quickly recruited for the meeting after Birmingham's meeting was called-off, marked his debut with a win in Heat 2 as part of a 5-1 with Filip Sitera, but that race took place in worsening conditions and it was no surprise when a temporary halt was called as the rain poured down.
After track work and discussions with the captains and referee, the action resumed after a half-hour delay with Kenneth Bjerre gating to win Heat 3 and Ben Barker moving inside Ulrich Ostergaard on the first lap, with Kennett suffering bike problems before the race and pulling out in the early stages.
The scores stayed level with Troy Batchelor winning Heat 4 by a distance ahead of a side-by-side Sitera and Rory Schlein, but the Panthers edged back in front with Iversen's second win of the meeting in Heat 5 as Bridger held on to third ahead of Barker.
A run of shared heats followed as Batchelor took Heat 6 over Harris, and then Schlein grabbed Coventry's second race win in the next with Bjerre delayed in the early stages and eventually switching inside Sweetman going into the second lap.
Bees' hopes of pulling level, or even better, were hampered by a previously point-less Krzysztof Buczkowski in Heat 8, the Pole limiting the damage done by Bridger's last place to defeat Barker and Sitera and keep his side two points up.
That was when things started to get worse for the Bees, with Kennett and Barker virtually colliding on the first bend in Heat 9, with Kennett going down and being disqualified - whilst Jakobsen, who seemed to have come to a halt before the red lights came on, was able to take part in the re-run - albeit off 15 metres after failing to beat the time allowance.
A 4-2 with Batchelor's third straight win was followed by a 3-2 in Heat 10 as the match started slipping away from the Bees, Harris twisting himself inside out and falling on the third lap when chasing Bjerre. Fortunately Sitera avoided both bike and fallen rider, and there was no threat for second place with Ulrich Ostergaard having already pulled out.
But if it looked like a long way back from 27-32, it was tougher still within two more races, as the Panthers banged in match-winning 5-1s in both of the next two races, first when Schlein was sent into the greasy outside area of the track by Iversen in Heat 11, allowing Bridger to surge through on the inside and complete a difficult day personally with a paid win.
Then Sitera suffered a similar fate at the start of Heat 12 allowing Ostergaard and Buczkowski to go clear, and that was virtually game over with a 13-point difference between the teams.
Harris donned black-and-white for Heat 13 and produced a marvellous ride in the tricky conditions, grabbing a handful to go around the previously unbeaten Iversen and holding it on the outside as the two went wheel to wheel, to take a thoroughly deserved six points. Unfortunately for the Bees, Schlein had long-since retired from the race, and at that stage the Panthers' points were safe.
There was a further scare at the start of Heat 14 with Barker coming off worst in a tough first bend, requiring some treatment before continuing and taking second spot in the re-run with Sweetman third ahead of Buczkowski.
And even Heat 15 required two attempts, this time with Barker sliding off on the second lap, fortunately without injury, and Harris - second at the time of the stoppage - taking his second chance to defeat Batchelor and Iversen in the re-run.
But that was scant consolation for the Bees, who were left to reflect on a scorechart of providing just four heat winners on their own circuit, which will very rarely be enough to win a meeting.
BUILDBASE BEES 41 Chris Harris 2 2 F 6^ 3 = 13 Christian Hefenbrock Rider Replacement Edward Kennett R 2 X = 2 Ben Barker 2 0 2 2 2 X = 8 Rory Schlein 1* 3 1 R = 5+1 Richard Sweetman 3 0 0 1 1* = 5+1 Filip Sitera 2* 2 1* 1* 2 0 = 8+3 Aaron Summers 0 = 0
