KRZYSZTOF Kasprzak’s magnificent individual display wasn’t enough to see the Buildbase Bees keep their good run going as they were beaten 55-40 at Lakeside on Monday.
Kasprzak dropped just one point in six rides for a bumper 20-point haul, but several of his team-mates found the going tough at the technical Purfleet circuit, and the injury absence of skipper Scott Nicholls cost Bees dearly.
Nicholls suffered a broken bone in his foot when competing in Poland on Sunday ruling him out of the meeting at one of his best tracks, although he is hopeful of returning for the home clash with King’s Lynn on Friday.
Kasprzak carried the fight to the Hammers with a string of race wins, and indeed the early signs were encouraging especially when Michal Szczepaniak took home skipper Davey Watt right to the wire in Heat 4 before the Australian squeezed through on the line.
A wonderful ride by Kasprzak in Heat 5 to go round Sebastian Ulamek and Piotr Swiderski off turn two kept the deficit at just four points, but the Pole was beaten by a fine effort from Lewis Bridger in Heat 6 and Bees then couldn’t stem a constant flow of four successive Lakeside 5-1s before Kasprzak was back on-track again.
He duly banked six points from a tactical ride in Heat 11, with Olly Allen taking third place in a 7-2, but the Bees were already 41-19 down by that stage.
And as if to sum their night up, they gated on an 8-1 in Heat 12 with Grzegorz Zengota going for double, only for Szczepaniak to run into his team-mate and bring them both down.
Szczepaniak was disqualified and a bruised Zengota had to sit out the re-run, in which Aaron Summers took over to score four points.
And Bees at least completed the meeting with race wins in each of the last three races, the immense Kasprzak taking Heats 13 and 15 in style, whilst Stuart Robson finished with a flourish after a difficult night which had seen him twice incur the wrath of the referee for start-line infringements.
Lakeside were worthy winners overall with Ulamek winning three races on his debut, Bridger showing plenty of pace and Richard Lawson proving to be very much the top reserve on the night.
Coventry boss Gary Havelock said: “It’s a difficult place to come, and Scott is good for double-figures around here every time.
“That was probably the problem and the rest of the boys apart from Krzysztof didn’t really get started. We had some big scoring power at the end of the meetings last week, but tonight we didn’t have anyone to back Krzysztof up.â€
LAKESIDE 55: Lewis Bridger 12+1, Richard Lawson 10+2, Sebastian Ulamek 10+1, Piotr Swiderski 8+2, Davey Watt 8+2, Peter Karlsson 7+1, Robert Mear 0.
COVENTRY 40: Krzysztof Kasprzak 20, Stuart Robson 5+1, Aaron Summers 5+1, Grzegorz Zengota 4, Michal Szczepaniak 4, Olly Allen 2, Scott Nicholls r/r.
