THE experts had suggested that somewhere, someday, this Coventry team would click together and deliver the power-packed performance that it was undeniably capable of.
This was the night on which the big win occurred - and this is the night which needs to be the springboard to the rest of the season after the World Cup break.
The top four, and the Elite League play-offs, may well be a bridge too far barring some freak results elsewhere, but there is also a Knockout Cup to go for, and an eight point deficit to recover against Wolverhampton next month.
But perhaps just as importantly, there are several more meetings to look forward to - and they can very much be looked forward to if the standard of racing in this match was any kind of a benchmark.
From one to seven Bees looked happy with the Brandon circuit and it showed in their racing as, after a slightly uncertain start, they put the Eagles to the sword. True, the visitors were unlucky to lose No.1 Matej Zagar after just two of his five rides, but there was no doubting the emphatic nature of this Coventry performance with strong riding all the way down the order.
Zagar, a renowned Brandon expert, did get the visitors off to a winning start in Heat 1, re-passing Krzysztof Kasprzak after the Pole had gone around him on the back straight only to make a slight mistake on bends three and four to leave room on the inside.
With Lewis Bridger overcoming Tomasz Jedrzejak for third place, the first race was shared - but fears of Eastbourne holding sway at reserve, even without Lukas Dryml, appeared to be founded when Simon Gustafsson and Chris Schramm both shot away from the start in Heat 2. Josh Auty, however, took three laps to reel in Schramm and then delightfully rounded him coming off the second bend to spit the pairing and prevent a 5-1.
Bees levelled the scores immediately with a 4-2 in Heat 3, further encouragement coming from Edward Kennett's fast start from gate two to lead, whilst Ben Barker - sent wide by Cameron Woodward into the first bend - exited the second bend well to emerge ahead of Ricky Kling.
Another Coventry 4-2 followed in Heat 4, although with something of an upset as Richard Sweetman recovered from a rare Heat 2 last place to make a great start and lead Joonas Kylmakorpi, who had his hands full in holding off Chris Harris. The Bees skipper did make it down the inside going into lap two but had to turn somewhat tighter than he wanted with his team-mate in close proximity, and that gave Kylmakorpi the impetus to make it back into second place.
Kennett again charged from the start in Heat 5 and was moving ahead of Jedrzejak when the Pole suddenly straightened mid-bend and almost came to a stop whilst Zagar, attempting to cut back, clipped his team-mate's rear wheel and was thrown awkwardly off his bike at the exit of the bend.
After treatment Zagar did take his place in the re-run and salvaged second place ahead of Barker up the back straight, but Kennett was away and gone to win in an impressive 58.6, and that turned out to be Zagar's last action due to a wrist injury.
But by the time the Slovenian star was due to re-take the track, Bees had already taken a firm grip on proceedings, starting with a 5-1 in Heat 6 in which Kasprzak gated and Bridger cut underneath both Eagles riders off turn two, only to be faced with a return challenge from Gustafsson down the main straight which briefly took the Swedish youngster back into second place. Bridger cut back one more time, though, and made his way back into the paid-win position coming off turn two.
That was a good race, and Heat 7 was simply superb as Harris made the start and Auty threatened to slingshot into second place off turn two only to go slightly too wide - but he kept his outside line going and blasted his way beyond both Kling and Woodward in one terrific manoeuvre to secure a popular and well-deserved second place.
All of a sudden Bees were twelve points to the good, and a possible Eagles comeback was thwarted in Heat 8 when Bridger and Sweetman both quickly disposed of a faster-starting Jedrzejak, who threatened to join race-winner Gustafsson for a 5-1 but ended up at the back within a lap.
Eastbourne might have regretted not giving Gustafsson the tactical ride, because when they did use black and white in Heat 9 the double-points Kylmakorpi went too wide on turn two, peculiar because the only rider outside him was his team-mate Schramm, and Kennett - who had been outgated for the first time - cut back sweetly to take the lead and limit the tactical ride to four points.
Kasprzak and Bridger collected their second 5-1 in Heat 10, even having time to switch lines on more than one occasion, so Bees led 38-24 with five heats to go and had all three points very much within their grasp.
Another fine race followed in Heat 11 with Gustafsson making the best start but being rounded into turn three by Harris, whilst Auty shot down the inside going into lap two to briefly go into second place. Briefly, because Gustafsson moved back ahead coming out of the bend - but that was brief in itself because Auty repeated his move next time around and this time made it stick for another Coventry 5-1.
The second tactical ride came into play with Gustafsson in Heat 12, but Kling appeared unaware of the situation because as they followed Barker, who held a clear lead to ensure he finished his night on high, there was never any suggestion that they were about to swap places, not that it would have made a significant difference to the outcome.
A 5-1 in Heat 13 was straightforward enough for the Bees after Harris had held a tight line off turn two to move ahead of Schramm, but it was Gustafsson who was to deny Kennett a four-ride maximum by holding his opponent at bay in an exciting, high-speed Heat 14 battle for which Auty had a grandstand view after taking third place from Woodward on the first lap.
Kasprzak wrapped up an impressive performance with a Heat 15 win, Kylmakorpi splitting the Bees pairing with Kennett third, whilst Gustafsson deserved better than the misfortune of dropping a chain into the first bend, the Eastbourne man sportingly sprinting back on to the track to remove the debris.
So ended a thoroughly enjoyable night's racing at Brandon with the Buildbase Bees quite possibly looking onwards and upwards, and with a very interesting fixture list ahead in August.
