COVENTRY made it seven wins on the spin at Brandon with a hard-earned 51-39 success over Belle Vue – capped by a wonderful 5-1 in the last race of the match.
The Buildbase Bees had already confirmed victory but needed to avoid conceding an advantage in Heat 15 in order to secure all three league points, and that was far from a certainty against track expert Matej Zagar and the lively Kevin Wolbert.
But Grzegorz Zengota yet again made a big start in a key race and although Zagar gained major speed to shoot from fourth to second into turn three, skipper Scott Nicholls read the move and turned back under the Slovenian off the fourth bend to set up a maximum race advantage.
It had been far from plain sailing all night and Bees were indebted to a sizzling mid-meeting double from the flying Aaron Summers, who was involved in 5-1s in Heats 7 and 8 to turn a four-point deficit into a lead of the same size.
That Bees were trailing was largely down to conceding the first two races by a 9-3 margin, guest Danny King falling on the third bend of Heat 1 and Summers having to work hard to split Ulrich Ostergaard and Ales Dryml in the reserves’ race.
Summers found himself on the deck going into the back straight in Heat 3 after a clash with Magnus Zetterstrom, but with all four invited back for the re-run the Australian combined with Zengota to reduce the arrears.
It took until Heat 7 to get level, though, as Summers was joined up-front by Nicholls, whilst in Heat 8 it was Michal Szczepaniak who rode a clever first lap to set up the maximum as Wolbert was left boxed-in on the first bend.
Szczepaniak then overhauled Zetterstrom for third place in Heat 10 meaning Bees led 33-27 going into the interval, but they still had to face the seemingly unstoppable Zagar three times in the last five heats.
The visiting No.1’s unbeaten run did, though, come to an end in Heat 11 as he was beaten by Nicholls – but the fast-starting Wolbert was ahead of them both as a 4-2 to Belle Vue brought them right back into the contest.
Bees needed Zengota to dominate Heat 12, and he duly delivered, whilst Zagar responded to head home Nicholls and King in Heat 13 to leave Bees four-up with two heats to go.
With a struggling Kauko Nieminen withdrawn from the meeting, the Aces paired their reserves in Heat 14 with Ostergaard having proved a particular threat – but Summers put Bees into a meeting-winning position as he held the lead with Stuart Robson third, before at the end of the second lap a mechanical failure sent Ostergaard tumbling and Coventry were awarded a 5-1.
That made sure of the win on the night, but with Belle Vue needing an advantage from Heat 15 to limit Bees to two points there was still a job to be done, and Zengota and Nicholls came up with the goods over Zagar to send the crowd home happy.
Nicholls said: “It was a great comeback, obviously it was the worst start we could possibly have had but we showed a lot of determination and there was real competitiveness within the team to pull it back.
“It didn’t happen straight away, we had to work for it, but to come away with all of the points was a great result.
“Zengi made a fantastic start in Heat 15, I wasn’t 100 per cent sure where he was going to ride but we got to where we needed to be and we kept Matej behind us. We didn’t need the 5-1 to get all the points but obviously it was nice to get it and end up with a convincing win.â€
It was also a key result in the context of the season, as Bees moved to within six points of the play-off places with fourth-placed Lakeside losing at home to Swindon, whilst sixth-placed King’s Lynn went down at bottom club Peterborough.
With the top three clubs stretching clear, Lakeside have 30 points from 18 matches, Poole have 27 from 19, King’s Lynn have 26 from 16 and the Bees have 24 from 18 – ahead of a massive run of matches after the World Cup break.
BUILDBASE BEES 51: Aaron Summers 13+1, Grzegorz Zengota 13, Scott Nicholls 11+2, Danny King 6+1, Stuart Robson 4+3, Michal Szczepaniak 4+1, Adam Roynon 0.
BELLE VUE 39: Matej Zagar 14, Ulrich Ostergaard 8, Kevin Wolbert 7+2, Magnus Zetterstrom 5+1, Ales Dryml 4, Kauko Nieminen 1, Craig Cook r/r.
BUILDBASE BEES 51 Danny King 0 2 3 1* = 6+1 Michal Szczepaniak 1 0 2* 1 = 4+1 Grzegorz Zengota 3 2 2 3 3 = 13 Stuart Robson T 1* 1* 2* = 4+3 Scott Nicholls 3 2* 2 2 2* = 11+2 Aaron Summers 2 2* 3 3 0 3 = 13+1 Adam Roynon R 0 0 = 0
BELLE VUE 39 Matej Zagar 3 3 3 1 3 1 = 14 Kevin Wolbert 2* 1* 0 1 3 0 = 7+2 Magnus Zetterstrom 0 3 1 0 1*= 5+1 Kauko Nieminen 1 0 = 1 Craig Cook Rider Replacement Ulrich Ostergaard 3 1 0 2 2 X = 8 Ales Dryml 1 2 0 0 1 = 4
