THE Buildbase Bees made it five wins out of six as their charge up the table gathered pace - three points against the Aces taking them into fifth place.
Bees' task was admittedly made more straightforward after an horrendous three-man pile-up in Heat 4 which saw Belle Vue reduced to five riders, although with the home side 13-5 up from the first three races a convincing Coventry win always looked on the cards.
The withdrawals of Ulrich Ostergaard and Peter Karlsson from a crash in which only Coventry captain Chris Harris emerged virtually unscathed clearly put a downer on the meeting, but there were still plenty of good races and Bees had to maximum men in their ranks.
Krzysztof Kasprzak celebrated his first Brandon full house against his former club, and completed it with a ride of huge determination in Heat 15, whilst Ben Barker's four ride paid maximum was his first in the Elite League, following on from his 12-pointer in the 2008 Craven Shield Final against Lakeside.
Bees had strength all the way down with Edward Kennett and Lewis Bridger completing a powerful top five display, whilst Richard Sweetman and an all-action Przemyslaw Pawlicki both scored well at reserve.
The Aces, though, could only really reflect positively on a good display from Patrick Hougaard, who was their sole race winner, with Hans Andersen clearly hampered by his hand injury as the Dane uncharacteristically failed to win a heat.
Bees almost got off to an absolute flyer with Kasprzak and Bridger both trapping well in Heat 1 ahead of Andersen, only for the former Coventry rider to charge down the inside off turn two and split the pairing up the back straight.
A further 4-2 followed in Heat 2, Sweetman winning by a distance with all the action over the minor places as Pawlicki was sent wide in the early stages, but managed to salvage third place from Filip Sitera as they went into the third lap, albeit with not enough time remaining to catch Ostergaard.
Bees had plenty of early momentum, and this was more than built on in Heat 3 with both Barker and Kennett flying away from the start and squeezing out Hougaard in the early stages. Kennett allowed Barker around the outside and from there on it was a convincing 5-1 to double their advantage to eight points.
Then came the unfortunate incident which took two of Belle Vue's riders out of the meeting, and it came on the run to the first bend in Heat 4. Pawlicki, from the inside, made a good start and was totally clear but the three riders outside him came together with Harris and Karlsson already set to contest the bend before Ostergaard lifted slightly and the three locked together. Harris managed to get off the back of his bike just before impact, and managed to avoid most of the carnage, but Karlsson and Ostergaard were both sent into the fence, the Dane coming off worst as he was also caught up with the flying machinery. Lengthy on-track treatment followed with Ostergaard then taken to hospital, where it was confirmed that he had suffered a double leg-fracture. Karlsson and Harris were able to walk away, and Harris was able to continue in the meeting, but a shoulder injury put Karlsson on the sidelines.
The Aces were therefore only able to field Sitera in the re-run and with Pawlicki missing the start on this occasion, the Czech determinedly held second place throughout, with Harris in a race of his own up-front.
Ten points down, Belle Vue had little option but to immediately deploy the black-and-white helmet colour for double points with Andersen - but the move went spectacularly wrong when Andersen was outgated by the potent Barker/Kennett combination with the Bees duo racing clear and extending the lead to 14 points.
A further 5-1 followed in Heat 6, another race in which Sitera was the sole Aces representative, but he missed out from the outside as Kasprzak and Bridger took a straightforward maximum advantage.
Finally the Aces gained some respite in Heat 7 with Harris making a poor start and getting stuck in traffic early on, allowing Hougaard to pull away. Harris quickly rounded Leigh Lanham and went inside his team-mate Sweetman and an exciting chase then followed, with Harris just missing out to Hougaard on the line, the Dane doing well to hold on.
There was more fine action in Heat 8 and this time the Bees did get their last-bend pass, Bridger winning by a distance but Pawlicki again coming from the back - first rounding James Wright midway through the race and then reeling in Sitera to snatch second place on the run to the line.
Sitera was back out in Heat 9 but had no answer to Barker and Kennett, which left Hougaard taking the second tactical ride in Heat 10. Briefly that looked like going wrong as well with Kasprzak and Bridger getting out of the start ahead, but Bridger lifted spectacularly at the end of lap one, allowing Hougaard into second place - and then next time around, Bridger got too close to Hougaard, shot across the track and went down. He was clearing the track but the referee opted for safety-first and stopped the race, not that it made any difference in the re-run which Kasprzak dominated to limit the visitors to a 5-3.
Harris, from the inside, out-trapped Andersen to win Heat 11 with Sweetman holding third over a scoreless Wright, and another Bees maximum followed in the next with Barker being followed home by the exciting Pawlicki - and that completed a four-ride full house for Barker. Bees marched on in Heat 13 with Kasprzak clamping Andersen on the first bend and Harris swooping around the outside for another maximum, before Kennett's winning run finally came to an end in Heat 14 as Hougaard gained his second win of the night.
Kasprzak, though, was not to be denied his maximum, not even when Andersen pulled off a superb cut-back to go in front in Heat 15. Kasprzak reeled Andersen over the first two laps and then made a dramatic line-switch into lap three to force the Dane wide, and as the two contested the lead Harris took the opportunity to shoot past Andersen too as the Belle Vue man lost momentum.
It took Bees to a 65-point total, the first time this season they have gone above 60, and whilst the Aces' injury predicament clearly took plenty of edge out of the meeting, the current run of form of the Bees is without argument - the question is, have they got time to move up that one, final, vital position?
BUILDBASE BEES 65 Krzysztof Kasprzak 3 2* 3 3 3 = 14+1 Lewis Bridger 1 3 3 X = 7 Ben Barker 3 2* 3 3 = 11+1 Edward Kennett 2* 3 2* 1* = 8+3 Chris Harris 3 2 3 2* 2* = 12+2 Richard Sweetman 3 1* 1 2 = 7+1 Przemyslaw Pawlicki 1 1 2* 2*= 6+2
BELLE VUE 27 Hans Andersen 2 1^ 2 1 1 = 7 James Wright 0 0 0 0 = 0 Leigh Lanham 0 0 1* 1 = 2+1 Patrick Hougaard 1 3 4^ 3 0 = 11 Peter Karlsson N Filip Sitera 0 2 1 1 1 0 0 = 5 Ulrich Ostergaard 2 N = 2
