IT might have been a week of off-track drama and intrigue - but the most important thing at the end of it was the fact that six points were added to the Buildbase Bees' Elite League total.
This win over Eastbourne lifted them two places up the table, finally off that undesirable bottom spot, and there were several talking points from the meeting.
Flying Pole Krzysztof Kasprzak couldn't quite repeat his maximum haul from Ipswich, but 27 (paid 28) from his first two Bees meetings is a more than healthy return, whilst the other incoming rider Lewis Bridger certainly dispelled any suggestions that racing against his former club would have any adverse effect on his performance.
Both riders made fine home debuts, but even they were upstaged by the Coventry No.8 with Aaron Summers demonstrating the depth in the Bees squad, especially given Richard Sweetman's continued form and Josh Auty's current blistering run for Sheffield..
Summers, remarkably, only dropped points in one of his five rides, and a memorable success over Matej Zagar in Heat 11 must have been one of the highlights of his career so far.
Zagar, so often a huge threat at Brandon, endured a disaster for much of the meeting before rescuing things late on, but the top man for the Eagles was their own No.8 with Chris Schramm contributing double figures and earning a deserved nomination for Heat 15.
Meetings swing on fine margins, and how the story could have been different in Heat 1 as Zagar and Simon Gustafsson out-trapped Chris Harris, with Ben Barker at the back, and the Bees skipper was just squeezed out as he tried to go between the pair on the back straight. However, on turn three Gustafsson clipped the inside kerb which took him into Harris's front wheel, and as the Coventry rider went down the red lights came on with the Swede disqualified.
In the re-run it was Barker who took the second chance, lining up the outside to blast around Zagar on the back straight, and a close battle between all three riders resulted in a Coventry 4-2.
Summers got his night off to a good start with a clever first lap in Heat 2, having been slightly out-gated by Ricky Kling but using the inside line to good effect to take the lead and then control the race
Bees' positive start continued in an exciting Heat 3 in which Lukas Dryml - reportedly set to lose his team place, at least according to the Eastbourne local press - made the start and initially blocked Edward Kennett only for the Bees man to surge around the outside going into the second lap. There was then nearly a repeat performance as Dryml attempted to block Bridger, but the Czech's machine expired as Bridger stormed into second place, and with Cameron Woodward trailing too, Bees were into an early six-point lead.
Kasprzak made a flying start from the outside to win a shared Heat 4, but the Eagles hit further trouble in the next as Zagar lost his steel shoe at the start-line, and after being allowed a little time to correct the problem, he was disqualified after getting off his machine and removing his cut-out. Off fifteen metres, the Slovenian was unable to clear team-mate Gustafsson quickly enough to threaten another Kennett/Bridger 5-1 to put Bees ten-up.
Harris gated to win Heat 6 with Barker's last place somewhat surprising after his Heat 1 success, but Bees' momentum was unaffected with Dryml demolishing the tapes in Heat 7 and being re-inserted from 15 metres, which came as a surprise given how well Schramm was riding. In the re-run, Kasprzak again charged clear with the battle on for second place and Summers riding with great determination to hold Woodward at bay.
With the tactical ride awaited, Heat 8 was shared with Barker untroubled but Gustafsson having to recover from the back, overtaking Bees guest Steve Johnston just as the Birmingham man was trying to get past Schramm. That left the scores at 31-17 as Joonas Kylmakorpi donned black-and-white for Heat 9.
What followed was a highly eventful race with Kylmakorpi, who had shown good speed earlier in chasing Kasprzak and Harris, made it from the gate with Bridger thrusting to find a way through, and finally making the move stick off the second bend of lap three. However, it started to go wrong exiting turn four as Bridger lifted to allow Kylmakorpi to go back alongside him, and as they raced into the first bend it was Bridger who couldn't maintain control, going down and being followed into the fence by his bike - fortunately without injury.
The Eagles may have been boosted by that as a possible 4-4 became a 7-2 in their favour, and there was certainly a positive effect on Woodward, who gated ahead of Harris and Barker in Heat 10 and held off the combined challenge of the Coventry riders with Dryml losing half a lap in the early stages and then seemingly attempting to make up for it by racing on well after the chequered flag!
With the gap at nine points, Eastbourne definitely had a chance of taking a point at least, but the big turning point was Heat 11 with Kasprzak again gating impeccably but Summers riding a blinder to move ahead of Gustafsson into the third bend with Zagar having totally missed the start - and urged on by the fans, Summers denied Gustafsson's every move to complete a 5-1 which took Bees 13-points clear.
Heat 12 produced a shock outcome again, this time in Eastbourne's favour, as Schramm made it nicely past Kennett into the third bend and held him at bay throughout, with Kling taking third place as Summers missed out - although that did prevent the Eagles from making any tactical moves in Heat 13.
Zagar, it was, who finally ended Kasprzak's winning run, but a comfortable third place for Harris ensured two points for the Bees - and then they made sure of three in Heat 14, which was all about Bridger for all sorts of reasons.
Summers again trapped to hit the front ahead of Woodward and Schramm, before Bridger took outrageous speed into turn three on the outside of the Eagles' duo - and emerged from turn four in second place. If the visiting pair were surprised by that, Summers must have been surprised too when Bridger appeared on his inside on turns one and two, but the Aussie did manage to react to the situation and bring home a paid win to complete a terrific personal display.
The last race was entertaining with Zagar taking the lead and being reeled in by Kasprzak, who couldn't quite find a way through, whilst a similar battle raged for third place with Schramm taking credit for again holding Kennett at bay.
But by that stage Bees had their points in the bag and had finally made progress up the Elite League table, and it's now about adding three more against Swindon on Monday.
BUILDBASE BEES 53 Chris Harris 1 3 1* 1* = 6+2 Ben Barker 3 0 3 2 = 8 Edward Kennett 3 3 2 2 0 = 10 Lewis Bridger 2* 2* X 3 = 7+2 Krzysztof Kasprzak 3 3 3 2 2 = 13 Aaron Summers 3 2* 2* 0 2* = 9+3 Steve Johnston 0 0 0 = 0
