COVENTRY Storm saw their unbeaten home National League record ended with a 40-48 defeat at the hands of reigning champions Mildenhall at Brandon.
All twelve riders deserve great credit for completing the meeting in tricky conditions after pre-meeting rain, and in the final analysis it was the inexperience of several of the Storm team which counted against them.
The meeting started with a wet track, which then generated plenty of dirt, and the Storm side suffered numerous falls and disqualifications, often when they were in positions to take race advantages, and the absence of Robert Branford and Joe Jacobs due to Premier League commitments was also felt.
Mildenhall, though, were worthy winners on the night after adapting better to conditions with veteran Jon Armstrong putting on a near-perfect display of track craft, dropping just one point from five rides, whilst Ben Morley and Dan Halsey regularly put fast-gating to good use.
The tone for an unusual night was set by the first race, when Morley was the only finisher after a string of incidents, and Luke Crang’s fall when on a 5-1 in Heat 2 was also the sign of things to come for the home side.
The Storm found themselves five points down after Heat 6 but looked set to take points back in the next race when Josh Bates flew into the air-fence on turn two just as Crang had superbly rounded Armstrong for the lead.
The re-run, though, saw Crang come to grief and as if to sum things up skipper James Sarjeant burnt a clutch out at the third time of asking, allowing Armstrong a clear run to victory.
The unlucky Martin Knuckey fell at the end of the third lap in Heat 8, again when the Storm were on for a 5-1, with home debutant James Shanes very impressively taking his second win.
But Shanes came off in Heat 10 in a close call with Bates as the home side were unable to make serious inroads, their last realistic chance coming when Bates scorched to the quickest time of the night to deprive Oliver Greenwood of maximum double-points in Heat 12.
A Storm 5-1 in Heat 13 from Sarjeant and guest Charles Wright gave them hope, but with Armstrong controlling the final two races the Fen Tigers always had enough, and his win in Heat 15 ensured they would take maximum points from the meeting.
The result essentially has the effect of cancelling out the Storm’s win at King’s Lynn, from which they took three points, whilst they do have the four-point win at Stoke to fall back upon, but they may well need to win at another away venue to compensate for this loss if they are to finish in the top four.
Co-boss Blayne Scroggins said: “We’ve got three riders who are racing in their first season, some of them haven’t been riding speedway for long at all and they struggled.
“Mildenhall adapted better than we did – as the meeting went on we got a bit better, but we struggled early on in conditions that weren’t raceable and I’d say were just about rideable.
“We got the boys together afterwards and told them to forget about tonight, conditions weren’t ideal but we are still a top-four team and we can definitely make the play-offs. We’re good enough to do that, and that’s what we’re pushing for.â€
*JAMES Sarjeant and Robert Branford represent the Storm in Sunday’s National League Pairs at Mildenhall (4.30pm start).
COVENTRY 40: Oliver Greenwood 13+1, James Sarjeant 10, Charles Wright 7+1, James Shanes 7, Luke Crang 3+1, Martin Knuckey 0, Joe Jacobs R/R.
MILDENHALL 48: Jon Armstrong 14, Ben Morley 10, Josh Bates 8+1, Dan Halsey 8, Michael Neale 5, Ryan Terry-Daley 3+2, Aaron Baseby r/r.
COVENTRY 40 Charles Wright R 2 3 2* = 7+1 Martin Knuckey F F X = 0 Joe Jacobs Rider Replacement Oliver Greenwood 2 1* 2 4^ 2 2 = 13+1 James Sarjeant F 3 2 2 3 F = 10 Luke Crang F 2 X 0 R 1* = 3+1 James Shanes 3 1 3 X 0 = 7
MILDENHALL 48 Ben Morley 3 3 3 1 = 10 Aaron Baseby Rider Replacement Josh Bates 1 X 2 1* 3 1 = 8+1 Jon Armstrong 3 3 2 3 3 = 14 Dan Halsey 2 3 3 F = 8 Michael Neale 2 0 1 1 1 0 = 5 Ryan Terry-Daley F 1* 0 1* 1 = 3+2
