THE Buildbase Bees were again just short of a point on in their travels after what was a good effort at Monmore Green on Monday.
Bees actually provided the majority of heat winners in the meeting, but Wolves' strength in depth around their home circuit is almost legendary, and although they were given some nervous moments they secured maximum points thanks to three 4-2s in the last four races.
For Coventry, Chris Harris again served up some magnificent overtaking and there were also three race wins for a very fast-looking Edward Kennett, with all of the top five having their moments in what was arguably a much better performance than in the recent Cup-tie at the same venue... when Bees ended up losing by just eight!
In the end, the biggest handicap to Bees taking at least a point from the meeting was the fact that they gave Wolves an eight-point head start with a disastrous first two races. In fairness, 5-1s to the home side in Heat 1 at Monmore Green are not remotely unusual, especially when the opponents find themselves with gates one and three, and that was exactly what happened here with Freddie Lindgren making a fast start and Ty Proctor holding the inside line off turn two to hold second place, fending off an early challenge from Lewis Bridger.
Heat 2 produced another 5-1 Wolves' way and the signs were looking ominous as Ludvig Lindgren and Joe Haines raced clear, leaving Bees urgently needing a race win at least to lift their spirits. Fortunately, this was provided by Edward Kennett in the next despite a strong effort by Proctor, who moved inside Kennett going into the second lap only for Kennett to impressively surge straight back around the outside.
Wolves were away from the start again in Heat 4 leaving Harris trailing, but the Bees skipper made short work of Lindgren with an inside pass off turn four, and then he rapidly reeled in Nicolai Klindt to go around the Dane on the next lap. Klindt is rarely overtaken around Monmore, but Harris had prodigious pace and still clocked a sub-55s time despite being held up for two laps.
Bees were at least pegging the lead, and this remained the case in Heat 5 with Woffinden taking a comfortable win but Bridger and Krzysztof Kasprzak went either side of Lindgren up the back straight to make sure of a shared heat - a result repeated again in the next as Harris claimed the notable scalp of Freddie Lindgren around his home circuit, holding off the Swede in a high-speed battle whilst Proctor salvaged third place from Josh Auty with the Bees reserve having briefly taken the place on the first lap.
Having pegged Wolves' early advantages, Bees began to make real progress of their own thanks to a fine 5-1 in Heat 7 with Klindt eclipsed, going too wide on turn four in an attempt to split Kennett and Barker who had done well in the first half-lap to hold their positions. There was then a nervous moment for Kennett, who scraped the fence off turn two on the final lap, but he had time to regain momentum with Barker inside him and Bees had halved the deficit.
It got even better in Heat 8 with more fast gating resulting in Bridger and Aaron Summers hitting the front, and although Proctor did manage to split the pairing, Summers rode a good final lap to clamp off Ludvig Lindgren and make sure of a 4-2.
Heat 9 was simply vintage Harris with Bees looking set to be on the wrong end of a 5-1 for much of the race as the faster-starting Joe Haines and Woffinden rode side by side and seemed to be covering every angle. Most of Harris's attacks had been on the outside, but on the last lap he suddenly turned sharply inside and dived inside both Wolves riders going into turn three, and then managed to control his exit such that Woffinden was unable to reply on the run to the line. It was a magnificent ride, whilst there was frustration for Auty who suffered a seized engine at the back.
Bees undoubtedly had Wolves rattled, but the home side fashioned a strong response in Heat 10 with Freddie Lindgren and Proctor both going past Kennett on the back straight, only for Kennett to respond on Proctor on lap three. However, Proctor wasn't finished yet and made an inside pass of his own in to the third bend, and Kennett's frantic efforts to reclaim the place on the line were not quite enough.
Credit to Coventry though, for not collapsing after that blow, and Kasprzak shot from the start in Heat 11 to lead Klindt home whilst Bridger found himself in a couple of tight spots but came home in third place to leave Wolves just four points up with four heats to go.
But as the rain began to fall, the home side just held the edge in the closing stages, starting with Klindt taking the rider-replacement ride in Heat 12 and beating Barker to the first bend, whilst Ludvig Lindgren overcame Auty on the first lap to extend the Wolves' advantage.
Heat 13 finally saw Harris's unbeaten run come to an end, and in fact it was Kasprzak who was more in the scoring action for the Bees as his tight inside line on lap two briefly took him into the lead ahead of Klindt - very briefly, in fact, because Freddie Lindgren was flying around both of them so with Harris unable to get into the equation it resulted in a Wolves 4-2, with Klindt leading on the first lap and Lindgren for the rest of the race!
Bees' focus was now to try to take something from the meeting, and that was still an uphill task but they kept themselves in with a chance when Kennett defeated Woffinden comfortably in Heat 14 to leave them needing a 4-2 from the last race.
They won the toss and took gates one and three, and as the tapes went up Harris got clearly into the first bend in front - but off gates two and three, Lindgren and Kennett made contact, Kennett went down and all four back was the referee's call.
The re-run, perhaps predictably, resulted in a different outcome from the start as it was Wolves in front, and although Harris quickly went second ahead of Woffinden, he couldn't quite match Lindgren on this occasion, leaving Bees frustratingly short of their target.
WOLVES 50 Fredrik Lindgren 3 2 3 3 3 = 14 Ty Proctor 2* 1* 1* 1 2* = 8+4 Adam Skornicki Rider Replacement Tai Woffinden 2 3 2 2 1 = 10 Nicolai Klindt 2 0 2 3 1 = 8 Joe Haines 2* 1 1* 0 = 4+2 Ludvig Lindgren 3 1* 0 0 1 1* = 6+2
