COVENTRY found themselves on the end of a last-heat defeat for the second time in two nights – and the loss at Birmingham was a far harder one to take.
Whereas the Buildbase Bees could consider themselves somewhat unfortunate in the closing stages at King’s Lynn on Wednesday, events at Perry Barr were more about the Brummies stepping up during the second half of the meeting and the Bees being unable to respond.
With flying reserve Adam Roynon – a late call-up for the meeting after his British semi-final at Sheffield was postponed – again enjoying a points bonanza with paid-15, Bees should have had the firepower to take a maximum four points from the meeting.
In the end they had to settle for just one after seeing a 32-22 lead turn into a 44-46 defeat with the often-criticised Birmingham top riders rescuing their side late-on.
All looked rosy for the Bees in the first half of the meeting with a string of race wins, a successful comeback for Scott Nicholls including a last-bend pass on Bjarne Pedersen to win Heat 6, and a brilliant ride by Roynon one race earlier to get the better of Danny King to set up a 5-1 with skipper Chris Harris.
Roynon was again inspired in Heat 8 as he fended off Martin Smolinski for another maximum haul with Kenni Larsen, a result which left the Brummies needing to use a tactical ride with the gap at ten.
When Ben Barker, going for double-points, crashed at the end of the first lap Bees had enjoyed a big let-off – but the fact that the home side had gated on a maximum was a sign of things to come.
Pedersen and Smolinski did bring home a 5-1 in Heat 10 but Bees still appeared in control when Tomasz Piszcz crashed out of Heat 11 and Harris moved inside Sebastian Ulamek in the re-run to leave Bees 37-29 up.
Back came the home side, and consecutive 5-1s in the next two races suddenly gave them momentum, especially when Pedersen got the better of Harris in a ding-dong tussle in Heat 13 to bring the scores level.
Roynon and Larsen looked set to ease the pressure somewhat as they held a 5-1 of their own in Heat 14 until Josh Auty just made it around Larsen on the run to the line, which took Bees into the last race with a slender two-point lead.
And it was Pedersen and Ulamek, fired up from their Heat 13 success, who shot from the tapes to get the better of Nicholls and Harris into the first bend, and neither of the Bees’ top two were able to land a challenging blow as the home side celebrated a remarkable win.
Bees boss Blayne Scroggins said: “We’ve let it go again, but we’ve come here and four riders have scored nearly all of our points.
“I’m sorry for the fans and we’re absolutely gutted – ten points up, and it just didn’t happen again. The track slickened off but there are no excuses, Birmingham did well to come back and they never gave up.
“The performances are getting better but we’re so far behind that we haven’t got time. The play-offs are getting further away and we’ve just got to rally round and get heads up for Friday night.â€
BIRMINGHAM 46: Sebastian Ulamek 13, Bjarne Pedersen 10+3, Josh Auty 9+2, Danny King 7, Martin Smolinski 4+1, Ben Barker 2, Tomasz Piszcz 1.
BUILDBASE BEES 44: Adam Roynon 12+3, Chris Harris 10, Kenni Larsen 10, Scott Nicholls 9, Edward Kennett 2+1, Henning Bager 1, Aaron Summers r/r.
BIRMINGHAM 46 Bjarne Pedersen 1* 2 3 2* 2* = 10+3 Martin Smolinski 2 0 0 2* = 4+1 Danny King 0 1 3 3 = 7 Ben Barker 2 0 F^ 0 = 2 Sebastian Ulamek 2 3 2 3 3 = 13 Tomasz Piszcz 1 0 X = 1 Josh Auty 3 1* 1 2* 2 = 9+2