COVENTRY picked up their first Elite League point of the season at Brandon on Friday – but a draw against Belle Vue was far from the result they wanted.
The Buildbase Bees appeared in total charge at 30-18 up after eight races, but they allowed the Aces back into proceedings and it would not have taken much more over the closing stages for the visitors even to have won.
Bees had control at reserve for much of the meeting with Michal Szczepaniak unbeaten in four of his five rides, and Ludvig Lindgren proved to be an excellent guest – whilst the return to form of Aaron Summers, until he suffered engine trouble late-on, was also encouraging.
Three 5-1s in the first eight heats, all featuring Szczepaniak, put Bees into a position of massive strength, and the Aces appeared only to have damage limitation to aim for.
But with Belle Vue No.1 Matej Zagar again displaying his liking for Brandon and several of his team-mates stepping up to the plate, the twelve-point lead was suddenly slashed to two in the space of three heats.
Two 5-1s saw races won by visiting skipper Ales Dryml, who had failed to score in his first three rides, whilst lively German Kevin Wolbert also secured a race advantage for his side by passing Krzysztof Kasprzak on the third lap of Heat 10.
Zagar then got the better of Scott Nicholls in Heat 13 with Artur Mroczka salvaging third place on the line from Kasprzak to bring the scores level.
Bees fought back with a terrific Heat 14 5-1 from Szczepaniak and Lindgren, who combined superbly to keep Wolbert and Dryml at bay, and that gave them a four-point lead to defend.
But it wasn’t enough as Zagar made it around the boards on turn two to take Heat 15, and with Nicholls trying to stop him Wolbert shot through off the second bend ahead of both Grzegorz Zengota and the Bees captain to secure the draw.
Coventry promoter Mick Horton said: “I’m absolutely disgusted with my team tonight. A couple of the boys rode alright, Michal and Aaron rode well, Zengi (Zengota) had a couple of good rides and our guest Ludvig was brilliant, but that’s as far as it goes.
“It’s not good enough. I am so unhappy and I can only apologise to the fans because being twelve points up we should have finished the job off.
“Fair play to Belle Vue, but that was a very poor performance. We can’t make excuses, the boys have got to step up to the plate starting on Monday at Belle Vue, and if I don’t see an improvement next week I will make some changes.â€
BUILDBASE BEES 45: Michal Szczepaniak 11+1, Aaron Summers 8, Grzegorz Zengota 8, Ludvig Lindgren 7+2, Scott Nicholls 7+1, Krzysztof Kasprzak 4+1, Mateusz Szczepaniak 0.
BELLE VUE 45: Matej Zagar 13+1, Kevin Wolbert 12+1, Artur Mroczka 7+1, Ales Dryml 7+1, Magnus Zetterstrom 4, Kauko Nieminen 2, Craig Cook r/r.
