SO the season that had nothing actually has at least one more chapter to run - and whatever happens from now on, the Buildbase Bees have defied all the odds to somehow blast their way into the top four.
The most dramatic Elite League matches can occur when a team never leads all night until Heat 15, and Bees have pulled off an equivalent feat by never being in the top four - and, in truth, rarely being close to it after conceding seven points to Peterborough on day one - until exactly two hours before the cut-off. Just the right time to do it!
On some dark, dull day during the winter it will cause moderate amusement to read all of the write-offs which occurred during the admittedly miserable early weeks of the season, not all of which came from the Coventry area Right now, everyone starts equal again and the best team over the next four matches will win the Elite League - and contrary to regular statements which again came from the non-Coventry area, it is indeed the case that the team finishing top can pick the team finishing second for their semi-final. Which is exactly what has happened.
Poole's selection of Wolverhampton was the final surprise of an at times baffling final fortnight of the Elite League season, and it would be hard not to conclude a measure of indecision in the Pirates' camp following the club statement issued on Monday noting that the play-off choice would be the obvious one, Lakeside, if available - and Peterborough if not.
But maybe affected by Peterborough's big win over Eastbourne and clearly keen to swerve a repeat appointment at Brandon on Monday, Poole instead elected to face Wolves - possibly in the hope that messrs. Lindgren, Woffinden and Proctor will not be quite at full fitness for Monday's first leg at Monmore Green. Bees, therefore, race off against Peterborough, all of which takes us back to where we started on that wet Good Friday, although hopefully with a very different result this time!
So to the meeting itself, raced out in a packed Brandon stadium with fans turning out in force and proving just what a success the play-off concept has been since its introduction in 2002. And when you look down the list of winners since then, it's clear that Poole (3), Coventry (2), Wolverhampton (2) and Peterborough (1) are dominant. Only four clubs have won the play-off Final in the last eight years - and that record will become nine years this time around.
The Pirates won the toss, but it was the Bees who won the first two races, settling the nerves as Krzysztof Kasprzak scorched around in 57.7, just one-tenth of a second off the track record, all of which proved that the circuit was in great shape and available to race on for those who wanted to race.
Richard Sweetman found himself squeezed out by Chris Holder and Darcy Ward in a shared heat, but the Bees didn't have to wait much longer to go ahead, in a dramatic Heat 2 which initially saw Leon Madsen take the advantage. But as Jason Doyle battled inside Przemyslaw Pawlicki for third place, the Aussie came down at the start of the second lap which forced Pawlicki into the fence, with Doyle inevitably excluded. To the Bees' relief, Pawlicki was able to walk away after treatment, and there was a perfect re-run as Madsen missed out this time at the hands of Pawlicki and Lewis Bridger, who put the Bees ahead with a 5-1.
Heat 3 provided a competitive first bend as Bjarne Pedersen took Edward Kennett wide, which in turn interfered with Ben Barker's run and put Artur Mroczka through on the inside. But the Pole failed to turn on the third bend which allowed the recovering Barker to re-take third place, whilst Kennett's thrusting efforts to pass Pedersen met with a firm defence from the Dane, who became the Pirates' first heat winner.
But Bees were taking their opportunities when they presented themselves, and it happened again in Heat 4 with Pawlicki and Chris Harris shooting away from gates 2 and 4 for a big 5-1, Davey Watt squeezed out between the pair and unable to get on terms.
When Ward hit the front in Heat 5, Poole may have felt they had a chance of a heat advantage, but whilst the World Under-21 Champion held Kennett at bay for the lead, Barker was preventing any serious damage by keeping Holder at bay for third place.
Heat 6 was sensational with the Pirates making fast starts only for Sweetman to make it around Madsen off turn two, with Kasprzak coming through on the inside. But that was far from the end of the story as Sweetman kept his outside run going to dramatically take the lead from Watt at the start of lap two, whilst Madsen slipped inside Kasprzak off turn four. That meant the race was shared as Sweetman superbly held on despite colossal pressure from Watt, who so nearly went inside him on the final bend.
After two shared heats, Bees collected their third 5-1 of the night in Heat 7 thanks to the combination of Harris and Bridger, who combined to great effect to block out Pedersen in the early stages, before pulling clear to extend the lead to twelve points. And with both Poole and Lakeside, racing at Swindon and needing to stay within one match point of Coventry on the night, both already down by enough to use tactical rides, it was all going according to plan for the Bees.
Ward took the first Poole tactical ride but he was unable to take the maximum six points as the inspired Pawlicki kept his winning run going, this time flying away from the inside to dominate the race as Ward initially found himself behind Doyle, with the 5-3 not denting Bees' prospects too much.
Meetings between these sides often contain the odd flashpoint, and it happened in Heat 9 with a big squabble for the minor places behind clear leader Watt. Madsen held it initially only for Kennett and Barker to go either side, but then Madsen regained third from Barker and so nearly got back up to Kennett as well, and with plenty of line-switching going on, the debate turned verbal on the slow-down lap as the three riders compared notes.
The 4-2 had reduced the gap to eight points, but Bees quickly got back on track with Pawlicki replacing Sweetman - unfortunate after his Heat 6 heroics, but the Pole was in stunning form - and the move turned out to be fully justified. Bees made good starts but with Kasprzak going wide off turn two, Pedersen briefly had a chance of going in between them on the back straight. Briefly, because Pawlicki showed great maturity to read the situation, move out to block Pedersen and allow Kasprzak the run around the outside which rebuilt Bees' lead to 12-points, 37-25.
At the same time, Lakeside were collecting a couple of double-points race wins with Lee Richardson in fine form, and they wouldn't quite be shaken off as they tried to salvage a point from their meeting - just as Poole suddenly started making fast starts at Brandon and brought themselves back into contention for a point of their own, all of which could have spelt disaster for Coventry.
Disaster of a different kind was narrowly averted in Heat 11, both in terms of the match situation and the avoidance of injuries. Poole deployed Holder for the second tactical ride and it looked set to be a success when he and Ward hit the front for a possible 8-1, with Harris in close attendance and set to make a real race of it. But Ward overlocked at the start of the second lap and went down, with Harris displaying great reflexes once again to put his bike down and avoid what could have been an horrific T-bone shunt.
Holder did take six points from the re-run to leave Bees 40-31 up, and their nine-point lead became seven when Madsen, who had certainly threatened a race win without quite managing one to that point, did so in Heat 12 with Barker covering off Pedersen as Pawlicki finally drew a blank.
It was Coventry 42 Poole 35, and quite outrageously it was Swindon 42 Lakeside 35 at Blunsdon, which was followed by a superb Heat 13 with Watt riding out of his skin to keep Harris at bay. The Bees skipper shot down the inside at the start of the last lap, but Watt bravely kept things wound on around the outside, and Bees' hopes of edging further clear would have to wait.
Lakeside battled on and shared Heat 13 themselves, and Bees were one setback away at both venues from not making the top four. A 5-1 in Heat 14 could have virtually sealed things - but it wasn't to be as Madsen took another win, with Bees collecting second and third through Pawlicki (in for Bridger, who had in fact only dropped one point from three rides) and Kennett, as Doyle got things wrong on turn two after seeming to have made a good start.
With Heat 14 at Swindon shared as well, leaving both matches at 48-41, it was almost unbearable tension, but with Bees knowing a 3-3 in the last race would be enough for them, but anything worse could be bad, bad news. In fact, better news filtered through from Blunsdon with the disqualification of Peter Ljung, meaning that as long as Leigh Adams and Simon Stead finished the re-run, Bees would be safe.
But the best way to get any job done is to do it yourself - and that is exactly what Harris and Kasprzak did for Coventry in Heat 15. Poole won the toss but it was the Bees who got around the first two bends ahead, and knowing exactly where each other was during the race, it was Harris and Kasprzak safely around all four laps with Holder and Watt unable to make an impression.
Richardson won Heat 15 for Lakeside, Adams and Stead duly filling second and third places not that it mattered any more, but the Brandon party was already in full swing. Nothing is won yet, but just giving themselves a chance after the way this season had gone in its first half was worthy of celebration - and then time to turn attentions towards Monday and not the away trip to Wolverhampton which had been widely expected, but instead home and away against Peterborough. The two teams who were involved in a rider swap earlier in the campaign which caused so much talk and no little upset, but who have both been much-improved since their re-builds.
