COVENTRY Storm were left cursing their misfortune after a controversial afternoon at Mildenhall in the National League Pairs.
The Storm duo of Robert Branford and James Sarjeant missed out on a place in the Final after coming up just short in a highly competitive Group B in which all four clubs were separated by just one point after the six races.
They opened the meeting slowly, conceding a 6-3 to Kent under the 4-3-2-0 scoring system and it could have been a maximum but for Sarjeant finding a way around Ben Morley into second spot late in the race.
When they took on Buxton, they looked to have received an opening when the Hitmen’s Charles Wright clearly touched the tapes with his helmet, only for the referee to inexplicably rule all four back for the re-start.
As is often the case in such situations, Wright won the re-run which left the Storm and Buxton on eight points with Mildenhall and Kent on ten with one race each remaining.
Kent moved onto 14 points with Steve Boxall winning the next heat, with second and third places for the Buxton riders leaving them on 13, which left the Storm needing a 6-3 over Mildenhall in the last race to qualify.
With Branford hitting the front, Sarjeant knew third place would be enough and he had just moved inside Daniel Halsey when Josh Bates’s machine failed on the third lap, sending him out wide into the path of his team-mate. Hasley fell, and when the red lights belatedly came on the Storm management were astounded to discover the race was to be re-run, handing Halsey a second opportunity to send his team through.
In fairness to the Fen Tigers skipper, the ride he then produced was out of the top drawer because the Storm duo gated, before Halsey quickly cleared Sarjeant and then charged around Branford on the third lap to win a fierce battle to the delight of the home crowd.
That put Mildenhall through to the Final with Kent, whilst Dudley and Stoke were the qualifiers from Group A, and it was Dudley who triumphed in the Final, finishing two points clear of Mildenhall with Kent in third place.
Branford said: “It was a good race and fair play to Daniel, he was faster than me and he rode me well. We had a good clean race – it’s always good when you can get close, bang bars and still have a clean race!
“But we didn’t get through so I’m not happy at all. We were in position to qualify and a couple of races beforehand they declared the race after two laps, but we were out against Mildenhall so it’s a bit of a coincidence how they didn’t declare that one!
“I’ve ridden here enough times to know what to expect but in my first race I just over-rode, it’s as simple as that. I went out too gung-ho and made mistakes, I sorted it out in the end but it’s not a good day and I’ll just have to forget about this one.â€
GROUP A Dudley 18 – Ashley Morris 10/Lewis Blackbird 8 Stoke 15 – Lee Smart 9/Luke Priest 6 Isle of Wight 11 – Darryl Ritchings 2/Ben Hopwood 9 King’s Lynn 10 – Steve Worrall 5/Shane Waldron 5
GROUP B Mildenhall 14 – Dan Halsey 9/Josh Bates 5 Kent 14 – Steve Boxall 12/Ben Morley 2 Coventry 13 – Robert Branford 6/James Sarjeant 7 Buxton 13 – Charles Wright 11/Adam McKinna 2
FINAL Dudley 17 – Ashley Morris 8/Lewis Blackbird 9 Mildenhall 15 – Daniel Halsey 10/Josh Bates 5 Kent 14 – Steve Boxall 8/Ben Morley 6 Stoke 8 – Lee Smart 2/Luke Priest 6