GRZEGORZ Zengota was the last-heat hero as the Buildbase Bees secured a narrow 47-43 win over King’s Lynn in a drawn-out but dramatic meeting at Brandon.
The home side had to settle for two league points but they would certainly have taken those prior to the final race, with Zengota riding a stormer to hold off the challenge of Niels-Kristian Iversen and Rory Schlein.
Both teams were somewhat depleted going into the meeting and the visitors suffered further problems when Simon Stead came down in a three-man accident on the first bend of Heat 3 and was withdrawn with a recurrence of a shoulder injury.
But the remaining Lynn riders battled manfully and carried a particular threat at reserve, with Richie Worrall underlining his potential and Latvian youngster Andrej Lebedev making one of the most exciting Brandon debuts in recent years.
Iversen’s third-to-first ride to win Heat 1 set the tone for a night where there was some excellent racing, albeit with a lengthy mid-meeting delay for remedial track work on the first bend. Coventry wish to thank all supporters for their patience whilst that work was completed to enable the match to continue.
Worrall also came from the back on the last turn of Heat 2 and already it was clear that the Stars would pack a big threat in terms of race winners – but Coventry took advantage in some key heats, particularly the fourth when skipper Scott Nicholls combined with Michal Szczepaniak for a big 5-1 over Schlein.
A 4-2 in Heat 6 which featured a frantic battle for second place between Schlein, Szczepniak and Worrall put Bees four up, and they looked set to extend the lead when Seb Alden crashed out of Heat 7 – but Lebedev, after two last places, laid down a marker with a stunning start to race clear of Nicholls and Ludvig Lindgren.
Coventry extended their lead to eight points with a 5-1 in Heat 10 from Nicholls and guest Danny King, and Nicholls maintained control for his side by becoming the first man to defeat Iversen in Heat 11.
Zengota won Heat 12 but Worrall’s mid-race pass on Szczepaniak kept the Stars in contention, and they applied more pressure when Iversen and Schlein made the start in Heat 13 with King and Nicholls having no answer to them.
That was 41-37, and a dramatic Heat 14 followed with Worrall taking an early lead and fending off a strong challenge from Stuart Robson. Lebedev, meanwhile, charged inside Lindgren for third place into turn three and then reeled in Robson, before making an astonishing outside pass into the final bend to seemingly level the match – only to slide off and allow Bees the get-out-of-jail card of a 3-3.
Even so, the strong Iversen/Schlein pairing could still have snatched a draw with a 5-1 in Heat 15 which looked entirely possible on paper, but Zengota held his nerve in tense circumstances, made the perfect start and rode the perfect race to take win and the acclaim of the crowd. The Stars, meanwhile, deserved their league point for keeping things close and contributing much to the entertainment.
Nicholls said: “It was a bit of a mish-mash of teams on both sides, but King’s Lynn are a good outfit and Zengi was fantastic in the last race to beat Iversen, who is super-quick everywhere right now.
“I managed to get a couple of wins and the team won as well which is the most important thing. We had to do that for the fans, I think if we’d come away losing it would have been a big problem.
“I can understand the fans’ frustration (during the delay) but I’m glad they did what they did to the track and it made it a lot better.â€
BUILDBASE BEES 47: Grzegorz Zengota 12+1, Scott Nicholls 10+1, Danny King 8+1, Stuart Robson 6+2, Michal Szczepaniak 6, Ludvig Lindgren 5+3, Olly Allen r/r.
KING’S LYNN 43: Richie Worrall 13+1, Niels-Kristian Iversen 13, Rory Schlein 10+3, Andrej Lebedev 6+1, Sebastian Alden 1, Simon Stead 0, Mads Korneliussen r/r.
BUILDBASE BEES 47 Danny King 2 3 2* 1 0 = 8+1 Olly Allen Rider Replacement Grzegorz Zengota 0 2 3 1* 3 3 = 12+1 Stuart Robson 1* 2 1* T 2 = 6+2 Scott Nicholls 2* 2 3 3 0 = 10+1 Ludvig Lindgren 1* 1* 2 0 1* = 5+3 Michal Szczepaniak 2 3 1 0 0 = 6
