COVENTRY suffered another local derby defeat as Wolverhampton claimed maximum points from a 55-37 win at Monmore Green on Monday.
Just as on Friday at home to Birmingham, the Buildbase Bees ran too many last places to make an impact, although the final margin owed much to a strong run in the closing heats from the home side as with five races to go the visitors trailed by just six points.
But the regular no-scores from Coventry riders were not balanced out by heat wins as Bees managed just five of those, despite home No.1 Freddie Lindgren being limited to an uncharacteristically low score of five (paid seven) on his return from injury.
Wolves compensated for that with Adam Skornicki’s highest score of the season as the Pole yet again reserved one of his best displays for a match against the Bees, and they also had plenty of strength at reserve as they continued to cover for the injured Ty Proctor.
For Bees, Stuart Robson put in his best performance since rejoining the club with an all-action display to score 11, whilst Aaron Summers’ paid-ten was a welcome boost after his mechanical problems of Friday.
But for the second time this season the totals of their top two were less than expected, although Krzysztof Kasprzak didn’t enjoy the best of fortune and Scott Nicholls rode almost every line imaginable in an attempt to pass Skornicki and secure a tactical-ride six points in Heat 9.
Wolves took advantage of the inside gates to charge into a 16-8 lead after four races, despite Michal Szczepaniak holding Lindgren at bay for second place in Heat 1 after Kasprzak had hit carburettor trouble, and Summers taking victory in the reserves’ race.
Kasprzak and Szczepaniak held a 5-1 for the first two laps of Heat 5 before Ricky Wells split the Polish combination, and Bees found themselves twelve-down within the space of two more races.
First Nicholls was left chasing Lindgren and the impressive Jacob Thorssell in Heat 6, and although he did move inside Lindgren the Wolves skipper switched back and regained his place – and another home maximum would have followed but for a fine effort by Robson to re-pass British Champion Tai Woffinden for second place in Heat 7 in the closest of final laps.
Bees’ tactical rides failed to have the desired effect as Szczepaniak, after two good gates, made a poor one in Heat 8 and trailed in at the back just as team-mate Summers won the race – whilst Nicholls’ chase of Skornicki in Heat 9 looked certain to result in an overtaking move on the third lap only for the Pole to somehow close the door.
A shock Coventry 5-1 from Robson and Zengota over the Lindgren brothers in Heat 10 brought Bees back to within six points, but that was as good as it got as Wolves then stretched clear.
Kasprzak kept the visitors in contention by passing Ludvig Lindgren for second place in Heat 11, but that was the first of two 4-2s and Wolves were almost home and dry with a 5-1 from Woffinden and Freddie Lindgren in Heat 13, the big guns working their way to the front by the end of the first lap despite Bees seeming to have gated on a 4-2 advantage.
Robson produced a miraculous save in Heat 14 when he lifted coming out of turn two and somehow still maintained not only control of his bike but also the race lead over Skornicki as he took his total into double figures, and he and Summers were deservedly nominated for Heat 15 – although with Skornicki flying from the start, the Bees duo had no answer to Woffinden’s surge between the pair up the back straight as Wolves finished with another 5-1.
Robson said: “I’ve been having an absolute nightmare run and this has hopefully begun to make up for it. I seized this engine at Coventry in a practice after the meeting a couple of weeks ago and I had to spend a fortune on it. It’s been such a run of bad luck and hopefully the tables are turning now.
“I know some of the boys struggled, Spud (Summers) was good but Adam (Roynon) is up-and-down with confidence after having such a long time off, which is understandable. It’s hard to say why with the others but you could see Scott was trying and whatever he did just didn’t work.
“I couldn’t believe the meeting was on if they’d had the rain we’d had in Coventry, and full credit to the track staff here. It was absolutely brilliant – a little bit patchy here and there, which you would expect, but they did a great job and as long as you could avoid the soft patches it rode excellent.â€
WOLVERHAMPTON 55: Tai Woffinden 12+1, Adam Skornicki 12+1, Jacob Thorssell 9+2, Ricky Wells 9, Ludvig Lindgren 8+1, Freddie Lindgren 5+2, Ty Proctor r/r.
BUILDBASE BEES 37: Stuart Robson 11, Aaron Summers 9+1, Scott Nicholls 7, Krzysztof Kasprzak 5, Michal Szczepaniak 3, Grzegorz Zengota 2+1, Adam Roynon 0.
WOLVERHAMPTON 55 Freddie Lindgren 1 2* 0 2* = 5+2 Ty Proctor Rider Replacement Ricky Wells 3 1 2 0 3 = 9 Adam Skornicki 3 R 1* 3 2 3 = 12+1 Tai Woffinden 3 1 3 3 2* = 12+1 Ludvig Lindgren 2 3 1 1 1* = 8+1 Jacob Thorssell 1* 2* 3 2 1 = 9
BUILDBASE BEES 37 Krzysztof Kasprzak R 2 3 0 = 5 Michal Szczepaniak 2 1 0^ 0 = 3 Grzegorz Zengota 0 0 2* F = 2+1 Stuart Robson 2 2 3 3 1 = 11 Scott Nicholls 1 1 4^ 1 = 7 Aaron Summers 3 0 3 1* 2 0 = 9+1 Adam Roynon 0 0 0 = 0
