IPSWICH has tended to be a happy hunting ground for the Buildbase Bees for many years now - and despite tracking a depleted team, they were able to celebrate a four-point haul to make progress up the Elite League table.
With Swindon losing at home on the same night, Bees have gone above the Robins into sixth place, and they do have the matches remaining to advance further if they can keep their current level of confidence going.
Ipswich, of course, weren't short of their own problems as both Scott Nicholls and Robert Miskowiak missed out to injury, although perhaps the biggest result for a Coventry side without Chris Harris and Przemyslaw Pawlicki was the fact that Linus Sundstrom was not racing for the home team - the young Swede having piled up 14 in the Witches' comeback win against Lakeside last week.
And the omens favoured the Bees too, due to Ipswich's remarkable home record in 2010 which, since day one, reads win, lose, win, lose - and with last week being a win, Bees were more than happy to retain that sequence!
Not that it was remotely straightforward, because the Witches appeared better set up at the starts, particularly in the early stages, with slick conditions all round due to the threat of rain which thankfully avoided the stadium for most of the day. Early on, Bees had no answer to two of the Witches' second-strings, but as the match went on they became more decisive in the first and second bends, and they ran out thoroughly worthy winners.
Home guest Rory Schlein, in for Nicholls, might have been viewed as the major threat in Heat 1 but in fact it was Chris Slabon - following two disastrous appearances back in the Ipswich side so far, who hit the first bend ahead of Krzysztof Kasprzak, with Schlein moving past Lewis Bridger into the third bend to set up a 4-2 for the Witches.
Bees responded straight away in a re-started Heat 2, which was initially brought to a halt when Kozza Smith came down going into the first bend. With all four back, Shane Parker made the best of the start and Aaron Summers made it inside Dawid Stachyra off the second bend, and the Bees pairing then had to hold off a race-long challenge from the Pole with Parker showing all of his experience to cover every angle and come home alongside Summers.
The Witches, however, weren't going to lay down and the first hint of an inspired night for Ales Dryml came when he made a rocket start to Heat 3 from gate one and was quickly joined by Danny King, with the margin of their 5-1 over Ben Barker and Edward Kennett looking a little ominous for the Bees.
They looked set to concede maximum points from the start in the next two races as well, but they did manage to make some passing moves - Barker, in as rider-replacement, moved inside Smith on the second lap of lap two to prevent a notable maximum with Slabon, whilst Heat 5 provided some frantic action with Dryml well clear and King trying to withstand pressure from Bridger, who was trying to force his way through on the inside. Kasprzak picked his moment superbly to slice from fourth to second, and just as it looked like Bridger would get nothing for his hard work, he also overcame King to give the Bees a battling 3-3 with Kasprzak mighty close to Dryml by the end.
But still it was the Witches who were making the starts, as shown by Schlein again in Heat 6 with Bees relieved that Slabon's winning run came to an end, and he was unable to make an impression on Summers having lost out in the early stages.
Heat 7 was shared as well, which maintained the Witches' four point led, with that man Dryml leading home Kennett and Barker, Kennett thrusting throughout but eventually losing ground over the last lap or so, and it always looked like the next major heat advantage would be of vital importance.
It went Coventry's way in Heat 8, and it was a superb effort in the first two turns as Slabon and Smith initially looked to have got away well - but Bridger was strong to move Slabon wide off turn two, and the wily Parker was in attendance on the inside to move past Smith coming off turn four, which was enough to level the scores at 24-24.
Bees looked like they could move ahead in Heat 9 as Kasprzak made his first flying start of the night and King's strong inside move almost ended with him collecting team-mate Dryml, which sent him to the back. Summers held a good third place for the bulk of the race, but just went slightly wide off turn two on lap four and King took his opportunity to rescue a 3-3 for his side.
Kennett was pegged at the rear in Heat 10 but Barker showed great improvement over the meeting and his ride off the second bend was superb, taking the speed to clear Slabon and Schlein up the back straight, with Bees at this stage knowing that a couple of the remaining races at least appeared to favour them.
Heat 11 turned out to be exactly the outcome they had been looking for, with Kasprzak again leaping from the start and Bridger playing a key role once again to leave Stachyra completely blocked between the two Coventry riders. The Bees pair then moved clear and by the time King had gone into third place, he had little chance of making ground.
Several Bees riders clearly gained in confidence as the meeting went on, and Barker was certainly one of those with a brilliant effort in Heat 12. Few riders were making headway around the outside but he sat it out with King on turns three and four and emerged into lap two ahead - whilst Summers performed a vital anchor role in third place, holding Smith at bay to put Bees six-up.
A further 5-1 in Heat 13 might not have been ideal as it would have opened up tactical options for the Witches, but that became academic within the space of a lap of another re-started race, Stachyra this time going down into the first bend. In the re-run, Kasprzak was again electric from the gate but Bridger missed out, and as he tried to come through on turn three he spun and fell, with his bike piling into the fence. In the circumstances Bridger did extremely well to get up and drag the machine away backwards to enable the race to continue and Kasprzak to take his third straight win.
But just as in Bees' May visit to Foxhall when they appeared to be coasting, there was still a late scare to come, when Dryml and Stachyra made the start in Heat 14 and seemed set to tee up a nervous Heat 15 finale. Kennett, however, made a crucial move coming off the fourth bend with an overtaking move which was decisive and necessary on Stachyra, and at least it prevented a 1-5 and put Bees into the last race four points up.
That meant plenty of permutations were possible from the decider, a Bees 5-1 was required for taking all four points, whilst if the Witches could take their own maximum they would salvage a dramatic draw and limit the Bees to two on the night. There were no surprises with the line-ups, but the toss was vital and with gates one and three the visitors were certainly favourites to come away with at least three points.
In the end, though,it turned out to be the best outcome of all with Barker - who had bemoaned his inability to make a start throughout the meeting - choosing this of all times to make a blinder, and with Kasprzak also in full control of the situation the only question which remained, as Dryml missed out for the first time, was whether Schlein could dampen Coventry's party slightly by taking second place to limit them to three points rather than four. The answer, though, was that he couldn't, thanks to a perfect defensive ride by Barker who concentrated on holding the inside tightly off the second bend and every time got the exit he desired.
It may have taken some time coming, but things have been coming together for the Bees in recent weeks, and the four-point win over the bottom club also virtually ends any possible fears of the wooden spoon which, in all honesty, looked highly likely six weeks or so into the season. Improvement has been there, maybe not as quickly as it had been hoped for, but still in time to make something out of the season, and with several teams seemingly going into reverse at this stage, the implausible top-four target perhaps isn't totally impossible just yet.
IPSWICH 41 Rory Schlein 1 3 1* 2 1 = 8+1 Chris Slabon 3 3 0 0 2 = 8 Danny King 2* 0 1* 1 2 = 6+2 Ales Dryml 3 3 3 2 3 0 = 14 Robert Miskowiak Rider Replacement Dawid Stachyra 1 0 R 1* 1 = 3+1 Kozza Smith 0 1 1 0 = 2
BUILDBASE BEES 49 Krzysztof Kasprzak 2 2 3 3 3 3 = 16 Lewis Bridger 0 1* 3 2* F = 6+2 Ben Barker 1 2 1* 3 3 2* =12+2 Edward Kennett 0 2 2 0 2 = 6 Chris Harris Rider Replacement Aaron Summers 2* 1* 0 1 = 4+2 Shane Parker 3 0 2* 0 = 5+1
