COVENTRY were left cursing their luck at Wimborne Road as they suffered back-to-back defeats at the start of the Elite League campaign.
The Buildbase Bees were in the contest for long periods even if they struggled to find a way to beat Poole’s dynamic duo of Chris Holder and Darcy Ward – but two crucial mechanical failures for the unfortunate Kenni Larsen totally changed the complexion of the meeting.
With reserves Adam Roynon and Henning Bager both performing with great credit, Bees led 8-4 after two races and were level right through until Heat 9, but by then they should have been well in front.
Harris had superbly defeated Ward to win Heat 5 in a fierce battle but Larsen, who had inexplicably fallen when third in Heat 3, then suffered a chain failure in Heat 7 when he seemed certain to partner Edward Kennett to a 5-1.
Worse was to follow in the next race when Larsen, in a clear lead, suffered a seized engine, and although Bager came through to take the win the scoreline which should have read Poole 20 Coventry 28 was actually locked at 24-24.
The Pirates weren’t about to let their opportunity slip, and a 5-1 and 4-2 in the next two races put them in charge of the meeting although Bees still had aspirations of salvaging a point.
But a huge blow to that came when Ward partnered reserve Todd Kurtz to a shock 5-1 in Heat 14, and although the final race was another competitive encounter it was the Poole duo who came out on top with Holder completing a full maximum and Ward in second to give them maximum points from the meeting and six for the day.
Bees, who opened their eventual title-winning 2010 campaign in exactly the same way with home and away Good Friday defeats against Peterborough, must now regroup ahead of next Friday’s important Brandon clash with King’s Lynn, who also lost two meetings in one day on Friday.
POOLE 52: Chris Holder 15, Darcy Ward 12+2, Dennis Andersson 8+1, Adrian Miedzinski 8, Todd Kurtz 5+2, Ricky Kling 3, James Holder 1+1.
BUILDBASE BEES 38: Chris Harris 8+1, Scott Nicholls 8, Edward Kennett 8, Henning Bager 7+3, Adam Roynon 5+2, Kenni Larsen 2, Aaron Summers r/r.
